Mpc api by matthewjohnpayne · Pull Request #32 · Smithsonian/mpc-public

matthewjohnpayne · 2026-02-14T20:32:42Z

Introduces an mpc_api package that is intended to be a pip-installable package on PyPi.
mpc_api provides a single MPCClient class with methods for all 10 MPC public APIs:

identify,
get_orbit,
get_observations,
get_observatory,
get_mpecs,
check_near_duplicates,
get_submission_status,
submit_xml/psv,
request_action_code, and
get_neocp_observations.

Includes optional pandas DataFrame output, custom exception hierarchy, and 60 mocked tests.

This PR also

updates all api tutorial notebooks with mpc_api usage examples
adds a Getting Started notebook for the mpc_api package

I have verified that the code works and that the main demo notebook, mpc_tutorial_mpcapi.ipynb, also works and provides simple-but-cogent explanations of the individual apis, as well as linking out to the tutorials & documentation for the APIs.

NB:

As per my comment in PR31 , It's probably reasonably obvious that I created this using claude-code.
It's unclear to me how we should be reviewing such code going forward: It works, but it was all produced in a few hours, and reviewers will have a hard time digesting such a large volume of code.

Introduces MPCClient class with methods for all 10 MPC public APIs: identify, get_orbit, get_observations, get_observatory, get_mpecs, check_near_duplicates, get_submission_status, submit_xml/psv, request_action_code, and get_neocp_observations. Includes optional pandas DataFrame output, custom exception hierarchy, and 60 mocked tests. Updates all tutorial notebooks with mpc_api usage examples and adds a Getting Started notebook. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Each notebook opening markdown cell now mentions the mpc_api package as an alternative, with a link to the detailed examples lower in the same notebook. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

matthewjohnpayne · 2026-02-18T13:46:06Z

@federicaspoto : I've asked @fiftymillionfeltcapfanscantbewrong to review this PR, but I'm just flagging you on it so that you are aware of it (e.g. for newsletter/similar).

.github/workflows/mpc_api_pytest.yml

federicaspoto · 2026-02-18T14:42:42Z

mpc_api/tests/test_neocp.py

+def test_get_neocp_observations_df(client):
+    responses.get(
+        NEOCP_URL,
+        json=[{
+            "ADES_DF": [
+                {"trksub": "P21Eetc", "obstime": "2025-02-10", "ra": 10.0, "dec": 20.0, "stn": "F51"},
+                {"trksub": "P21Eetc", "obstime": "2025-02-11", "ra": 11.0, "dec": 21.0, "stn": "G96"},
+            ]
+        }],
+    )
+
+    df = client.get_neocp_observations_df("P21Eetc")
+    assert isinstance(df, pd.DataFrame)
+    assert len(df) == 2


I haven't tested this, but in principle this should not work unless the tracklet is currently on the NEOCP. This doesn't seem to be the expected behavior though.

I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but I suspect it is lack of clarify in the tests regarding what @responses.activate does (it mocks API responses).

As such, I have added more tests, and then split the tests into 3 main sections:

tests that actually, for real, call the API (but are allowed to fail/skip if the API is unavailable)

N.B. I'm allowing these to pass if the API is unavailable because it is not strictly the job of mpc_api to be the api, and also, I don't want the CI to get screwed-up due to (e.g.) downtime in mpcweb6

tests that mock the API response, so that we are purely testing this mpc_api.MPCClient

tests that are independent of the API (such as error handling within mpc_api)

I note that I have done the same for all of the various test files in tests/test_*.py, and added a bunch of comments to make clear what is going on.

…d tutorial notebook - Rename mpc_api/ to mpc-api/ and move source to src/ layout for packaging - Update pyproject.toml hatch build targets, add lxml to test deps - Update GitHub Actions workflows for new paths - Add real API tests to all test files with per-endpoint skip logic - Add shared check_api fixture in conftest.py for graceful API-unavailable skipping - Add updated mpc_tutorial_mpcapi.ipynb notebook with install cell and all API demos Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Publishes to TestPyPI on every PR that touches mpc-api/, with a unique .devN version suffix per run. Also supports manual dispatch. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Update release workflow to trigger on push to main (in addition to manual releases). Checks PyPI for the current version and skips publish if it already exists, so only version bumps cause a release. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

…ersion bump)

matthewjohnpayne · 2026-02-28T19:22:40Z

OK, @federicaspoto , @fiftymillionfeltcapfanscantbewrong , I have addressed the previous comments regarding mpc_api.

I have also verified that the version currently released to TestPyPI works when downloaded.

I have clarified the README

I have also added various .github/workflows/ to ensure that

the code will be released to TestPyPI on every push to a PR involving mpc_api, and
the code will be released to PyPI on every merge to main of a PR involving mpc_api.

…rapped & added to mpc-api

…output Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

matthewjohnpayne and others added 4 commits February 14, 2026 15:12

Add mpc_api tip to intro cell of each API tutorial notebook

682b107

Each notebook opening markdown cell now mentions the mpc_api package as an alternative, with a link to the detailed examples lower in the same notebook. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

update general api notebook

1c4eea1

improved documentation links

620917f

matthewjohnpayne requested a review from fiftymillionfeltcapfanscantbewrong February 18, 2026 13:44

federicaspoto reviewed Feb 18, 2026

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.github/workflows/mpc_api_pytest.yml Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

federicaspoto reviewed Feb 18, 2026

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matthewjohnpayne and others added 10 commits February 28, 2026 13:35

Add TestPyPI workflow triggered on mpc-api PRs

dcb05a5

Publishes to TestPyPI on every PR that touches mpc-api/, with a unique .devN version suffix per run. Also supports manual dispatch. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Merge branch 'main' into mpc-api

67992ce

updating public tutorial

1ae51ed

updated readme with link to tutorial notebook

d08ccaf

removed claude

d6df002

notebook update

6d25162

Updated README with instructions regarding how to install from TestPyPI

ddba172

Updated README with info regarding automated release to PyPI (after v…

2f759cb

…ersion bump)

matthewjohnpayne and others added 2 commits February 28, 2026 14:31

Updated README with info regarding a To-Do list of APIs still to be w…

af35748

…rapped & added to mpc-api

Add gitignore entries for build artifacts, editor config, and mkdocs …

54ea5ad

…output Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

matthewjohnpayne mentioned this pull request Mar 1, 2026

Add Pointings, Identifications, and Mag Bands API docs and tutorials #38

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matthewjohnpayne requested a review from federicaspoto March 2, 2026 15:36

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Mpc api#32

Mpc api#32
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