Quick Start

DISCO is invoked through its single entry point, disco-start, which is registered as a console script by the package. Its behaviour is determined by the first argument: if the literal string gui is supplied, the GUI server is launched; any other argument (or no argument) delegates to the CLI automated pipeline.

This routing logic is implemented in disco.main:

# disco/main.py
def run():
    if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1].lower() == "gui":
        from disco.server import start_server
        start_server()
    else:
        from disco.cli import main
        main()

Note

Which mode should I use?

The GUI is recommended for exploratory analysis and first-time users. It provides interactive sliders, real-time visualisation, and point-and-click geometry tuning with no scripting required.

The CLI is designed for reproducible, automated pipelines. It supports batch processing of multiple targets, beam homogenisation, CNN-seeded geometry optimisation, and structured CSV output — all without any browser interaction.

See Architecture for a feature-by-feature comparison of the two modes.

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Interactive GUI Mode

Launch the web interface for interactive, parameter-driven analysis:

disco-start gui

This command starts a local Uvicorn server on http://localhost:8000, opens a browser window automatically after a short delay, and serves the pre-built React application bundled in disco/static/.

Once running, load a FITS file using the folder icon in the toolbar. The interface provides four view modes — Deproj, Model, Residuals, and Polar — as well as interactive geometry controls and 1D radial profile charts. See Graphical User Interface for a complete description of the interface and a step-by-step workflow guide.

Stop the server with Ctrl+C.

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Automated CLI Mode

For batch processing of one or more targets from the current working directory:

# Process a single named object (matches FITS files containing "AS209")
disco-start AS209

# Process multiple named objects in a single run
disco-start AS209 Elias29 DoAr25

# Process all FITS files within a directory subtree
disco-start path/to/group/

# Provide a direct path to a FITS file
disco-start path/to/disk.fits

# Force geometric parameters and enable CSV export
disco-start AS209 --incl 35.0 --pa 120.0 --csv on

# Set outer radius and disable beam homogenisation
disco-start AS209 --rout 1.2 --homobeam off

# Specify a custom homogenisation beam size and enable debug output
disco-start AS209 Elias29 --homobeam on --beam 0.15 --debug on

The pipeline discovers FITS files, groups them by common prefix (distinguishing multi-band observations), and processes each group through a five-phase sequence: FITS ingestion, geometry optimisation, uncertainty estimation, radial profile extraction, and result serialisation. See Pipeline Description for a detailed description of each phase, and Command-Line Interface for the full argument reference.