Plugins
Plugins are how Neighborly enables users to inject custom code into the simulation. They may be single Python modules or entire packages. The only requirement is that when importing the plugin, there is a top-level load_plugin(sim) function available. The load_plugin function accepts a simulation instance as input and is free to load all types of new content. Including a load_plugin function is a convention to ensure that users of your plugin will intuitively know how to load it into their simulation.
Take a look at the code below. This is an example of a Neighborly plugin implemented within a single Python file (module).
"""Example Plugin.
file: example_plugin.py
"""
from neighborly.simulation import Simulation
from neighborly.loaders import load_traits, load_skills, load_districts
def load_plugin(sim: Simulation) -> None:
"""Add plugin data to the simulation."""
load_traits(sim, "path/to/trait_data")
load_skills(sim, "path/to/skill_data")
load_districts(sim, "path/to/district_data")
User can then load the plugin into their simulation by importing the module and calling the load_plugin function.
"""Example Simulation Script.
"""
from neighborly.simulation import Simulation
import example_plugin
def main():
sim = Simulation()
example_plugin.load_plugin(sim)
# other_stuff ...
for _ in range(1200):
sim.step()
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()