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Table Schema

Every PixelPatrol table is a single .parquet file. Its columns are assembled from the registered loaders (image metadata), processors (metrics), and a set of pipeline-generated columns; the viewer widgets then consume those columns to draw the interactive report.

The same per-column descriptions below are embedded into each table's parquet field metadata, so produced files are self-describing.

Two companion resources are generated directly from the installed plugins, so they always match the build:

  • Interactive table map — follow any producer → column → widget path. Click a node for its description and connections; hover to trace its links.
  • Full catalog as JSON — the machine-readable schema and plugin catalog. Also available from the CLI:
pixel-patrol schema              # writes schema.json in the current directory
pixel-patrol schema -o my/path/schema.json  # custom output path
pixel-patrol schema --print      # print to stdout (e.g. for piping)

All table columns

Every column that can appear in a table, with the source that produces it. The table is generated from the installed plugins.

Column Type Description Source Created by Package
common_base str Name of the longest path prefix shared by all import bases. File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
depth int Depth of the path below the imported base directory. File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
file_extension str Lower-cased file extension without the leading dot. File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
imported_path str Path of the import base (the -p path or base directory) under which this file was found, relative to the project base directory ('.' when no -p paths were specified). File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
imported_path_short str Shortened, disambiguated label for the import base (only when several -p paths were used). File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
modification_date datetime Last modification timestamp of the file. File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
name str File or folder name, including extension. File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
parent str Path of the containing directory, relative to the project base directory ('.' for files directly in the base directory). File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
path str Path of the file (or folder), relative to the project base directory. File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
size_bytes int Size on disk in bytes (aggregated for folders). File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
type str Row kind: 'file', 'folder', or 'sub_file' (a sub-image inside a container). File system base processing pixel-patrol-base
channel_names list Names of the image channels, if available. Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
child_id string Identifier of a sub-image within a container file (null for single-image files). Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
dim_names list Human-readable names of the image axes. Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
dim_order string Axis order of the image, e.g. 'TCZYX'. Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
dtype string Pixel data type of the source image (e.g. 'uint8', 'float32'). Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
n_images int Number of sub-images in the source (>1 for container formats). Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
pixel_size_<axis> float Physical pixel size along the given axis, in the image's spatial unit. Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
shape array Size of the image along each axis, in dim_order. Loaders bioio, tifffile, zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
zarr_attributes dict Raw key-value attributes stored in the Zarr/OME-Zarr group metadata. Loaders zarr pixel-patrol-loader-bio
ndim int Number of image dimensions, derived from dim_order. Pipeline base processing pixel-patrol-base
num_pixels int Number of pixels in this row's spatial extent (full image at obs_level=0, slice at higher levels). Pipeline base processing pixel-patrol-base
size_<axis> int Extent (number of elements) of this row along the given axis. Pipeline base processing pixel-patrol-base
dim_<axis> int Coordinate of this row along the given axis (e.g. dim_z = Z index); null when the row spans the whole axis. Aggregation base processing pixel-patrol-base
obs_level int Aggregation level of the row: 0 is the whole-image summary; higher levels are per-dimension breakdowns. Aggregation base processing pixel-patrol-base
blocking_index float32 Strength of block-boundary discontinuities, indicating JPEG-style blocking artifacts. raster-compression raster-compression pixel-patrol-image
finite_pixel_count uint64 Number of finite (non-NaN/Inf) pixels contributing to the statistics. raster-basic raster-basic pixel-patrol-base
histogram_counts array Per-bin pixel counts over the histogram value range (fixed number of bins). raster-histogram raster-histogram pixel-patrol-base
histogram_max float32 Upper bound of the histogram's value range. raster-histogram raster-histogram pixel-patrol-base
histogram_min float32 Lower bound of the histogram's value range. raster-histogram raster-histogram pixel-patrol-base
histogram_nan_count uint64 Number of NaN pixels excluded from the histogram. raster-histogram raster-histogram pixel-patrol-base
laplacian_variance float32 Variance of the Laplacian; a focus/sharpness measure (higher = sharper). raster-quality raster-quality pixel-patrol-image
max_intensity float32 Maximum pixel intensity over the covered extent (ignoring NaNs). raster-basic raster-basic pixel-patrol-base
mean_intensity float32 Pixel-count-weighted mean intensity over the covered extent. raster-basic raster-basic pixel-patrol-base
michelson_contrast float32 Michelson contrast: (max - min) / (max + min) of intensities. raster-quality raster-quality pixel-patrol-image
min_intensity float32 Minimum pixel intensity over the covered extent (ignoring NaNs). raster-basic raster-basic pixel-patrol-base
mscn_variance float32 Variance of mean-subtracted contrast-normalized (MSCN) coefficients; a no-reference naturalness/quality cue. raster-quality raster-quality pixel-patrol-image
ringing_index float32 Strength of ringing artifacts near high-contrast edges. raster-compression raster-compression pixel-patrol-image
std_intensity float32 Pooled standard deviation of intensity over the covered extent. raster-basic raster-basic pixel-patrol-base
texture_heterogeneity float32 Local texture heterogeneity of the image. raster-quality raster-quality pixel-patrol-image
thumbnail bytes Raw RGBA bytes of the assembled thumbnail sprite (fixed sprite size). thumbnail thumbnail pixel-patrol-base
thumbnail_dtype string Original pixel dtype of the source image the thumbnail was built from. thumbnail thumbnail pixel-patrol-base
thumbnail_norm_max float Upper intensity bound used to normalize the thumbnail. thumbnail thumbnail pixel-patrol-base
thumbnail_norm_min float Lower intensity bound used to normalize the thumbnail. thumbnail thumbnail pixel-patrol-base