guidelinely 1.0.21.dev0

Python client for the Guidelinely Environmental Guidelines API

Guidelinely Python Client

Python client library for the Guidelinely API - an environmental guideline calculation and search API.

Calculate context-dependent environmental guideline values for chemical parameters (Aluminum, Copper, Lead, etc.) in various media (water, soil, sediment) based on environmental conditions (pH, hardness, temperature, etc.).

This Python client mirrors the functionality of the R client.

Features

• Metadata Queries: List parameters, search, explore media types and sources
• Single Calculations: Calculate guidelines for individual parameters
• Batch Calculations: Efficiently calculate multiple parameters (up to 50)
• Context-Aware: Support for pH, hardness, temperature, and other environmental factors
• Unit Conversion: Optional target unit specification
• Type Safety: Full Pydantic model support for request/response validation
• Comprehensive Tests: Mock-based test suite with pytest-httpx

Installation

Requires Python 3.9+.

# Install from PyPI (when available)
pip install guidelinely

# Or install from source
git clone https://github.com/mpdavison/envguidelines-py.git
cd envguidelines-py
pip install -e .            # Development mode
pip install -e ".[dev]"     # With dev dependencies

Quick Start

from guidelinely import calculate_guidelines

# Calculate dissolved aluminum guidelines in surface water
result = calculate_guidelines(
    parameter="Aluminum, Dissolved",
    media="surface_water",
    context={
        "hardness": "100 mg/L"   # Water hardness as CaCO3
    }
)

print(f"Found {result.total_count} guidelines")
for guideline in result.results:
    print(f"{guideline.parameter}: {guideline.value} ({guideline.source})")

API Key

Calculation endpoints optionally accept an API key. Set it as an environment variable:

export GUIDELINELY_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

Metadata endpoints (list parameters, search, etc.) work without authentication.

Environment Variables

The library supports the following environment variables for configuration:

Variable	Description	Default
GUIDELINELY_API_KEY	API key for calculation endpoints	None (optional)
GUIDELINELY_CACHE_DIR	Directory for persistent caching	~/.guidelinely_cache
GUIDELINELY_CACHE_TTL	Cache time-to-live in seconds	604800 (7 days)
GUIDELINELY_TIMEOUT	HTTP request timeout in seconds	30

Cache Configuration

By default, calculation results are cached to ~/.guidelinely_cache for 7 days. You can customize the location and TTL:

export GUIDELINELY_CACHE_DIR="/path/to/custom/cache"
export GUIDELINELY_CACHE_TTL="86400"  # 1 day in seconds

To manually clear the cache:

from guidelinely.cache import cache
cache.clear()

Usage Examples

Basic Metadata Queries

from guidelinely import (
    health_check,
    list_parameters,
    search_parameters,
    list_media,
    list_sources,
    get_stats,
)

# Check API health
status = health_check()

# List all chemical parameters
params = list_parameters()
print(f"Available parameters: {len(params)}")

# Search for ammonia-related parameters
ammonia = search_parameters("ammon")
print(ammonia)  # ['Ammonia', 'Ammonium', ...]

# Get available media types
media = list_media()
# {'surface_water': 'Surface Water', 'soil': 'Soil', ...}

# View guideline sources
sources = list_sources()

# Database statistics
stats = get_stats()

Single Parameter Calculation

from guidelinely import calculate_guidelines
import os

os.environ["GUIDELINELY_API_KEY"] = "your_key"

result = calculate_guidelines(
    parameter="Ammonia, un-ionized as N",
    media="surface_water",
    context={
        "pH": "7.5 1",
        "temperature": "15 °C"
    },
    target_unit="mg/L"  # Optional unit conversion
)

# Filter results
chronic_aquatic = [
    g for g in result.results
    if g.basis == "aquatic biota" and g.exposure_duration == "Chronic"
]

Batch Calculations

from guidelinely import calculate_batch

# Calculate multiple parameters at once (more efficient)
result = calculate_batch(
    parameters=["Aluminum, Dissolved", "Ammonia, un-ionized as N", "Lead, Dissolved", "Sulfate as SO4", "Nitrite as N"],
    media="surface_water",
    context={
        "pH": "7.5 1",
        "hardness": "150 mg/L",
        "temperature": "15 °C",
        "chloride": "18 mg/L"
    }
)

print(f"Total: {result.total_count} guidelines")

# With per-parameter unit conversion
result = calculate_batch(
    parameters=[
        "Aluminum, Dissolved",
        {"name": "Lead, Dissolved", "target_unit": "mg/L"}
    ],
    media="surface_water",
    context={
        "hardness": "100 mg/L",
    }
)

Environmental Context Parameters

Note: Currently, only surface_water and groundwater guidelines are present in the API database. Soil, sediment, and other media types are planned for future releases.

