Setting Up Your Development Environment

Before you start creating custom Nodes for the Instinct ecosystem, you need to set up your development environment. This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up the necessary tools and dependencies.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (version 14 or later)
• npm or yarn package manager
• Basic knowledge of TypeScript
• Code editor (VS Code recommended)

Project Initialization

Let's start by creating a new project for your custom Node:

# Create a directory for your project
mkdir my-instinct-node
cd my-instinct-node

# Initialize a new npm project
npm init -y

# Install TypeScript and other dependencies
npm install --save-dev typescript @types/node ts-node

Installing the Wisdom JS Package

The core functionality for creating Nodes is provided by the @nexstem/wisdom-js package. Install it with:

npm install --save @nexstem/wisdom-js

TypeScript Configuration

Create a tsconfig.json file in your project root with the following configuration:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "module": "commonjs",
    "declaration": true,
    "outDir": "./dist",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules", "**/*.test.ts"]
}

Project Structure

Create a basic project structure as follows:

my-instinct-node/
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts
│   └── my-node.ts
└── README.md

Example index.ts

Create an index.ts file in the src directory to export your Node:

// src/index.ts
export * from './my-node';

Adding Scripts to package.json

Update your package.json to include build scripts:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "start": "ts-node src/index.ts",
    "dev": "ts-node-dev --respawn src/index.ts"
  }
}

Testing Your Setup

To verify your setup, create a simple test Node:

// src/my-node.ts
import { Node } from '@nexstem/wisdom-js';

class TestNode extends Node {
  async onBuild(): Promise<void> {
    console.log('TestNode built successfully!');
  }

  onData(inletNumber: number, packet: any[]): void {
    console.log(`Received data on inlet ${inletNumber}:`, packet);
  }

  async onStart(): Promise<void> {
    console.log('TestNode started!');
  }

  async onStop(): Promise<void> {
    console.log('TestNode stopped!');
  }

  async onShutdown(): Promise<void> {
    console.log('TestNode shut down!');
  }

  onSignal(signal: string, packet: any[]): void {
    console.log(`Received signal: ${signal}`, packet);
  }
}

// This will be instantiated when the file is executed
// Don't include this when writing a library
if (require.main === module) {
  new TestNode({
    inputs: { min: 1 },
    outputs: { min: 1 },
  });
}

export default TestNode;

Integration with Instinct

When developing Nodes for the Instinct ecosystem, your Node will be:

1. Packaged as a npm module
2. Registered with the Instinct Streams Engine
3. Made available in the Instinct UI for pipeline construction

The Streams Engine will handle:

• Dynamically loading your Node
• Providing the necessary socket configurations
• Managing the Node's lifecycle
• Routing data between Nodes

Development Workflow for EEG Researchers

As an EEG researcher developing custom Nodes:

1. Design: Plan your Node's processing algorithm based on EEG research needs
2. Implement: Create the Node using the @nexstem/wisdom-js framework
3. Test: Validate the Node with sample EEG data
4. Deploy: Package the Node for use in the Instinct ecosystem
5. Use: Incorporate the Node in your EEG processing pipelines

Next Steps

Now that your environment is set up, proceed to the next tutorial to create a basic processing Node for EEG data.