Output Checkers in GeoIPS#

An output checker is a class-based GeoIPS plugin that compares a generated output file against a reference file (a “compare path”) to validate correctness. Output checkers are used heavily in testing to confirm that a change did not alter a product unexpectedly.

GeoIPS selects the appropriate output checker based on the output file type — for example, image for imagery (with a configurable difference threshold), netcdf for NetCDF data, text for text products, and geotiff for GeoTIFFs. The checker can be derived automatically from the compare_path or specified explicitly.

For the built-in output checkers, see the output_checkers directory.

In Order-Based Processing, output checkers run either as an explicit output_checker step or via the outputs block of a workflow’s test section, which sets the compare_path and inserts the checker automatically. See Running workflows for how to configure output checks and overrides.

Plugin arguments#

The arguments accepted by an output checker step are defined by the model below. These fields are generated directly from the code, so they always reflect the current validation rules.

pydantic model geoips.pydantic_models.v1.output_checkers.OutputCheckerArgumentsModel[source]

Output Checker spec (specification) format.

Fields:

Validators:

field compare_path: FilePath | str [Required]: The path to the comparison file.

field output_products: List[FilePath] | List[str] | None = None: A list of paths to the output file(s).

field threshold: float | None = None: Threshold for the image comparison. Argument to pixelmatch. Between 0 and 1, with 0 the most strict comparison, and 1 the most lenient.