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Is NWB 2 stable?

Yes! NWB 2.0 was officially released in January 2019, and the schema is now stable. Any changes that will be made now will be backwards compatible.

I would like to use NWB. How do I get started?

See the Getting Started page for more information.

How do I cite NWB 2 in my research?

O. Rübel, A. J. Tritt, B. Dichter, T. Braun, N. Cain, N. Clack, T. J. Davidson, M. Dougherty, J.-C. Fillion-Robin, N. Graddis, M. Grauer, J. T. Kiggins, L. Niu, D. Ozturk, W. Schroeder, I. Soltesz, F. T. Sommer, K. Svoboda, L. Ng, L. M. Frank, K. Bouchard. NWB:N 2.0: An Accessible Data Standard for Neurophysiology. January 18, 2019. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/523035 (preprint) (Online Abstract) (PDF)

What is the difference between NWB and NWB:N?

Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) started as a project by the Kavli Foundation with the goal to enhance accessibility of neuroscience data across the community. The intent was to have a broad range of projects under the NWB umbrella. The Neurodata Without Borders: Neurophysiology (NWB:N) data standard was intended to be the first among many such projects. As NWB:N is currently the only project under the NWB umbrella, the terms “NWB” and “NWB:N” are often used interchangeably.

What is the difference between PyNWB, nwb-schema, and api-python?

PyNWB is the current Python reference read/write API for the NWB:N 2.x format. The nwb-schema repo is used to manage development on the data standard schema. End-users who want to use NWB:N typically do not need to worry about the nwb-schema repo as the current schema is always installed with the corresponding API (whether it is PyNWB for Python or MatNWB for Matlab). api-python is a deprecated write-only API designed for NWB:N 1.0.x files. PyNWB also provides support for reading some NWB:N 1.0.x files from popular data repositories, such as the Allen Cell Types Atlas via the pynwb/legacy module.

Does PyNWB support NWB:N 1.0.x files?

PyNWB includes the pynwb/legacy module which supports reading of NWB:N 1.0.x files from popular data repositories, such as the Allen Cell Types Atlas . For NWB:N 1.0.x files from other sources the millage may vary in particular when files are not fully format compliant, e.g., include arbitrary custom data or are missing required data fields.

What has changed between NWB:N 1 and 2?

See the release notes of the NWB:N format schema for details about changes to the format schema. For details about changes to the specification language see the specification language release notes. With regard to software, NWB:N 2 marks a full reboot and introduced with PyNWB, MatNWB, nwb-docutils, nwb-schema etc. several new packages and repositories while tools, e.g., api-python, that were created for NWB:N 1.x have been deprecated.

How do I install PyNWB?

See the PyNWB documentation for details here.

How do I install MatNWB?

See the MatNWB documentation for details here.

Who can I contact for questions?

For details, please review our Contributing Guidelines.

  • For technical contributions (specifically, if you have found a bug or want to request a new feature), please create an issue on the appropriate GitHub repository.
  • To receive updates about NWB at large, sign up for the mailing list.
  • For questions or informal discussions between developers and users, join our Slack workspace https://nwb-users.slack.com.

How do I contribute to PyNWB?

For details on how to contribute to PyNWB, see our Contributing Guidelines.

Does PyNWB support both Python 2.7 and >3.5?

Up to PyNWB v.1.0.3 (and HDMF v1.1.2), PyNWB supported both Python 2.7 and >3.5. As of PyNWB v.1.1.0, PyNWB no longer supports Python 2.7 (see #1028 and #126) because numpy, pandas, and other major dependencies have dropped Python 2 support in their latest versions and Python 2 end-of-life is on 01/01/2020.

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