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TipTop Installation Tutorial

Let's discover TipTop in less than 10 minutes.

Getting Started​

Get started by installing TipTop. Follow these simple steps to get up and running quickly.

What you'll need​

Before you begin, make sure Python (version 3.11 or higher) is installed by running:

python --version

or

python3 --version

If not, you can download Python from:

➡️ You can also install conda via Anaconda or Miniconda—distributions that include Python and simplify environment management.

You have two options:

Using conda​

  1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
  2. Create a new conda environment named tiptop with Python 3.11 or higher by running the following command:
conda create --name tiptop python=3.11
  1. Activate the environment:
conda activate tiptop

Using venv - Python​

  1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
  2. Create a new virtual environment named tiptop:
python -m venv tiptop

or

python3 -m venv tiptop
  1. Activate your virtual environment:
# Unix/macOS
source ./tiptop/bin/activate

or

# Windows PowerShell
.\tiptop\Scripts\activate

✏️Note: We only support Python >= 3.11.

Step 2: (Optional) Install GPU Support​

If you have a GPU and want to take advantage of hardware acceleration, you can install CuPy.

  • Using conda (recommended if using a conda environment): 

    conda install -c conda-forge cupy
  • Using pip (if you are using a venv):

    # For CUDA 12.x (recommended if you have CUDA 12 installed)
    #checks the cuda version : nvcc --version
    pip install cupy-cuda12x

    # For CUDA 11.x
    pip install cupy-cuda11x
    ✏️Note: To check your installed CUDA version, run:

    nvcc --version
    or: 
    nvidia-smi
GPU warm-up for service deployments

For long-running services where response latency matters, such as exposure-time calculators or observation-preparation tools, P3 supports optional GPU warm-up.

Setting the environment variable P3_GPU_WARMUP=TRUE causes P3 to initialise CuPy during package import by running a lightweight dummy simulation. Subsequent simulations then start immediately without paying the GPU initialisation overhead.

Step 3: Install Dependencies​

All other dependencies should be installed automatically, whether you choose to install TipTop via pip or by downloading the repository directly (see next step).

If you need a more sophisticated user interface than a command prompt, you can use any IDE that supports iPython or the Python command prompt. Here are some IDEs the team has tested:

  • Jupyter and JupyterLab (many files are Jupyter Notebooks):
    Install Jupyter and JupyterLab:

    • Using conda:

      conda install jupyter
      conda install -c conda-forge jupyterlab
    • or, if you prefer not to use conda, you can install Jupyter via pip in your Python environment (e.g., venv): 

      pip install notebook jupyterlab

    If you don’t wish to use the provided Jupyter Notebooks directly, you can convert them to Python scripts using:

    jupyter nbconvert --to python targetNotebook.ipynb

  • Spyder (another popular option):
    Using conda:

    conda install spyder

    or, using pip:

    pip install spyder

  • VS Code:
    To use VS Code, simply install the Python extension for VS Code, which supports iPython and the Python command prompt.
    Install VS Code here: VS Code Download

Step 4: Install TipTop​

After the environment is set up and activated, there are two main ways to install TipTop:

Install from PyPi​

To install the latest release of TipTop with its dependencies, run:

pip install astro-tiptop

Install from Git Repository​

  1. Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/astro-tiptop/TIPTOP.git
  1. Navigate to the folder where you cloned TipTop and install it (remove --user to install for all users):
pip install --user -e .

Step 5: (Optional) Development Setup​

If you plan to do your own development or fix bugs, you will need to download and install the following libraries:

Now you're ready to explore TipTop!​