Helipad is an agent-based modeling framework for Python with powerful visualization capabilities.

Agent-based modeling frameworks usually trade off power for ease of use. NetLogo, for example, is very easy to get started with and has impressive visualization capabilities, but the language is limited. Python, on the other hand, is an open-ended and powerful language, but agent-based modeling frameworks in Python generally have a much steeper learning curve.

Helipad bridges that gap. Its hook-based, object-oriented API and extensible visualization capabilities make it dead-simple to get started writing and interacting with your agent-based model, while also providing as much power and flexibility as you need.

Features

  • 📈

    Live data

    See your model’s data being generated in real time, in a variety of formats including time series, networks, bar charts, and spatial maps.
  • 👋🏻

    Interactive

    Parameters can be set beforehand from the control panel GUI, or adjusted live while the model is running.
  • ⚡️

    Shocks

    Interact with your model in real time, or shock parameters automatically with timer functions.
  • ⚓️

    Easy to use

    A hook-based API makes it easy to manipulate the functionality you need, without worrying about what you don’t.
  • 🪐

    Jupyter Integration

    Run models as a standalone GUI application, package them as a Jupyter notebook, or – if you’re brave – run them without a GUI at all.
  • 🕸

    Network Functionality

    Build networks among agents and analyze them with NetworkX integration.
  • 🤹🏻‍♂️

    Powerful Agent Classes

    Agents come with the ability to barter, buy and sell with money, reproduce both haploid and polyploid, and more.
  • 🕺🏻

    Flexible Model-Building

    Build sequential or random-activation models, matching models, multi-level models, and exhaust all the possibilities with parameter sweeps.

Jump Right In

Helipad is cross-platform and runs anywhere that Python 3.8 runs.

News