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Nanonis-QCodes-Controller

Simulator-first Python bridge between Nanonis SPM controller interfaces and QCodes.

What this project provides

  • nqctl: an agent-friendly CLI for atomic read/write/ramp operations.
  • QcodesNanonisSTM: a QCodes instrument wrapper with spec-driven parameters.
  • Strict write semantics:
    • set is always a guarded single-step write.
    • ramp is always an explicit multi-step trajectory.
  • Default runtime policy (allow_writes=true, dry_run=false).

v1 API support contract

  • Stable Python API symbols: QcodesNanonisSTM, create_client, load_settings.
  • Stable CLI contract: documented nqctl commands and outputs.
  • Other Python symbols are provisional/internal and may change across minor releases.

Install

Install from a GitHub release (recommended for test users):

  1. Open the releases page and download the wheel asset (*.whl), not the auto-generated source zip/tarball.
  2. Create a virtual environment.
  3. Install the wheel, then install optional runtime integrations.
python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install .\nanonis_qcodes_controller-<version>-py3-none-any.whl
python -m pip install "qcodes>=0.46.0" "nanonis-spm>=1.0.3"
nqctl capabilities

You can also install directly from a release URL:

python -m pip install "https://github.com/BB-84C/Nanonis-QCodes-Controller/releases/download/v<version>/nanonis_qcodes_controller-<version>-py3-none-any.whl"

Install from source:

python -m pip install .

Optional extras:

python -m pip install ".[qcodes]"
python -m pip install ".[nanonis]"

Configure

  1. Optionally copy .env.example to .env.
  2. Set runtime values in config/default_runtime.yaml.
  3. Unified parameter specs are in config/parameters.yaml.
    • parameters: scalar get/set mappings.
    • actions: non-Get/Set backend methods with action_cmd metadata.
  4. Regenerate from nanonis_spm.Nanonis with scripts/generate_parameters_manifest.py.
  5. Trajectory monitor defaults are in config/default_trajectory_monitor.yaml.

Runtime config controls host, candidate ports, timeout, backend, write policy, and trajectory settings.

CLI command guide (nqctl)

Inspect and introspect

Get the machine-readable execution contract (lean payload):

nqctl capabilities

Capabilities item schemas (nqctl capabilities):

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$id": "https://bb-84c.github.io/nqctl/schemas/capabilities-parameter-item.schema.json",
  "title": "nqctl capabilities parameters.items[*]",
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "name",
    "label",
    "readable",
    "writable",
    "has_ramp",
    "get_cmd",
    "set_cmd",
    "safety"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "name": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
    "label": { "type": "string" },
    "readable": { "type": "boolean" },
    "writable": { "type": "boolean" },
    "has_ramp": { "type": "boolean" },
    "get_cmd": {
      "oneOf": [
        { "type": "null" },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["command", "payload_index", "arg_fields", "response_fields"],
          "properties": {
            "command": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
            "payload_index": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 0 },
            "description": { "type": "string" },
            "arg_fields": {
              "type": "array",
              "items": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                  "name",
                  "type",
                  "unit",
                  "wire_type",
                  "required",
                  "description",
                  "default"
                ],
                "properties": {
                  "name": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
                  "type": { "type": "string" },
                  "unit": { "type": "string" },
                  "wire_type": { "type": "string" },
                  "required": { "type": "boolean" },
                  "description": { "type": "string" },
                  "default": {}
                },
                "additionalProperties": false
              }
            },
            "response_fields": {
              "type": "array",
              "items": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": ["index", "name", "type", "unit", "wire_type", "description"],
                "properties": {
                  "index": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 0 },
                  "name": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
                  "type": { "type": "string" },
                  "unit": { "type": "string" },
                  "wire_type": { "type": "string" },
                  "description": { "type": "string" }
                },
                "additionalProperties": false
              }
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": true
        }
      ]
    },
    "set_cmd": {
      "oneOf": [
        { "type": "null" },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["command", "arg_fields"],
          "properties": {
            "command": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
            "description": { "type": "string" },
            "arg_fields": {
              "type": "array",
              "items": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                  "name",
                  "type",
                  "unit",
                  "wire_type",
                  "required",
                  "description",
                  "default"
                ],
                "properties": {
                  "name": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
                  "type": { "type": "string" },
                  "unit": { "type": "string" },
                  "wire_type": { "type": "string" },
                  "required": { "type": "boolean" },
                  "description": { "type": "string" },
                  "default": {}
                },
                "additionalProperties": false
              }
            }
          },
          "additionalProperties": true
        }
      ]
    },
    "safety": {
      "oneOf": [
        { "type": "null" },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "required": [
            "min_value",
            "max_value",
            "max_step",
            "max_slew_per_s",
            "cooldown_s",
            "ramp_enabled",
            "ramp_interval_s"
          ],
          "properties": {
            "min_value": { "type": ["number", "null"] },
            "max_value": { "type": ["number", "null"] },
            "max_step": { "type": ["number", "null"] },
            "max_slew_per_s": { "type": ["number", "null"] },
            "cooldown_s": { "type": ["number", "null"] },
            "ramp_enabled": { "type": "boolean" },
            "ramp_interval_s": { "type": ["number", "null"] }
          },
          "additionalProperties": false
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}
{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$id": "https://bb-84c.github.io/nqctl/schemas/capabilities-action-command-item.schema.json",
  "title": "nqctl capabilities action_commands.items[*]",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["name", "action_cmd", "safety_mode"],
  "properties": {
    "name": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
    "action_cmd": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["command", "arg_fields"],
      "properties": {
        "command": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
        "description": { "type": "string" },
        "arg_fields": {
          "type": "array",
          "items": {
            "type": "object",
            "required": [
              "name",
              "type",
              "unit",
              "wire_type",
              "required",
              "description",
              "default"
            ],
            "properties": {
              "name": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
              "type": { "type": "string" },
              "unit": { "type": "string" },
              "wire_type": { "type": "string" },
              "required": { "type": "boolean" },
              "description": { "type": "string" },
              "default": {}
            },
            "additionalProperties": false
          }
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": true
    },
    "safety_mode": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["alwaysAllowed", "guarded", "blocked"]
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Show the legacy full payload (old capabilities surface):

