First evaluation

This example looks for flow above 1 for at least two consecutive daily timesteps. The eight observations are illustrative, with arbitrary flow units; the threshold is not an ecological recommendation.

Obtain two files

Create a folder called hydropattern-first-run, then save both downloads in it:

• flow.csv
• first-run.toml

No full-repository clone is needed to download the pair.

Use your browser's Save as action if a link displays text. Preserve the exact filenames; check that your editor did not append .txt. The example source folder also contains its purpose and expected results.

Understand the configuration

TOML is a plain-text configuration format. Sections in square brackets group settings. The downloaded file contains:

[timeseries]
path = "flow.csv"
date_format = "%Y-%m-%d"

[components.sustained_flow]
[[components.sustained_flow.characteristics]]
type = "magnitude"
parameters = [">", 1]

[[components.sustained_flow.characteristics]]
type = "duration"
parameters = [">=", 2]

[output]
excel = false

[output.metric]
mode = "portion"

The ordered characteristic tables assess magnitude first, then duration. Magnitude checks each observation against 1. Duration assesses the entire consecutive sequence of qualifying timesteps, not only its last timestep.

Execute the command

Open your terminal in hydropattern-first-run. On Windows, you can open the folder in File Explorer, type powershell in its address bar, and press Enter. On macOS or Linux, change to the folder using cd, supplying its location.

Confirm that both downloaded files are in the terminal's working folder. path = "flow.csv" resolves from that working folder, not from the TOML file's folder. Merely supplying the TOML file's full path does not change this.

With the installed application:

hydropattern run first-run.toml --no-excel

The source-checkout instructions provide the equivalent uv command.

Locate results

The command creates first-run_output next to first-run.toml, containing:

File	Purpose
flow_sustained_flow.csv	The observations, characteristic outcomes, and final component outcomes at each timestep.
sustained_flow_summary.xlsx	Separate summary sheets for the two characteristics and the component.

--no-excel selects CSV for raw timestep results; component summaries still use Excel. The configured excel = false already makes that choice, so the flag here is explicit rather than required.

Default overwrite behavior replaces existing output files when you repeat the command. To keep earlier results, add --no-overwrite or choose another folder with --output-dir.

Continue with interpreting first results.