Inspired by Soup
Portable runtime for executing sparse biological connectomes across CPU, CUDA, WebGPU, and WASM.
v0.1.0 · MaleCNS · Browser runtime
soup-connectome turns a sparse connectome into a portable .scx artifact and
executes it with deterministic fixed-point LIF semantics. The first dataset
target is MaleCNS, the male fruit-fly
connectome released by Janelia.
Built with ideas from Soup. This is an independent infrastructure experiment that carries Soup's streamed sparse-graph approach into a real biological connectome runtime. Soup is the architectural inspiration, not a bundled runtime dependency or a claim of official endorsement.
This is infrastructure, not a game demo: the project focuses on graph storage, streaming, backend parity, and explicit device planning. It does not claim biological validation.
Status at a glance
| Capability | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| CPU resident + streamed runtime | measured |
Full test suite and MaleCNS smoke |
| CUDA resident + streamed backend | implemented | Optional; full-scale CUDA performance not tested |
| Python WebGPU resident + streamed backend | measured |
Example parity and MaleCNS smoke |
| WASM CPU streaming runtime | measured |
Generated web/node bindings and parity fixture |
MaleCNS .scx artifact |
measured |
211,577 neurons, 24,678,466 edges |
| Biological/scientific validation | not tested |
LIF parameters are runtime configuration |
Full-scale benchmark
measured on the local host ·
211,577neurons ·24,678,466edges · three streamed CSR blocks
The reproducible standard run uses threshold=20000, reset=0,
decay_shifts=[2], refractory_steps=2, --timesteps 4, --seed-neuron 0,
and --seed-potential 30000.
| Backend | Residency | Timesteps | Wall time | Spike counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | streamed | 4 | 221.537098 s — measured |
[1, 0, 0, 0] |
| Python WebGPU | streamed | 4 | 266.778847 s — measured |
[1, 0, 0, 0] |
python scripts/benchmark_malecns.py --device cpu --residency streamed --timesteps 4 python scripts/benchmark_malecns.py --device webgpu --residency streamed --timesteps 4
These numbers are reproducibility evidence for the runtime, not a throughput claim or biological calibration. Additional one-timestep smoke and synthetic propagation results are recorded below.
Additional validation runs
| Run | Result |
|---|---|
| Full-scale, one timestep, zero initial spikes, CPU | 2.245442 s, 0 spikes — measured |
| Full-scale, one timestep, zero initial spikes, Python WebGPU | 2.695649 s, 0 spikes — measured |
| Full-scale, two-timestep active synthetic stress, CPU | 130.364592 s, spike counts [1, 319] — measured |
| Same active synthetic stress, Python WebGPU | 128.487143 s, spike counts [1, 319] — measured |
The active stress configuration uses threshold=1, reset=0,
decay_shifts=[31], and refractory_steps=0; it is a propagation test, not
a biological calibration or representative throughput benchmark.
Why this runtime
Large sparse graphs create a different deployment problem from a conventional dense neural model. The runtime keeps neuron state and the delay line resident while streaming sparse source blocks, so graph residency is an explicit axis:
MaleCNS Feather files
│
▼
local adapter + sign mapping
│
▼
portable .scx artifact
│
├── CPU resident / streamed
├── CUDA resident / streamed
├── Python WebGPU resident / streamed
└── browser WebGPU streamed / WASM CPU fallback
Streaming is a memory-shape and portability feature. It is not automatically a throughput guarantee: the current streamed accelerator paths validate and transfer one active source block at a time and do not use a prefetch cache.
Quick start
Install the core package and development/data extras:
python -m pip install -e ".[dev,data]"Optional backends:
python -m pip install -e ".[dev,data,cuda]" python -m pip install -e ".[dev,data,webgpu]"
Run the deterministic fixture:
soup-connectome run --dataset example --device cpu soup-connectome run --dataset example --device cpu --residency streamed soup-connectome run --dataset example --device webgpu --residency streamed soup-connectome plan --dataset example --device cpu
Explicit cuda and webgpu never silently fall back to CPU. auto resolves
to CPU by design.
MaleCNS data workflow
The adapter is local-only and never downloads data automatically. It requires:
- connection weights;
- body annotations;
- body neurotransmitters.
For the verified MaleCNS v1.0 download, the measured columns are:
| File | Columns |
|---|---|
| weights | body_pre, body_post, weight |
| annotations | bodyId, type, somaSide |
| neurotransmitters | body, consensus_nt |
Inspect local schemas first:
soup-connectome inspect --file path/to/body-annotations.feather soup-connectome inspect --file path/to/body-neurotransmitters.feather
The first artifact uses the curated annotation node filter and this explicit sign mapping:
soup-connectome convert \ --weights data/male-cns/connectome-weights-male-cns-v1.0-minconf-0.5.feather \ --annotations data/male-cns/body-annotations-male-cns-v1.0-minconf-0.5.feather \ --neurotransmitters data/male-cns/body-neurotransmitters-male-cns-v1.0.feather \ --output artifacts/male-cns-v1.0-annotated.scx \ --annotation-id bodyId \ --annotation-type type \ --annotation-side somaSide \ --neurotransmitter-id body \ --neurotransmitter-name consensus_nt \ --sign-mapping '{"acetylcholine": 1, "gaba": -1, "glutamate": 1}' \ --exclude-neurotransmitter unclear \ --exclude-neurotransmitter dopamine \ --exclude-neurotransmitter histamine \ --exclude-neurotransmitter octopamine \ --exclude-neurotransmitter serotonin \ --exclude-neurotransmitter unknown \ --scope full \ --node-filter annotations
The local download measured 151,856,684 weight rows, 211,577 annotation
rows, 1,835,518 neurotransmitter rows, and 1,109,008,094 bytes across the
three Feather files. These are measurements for this exact download, not
universal hardware requirements. Raw data, generated artifacts, WASM build
outputs, and browser test results are intentionally ignored by Git.
Runtime contract
The backend-independent simulation contract uses:
- signed
int32membrane potentials; - signed
int16synaptic impulses; - positive integer timestep delays;
- checked arithmetic with rejected overflow;
- arithmetic-shift leak:
V := V - (V >> k).
These are representation choices, not measured biological constants.
Development and tests
python -m pytest -q python -m ruff check . python -m ruff format --check . cd web npm test npm run test:e2e cd wasm cargo fmt --check cargo test cargo check --target wasm32-unknown-unknown
The repository uses three evidence labels:
measured— produced by an actual local run or benchmark;estimated— a design calculation or planning assumption;not tested— no local evidence yet.
Limitations
- No biological calibration or scientific fidelity claim is made.
- Morphology and EM-volume simulation are out of scope for the current phase.
- Automatic MaleCNS downloads and a networked data pipeline are not included.
- Full-scale active stress is measured for two timesteps with a synthetic
configuration; longer runs on the Python reference path are
not tested. - Browser compatibility across GPU vendors and operating systems is
not tested.
Repository map
src/soup_connectome/ runtime, graph format, adapters, backends, CLI
scripts/ reproducible full-scale benchmark entry point
tests/ Python contract and parity tests
web/src/ browser WebGPU and WASM streaming host
web/wasm/ wasm-bindgen CPU runtime
web/test/ browser parity fixture
docs/ project documentation