nqctl showall

Inspect backend command inventory and connectivity preflight:

nqctl backend commands --match Scan
nqctl doctor --command-probe

List observable metadata and high-level CLI action descriptors:

nqctl observables list
nqctl actions list

Inspect and update runtime policy:

nqctl policy show
nqctl policy set --allow-writes true --dry-run false

Execute operations

Read a parameter:

nqctl get bias_v

For multi-field responses, get returns structured fields (not only one scalar):

nqctl get scan_buffer

Apply writes with structured args (canonical form):

nqctl set bias_v --arg Bias_value_V=0.12 (single arg input)
nqctl set scan_buffer --arg Pixels=512 --arg Lines=512 (multiple args input)

Defaulting/autofill mechanism for partial set:

  • Explicit --arg values always win.
  • Missing required set fields trigger one read (get_cmd) and are filled by normalized field name.
  • Matching is by field name, not response index position.
  • Get-only fields with no set counterpart are ignored.
  • Remaining unresolved optional fields can fall back to manifest defaults.

Apply explicit guarded ramp (scalar parameters):

nqctl ramp bias_v 0.10 0.25 0.01 --interval-s 0.10

Invoke one manifest action command with structured args:

nqctl act Scan_Action --arg Scan_action=0 --arg Scan_direction=1
nqctl act Scan_WaitEndOfScan --arg Timeout_ms=5000

For act, required/default behavior is driven by action_cmd.arg_fields in the manifest.

act vs metadata surfaces

  • nqctl act <action_name> --arg key=value executes one backend action command from the manifest actions section.
  • nqctl actions list lists CLI-level action descriptors (what workflows the CLI supports, with safety hints and templates).
  • nqctl capabilities exposes executable manifest action inventory under action_commands.items[*] (command schema, arg_fields, safety mode).

Trajectory commands

Legacy JSONL readers:

nqctl trajectory tail --directory artifacts/trajectory --limit 20
nqctl trajectory follow --directory artifacts/trajectory --interval-s 0.5

SQLite action queries:

nqctl trajectory action list --db-path artifacts/trajectory/trajectory-monitor.sqlite3 --run-name gui-play-001
nqctl trajectory action show --db-path artifacts/trajectory/trajectory-monitor.sqlite3 --run-name gui-play-001 --action-idx 0 --with-signal-window

Monitor config and run loop:

nqctl trajectory monitor config show
nqctl trajectory monitor config set --run-name gui-play-001 --interval-s 0.1 --rotate-entries 6000 --action-window-s 2.5
nqctl trajectory monitor list-signals
nqctl trajectory monitor list-specs
nqctl trajectory monitor run
nqctl trajectory monitor config clear

Notes:

  • run_name is cleared after each monitor run attempt; set it again before the next run.
  • Action entries use ISO UTC timestamps and include delta_value for numeric spec changes.

Output and help

JSON is the default output format. Use --text for human-readable key/value output.

nqctl -help
nqctl -help showall
nqctl -help set
nqctl -help trajectory
nqctl -help act

QCodes usage

from qcodes.station import Station
from nanonis_qcodes_controller.qcodes_driver import QcodesNanonisSTM

station = Station()
nanonis = QcodesNanonisSTM("nanonis", auto_connect=True)
station.add_component(nanonis)

print(nanonis.bias_v())
print(nanonis.current_a())

nanonis.close()

Documentation index

  • CLI contract: docs/cli_contract.md
  • Extension workflow: docs/extension_workflow.md
  • Safety model: docs/safety_model.md
  • Architecture overview: docs/architecture.md
  • Simulator quickstart: docs/quickstart_simulator.md
  • Trajectory model: docs/trajectory_model.md
  • Porting to real controller: docs/porting_to_real_controller.md
  • Private-index release runbook: docs/release_private_index.md

Project planning and internal development workflow details: PLAN.md