vstimd-client

Python client for the vstimd visual stimulus server. Talks to the server over ZMQ using protobuf encoding.

The distribution is vstimd-client; the import package is vstimd.

Install

pip install vstimd-client

Or with uv:

uv add vstimd-client

Development install

cd client/python
uv sync
make proto   # the protobuf stubs are generated, not committed

A checkout without generated stubs imports as an empty shell, so run make proto (every other make target does it for you) before working from source.

Quick start

from vstimd import Connection
from vstimd.stimuli import Vec2, Color

with Connection() as conn:
    h = conn.stimuli.shapes.create_rect(pos=Vec2(-200, 0), width=300, height=200,
                                        color=Color(1.0, 0.0, 0.0))
    conn.stimuli.set_enabled(h, False)
    conn.stimuli.delete(h)
    info = conn.system.query_server_info()
    print(info.version)

Connection(address="tcp://localhost:5555") — default address shown.

vstimd.psychopy — PsychoPy-compatible layer

Drop-in replacement for psychopy.visual:

# Before
from psychopy import visual

# After
from vstimd.psychopy import visual

The only required addition is address= on Window:

win = visual.Window(address='tcp://192.168.1.10:5555')
circ = visual.Circle(win, radius=50, fillColor='red')
rect = visual.Rect(win, width=200, height=100, fillColor=(-1, 1, -1))
grat = visual.GratingStim(win, sf=0.05, mask='circle')
circ.draw()
win.flip()

Implemented classes

All constructor arguments from psychopy.visual are accepted. Parameters that have no server-side equivalent (autoLog, depth, interpolate, etc.) are accepted and silently ignored for drop-in compatibility.

Deferred (frame-buffer) mode

By default (deferred=True) property changes are sent to the server's deferred queue immediately; win.flip() tells the server to apply the entire queue atomically before the next vsync. Set deferred=False to apply each command immediately as it arrives.

Color formats accepted

Named strings ('red'), hex strings ('#ff0000'), PsychoPy rgb tuples (-1..1), plain 0..1 tuples, rgb255 tuples, and scalar greyscale values.

vstimd-client — command-line tool

Installing the package also installs a vstimd-client executable for the system-level commands, plus mDNS discovery of servers on the local network:

pip install vstimd-client

$ vstimd-client discover
ID             HOSTNAME             ADDRESSES   ADDRESS
vstimd-a1b2c3  vstimd-a1b2c3.local  10.0.1.42   tcp://vstimd-a1b2c3.local:5555

$ vstimd-client --host vstimd-a1b2c3 info
version     0.4.1
resolution  1920x1080
frame rate  60.00 Hz
background  0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000

Discovery browses for _vstimd._tcp using the zeroconf package, which is installed alongside the client, and falls back to avahi-browse if it is somehow missing. The ID column is the server's id= TXT record — the reliable identity, unlike the display name which Avahi may suffix with #2 on collision.

Other commands: ls, background, delete-all, enable-all/disable-all, wait-frames, wait-ready, shutdown, and config list|save|load|get|upload. Run vstimd-client with no arguments for the grouped list.

The target server comes from --address, --host, $VSTIMD_ADDRESS, or — if none of those is given — from mDNS: the single rig on the network is used, and several means you are asked which (--non-interactive fails instead of asking). --address fills in what you leave out, so -a 10.0.1.42 and -a tcp://10.0.1.42:5555 mean the same thing. --json makes every command emit machine-readable output, and failures are distinguished by exit code (3 unreachable, 4 timed out, 5 server error, 6 not found) rather than by parsing stderr. See the CLI docs for details.

Regenerating protobuf stubs

cd client/python
make proto   # requires grpcio-tools in the dev dependency group

Tests

cd client/python

# Unit tests (no server required)
make test

# E2E against the null renderer (builds server binary automatically)
make test-e2e-null

# E2E against a real running server
VSTIM_SERVER_ADDR=tcp://192.168.1.10:5555 make test-e2e

Status and versioning

Pre-1.0: the API may still change between minor versions.

Release candidates (0.1.0rc1) are published to PyPI. While no final release exists yet, pip install vstimd-client resolves to the newest candidate — pip falls back to pre-releases only when nothing stable satisfies the request. Once 0.1.0 is out, that same command gives you the stable version, and picking up later candidates needs pip install --pre vstimd-client.

License

GNU LGPLv3. Copyright © 2026 Joscha Schmiedt, University of Bremen.

The client is licensed more permissively than the vstimd server itself, which is AGPLv3: importing this package into your experiment does not place your experiment under copyleft.