All context parameters must be strings with units (Pint format):

Water (surface_water, groundwater)

context = {
    "pH": "7.0 1",           # Dimensionless - use "1" as unit
    "hardness": "100 mg/L",  # mg/L as CaCO3
    "temperature": "20 °C",
    "chloride": "50 mg/L"
}

Soil (coming soon)

context = {
    "pH": "6.5 1",
    "organic_matter": "3.5 %",
    "cation_exchange_capacity": "15 meq/100g"
}

Sediment (coming soon)

context = {
    "pH": "7.0 1",
    "organic_matter": "2.5 %",
    "grain_size": "0.5 mm"
}

Error Handling

The library provides custom exceptions for structured error handling:

from guidelinely import (
    calculate_guidelines,
    GuidelinelyError,
    GuidelinelyAPIError,
    GuidelinelyTimeoutError,
)

try:
    result = calculate_guidelines(
        parameter="Copper",
        media="surface_water",
        context={"pH": "7.0 1", "hardness": "100 mg/L"}
    )
except GuidelinelyTimeoutError:
    print("Request timed out, please try again")
except GuidelinelyAPIError as e:
    if e.status_code == 404:
        print("Parameter not found")
    elif e.status_code == 401:
        print("Invalid API key")
    else:
        print(f"API error {e.status_code}: {e.message}")
except GuidelinelyError as e:
    print(f"Guidelinely error: {e}")

Exception Types

• GuidelinelyError - Base exception for all library errors
• GuidelinelyAPIError - API returned an error response (has status_code and message attributes)
• GuidelinelyTimeoutError - Request timed out

Data Models

The library uses Pydantic for type-safe data handling:

from guidelinely.models import GuidelineResponse, CalculationResponse

# All API responses are strongly typed
result: CalculationResponse = calculate_guidelines(...)

# Access typed fields
for guideline in result.results:
    guideline.parameter  # str
    guideline.value      # str (PostgreSQL unitrange format)
    guideline.lower      # Optional[float]
    guideline.upper      # Optional[float]
    guideline.unit       # str
    guideline.is_calculated  # bool

Guideline Value Format

Guidelines use postgresql-unit unitrange format:

• [10 μg/L,100 μg/L] - Range from 10 to 100 μg/L
• (,87.0 μg/L] - Upper limit only (≤87.0 μg/L)
• [5.0 mg/L,) - Lower limit only (≥5.0 mg/L)

Parsed into lower, upper, and unit fields.

Development

# Install development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Run tests with coverage
pytest --cov=guidelinely --cov-report=html

# Format code
black guidelinely/ tests/ examples/

# Type checking
mypy guidelinely/

# Linting
ruff check guidelinely/ tests/

API Reference

Client Functions

• health_check() - Service health check
• readiness_check() - Database readiness check
• list_parameters() - List all chemical parameters
• search_parameters(q, media) - Search parameters
• list_media() - List media types
• list_sources() - List guideline sources
• get_stats() - Database statistics
• calculate_guidelines(parameter, media, context, target_unit, api_key) - Calculate single parameter
• calculate_batch(parameters, media, context, api_key) - Batch calculate (max 50 parameters)

Models

• GuidelineResponse - Single guideline result
• CalculationResponse - Calculation endpoint response
• CalculateRequest - Single calculation request body
• BatchCalculateRequest - Batch calculation request body

Examples

See the examples/ directory for complete working examples:

1. 01_basic_metadata.py - Basic metadata queries
2. 02_calculate_single_parameter.py - Single parameter calculations
3. 03_batch_calculations.py - Batch calculations
4. 04_groundwater_calculations.py - Groundwater calculations (soil guidelines coming soon)
5. 05_advanced_workflow.py - Advanced filtering and analysis

Resources

• API Documentation: https://guidelines.1681248.com/docs
• OpenAPI Spec: https://guidelines.1681248.com/openapi.json
• R Client: https://github.com/mpdavison/envguidelines
• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/mpdavison/envguidelines-py/issues

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, code style guidelines, and the pull request process.