Bigraph-viz is an easy-to-use plotting tool for compositional bigraph schema, built on top of Graphviz.
Compositional Bigraph Schemas (CBS) are based on a mathematical formalism introduced by Robin Milner in 2009 , and used in Vivarium. Bigraphs consist of networks with embeddable nodes that can be placed within other nodes and dynamically restructured. CBS reimagines the bigraph concept. Variables are contained within Stores (the circles in the figure), which can be embedded in a hierarchy, as shown by the dark edges. Instead of Milner's hyperedges, CBS employs Processes (the rectangles) which connect via wires (dashed edges) to shared variables within the Stores. Processes and Stores form a type of bipartite graph, as illustrated by the dashed edges.
In Vivarium, the CBS is used to structure a modular multiscale simulation. Bigraph-viz is part of an effort to standardize this structure, so that it can be used as an exchange format for multiscale simulations.
Before installing bigraph-viz
, make sure you have Graphviz.
sudo apt-get install -y graphviz
brew install graphviz
Download and install the Graphviz installer from the official website. Make sure to add the Graphviz bin directory to your system's PATH.
Once Graphviz is installed, you can install bigraph-viz
using pip:
pip install bigraph-viz
To get started with Bigraph-viz, explore our resources:
- Bigraph Schema Basics Tutorial.
- Formatting Tutorial for examples about how to adjust the final look of your bigraph figure.
- Ecoli for the wiring diagraph of a whole-cell E. coli model.
Bigraph-viz is open-source software released under the Apache 2 License.