NEST 3.10

NEST 3.10 is the result of 1876 commits by 25 developers since NEST 3.9 which was released on 2025-09-30.

This long-awaited release changes the inner structure by removing the legacy simulation language interface (SLI) layer and promoting PyNEST as primary user interface. People already using NEST via Python will benefit from the cleaner function calls, without any changes necessary to their code. Depending on the model setup, instantiation of large models may be noticeably faster. Simulation run-times are mostly unaffected, or have been seen to speed up in a few cases. Along with these changes, NEST can now be installed directly from PyPI with

pip install nest-simulator

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.10"

Enhancements

• Provide more information about changes introduced by PyNEST-NG
• Move from boost::any to std::variant
• Restore full welcome message
• Restore GetStatus backward compatibility with NEST 3.9 for plain output
• PyNEST-NG: A new Python interface for NEST directly connecting Python to C++
• Add PyNEST example for ArtificialSynchrony
• Add PyNEST examples for Brette et al. 2007
• Add pip install option to documentation
• E-prop optimizations
• Introduce generic IgnoreAndSpikeMechanism and add ignore-and-spike support to eprop neurons and iaf_psc_delta
• New feature: cycle timers
• Improve documentation on wall-time vs cpu time timers
• Modernize the stopwatch implementation
• Add correct metadata for "New feature: cycle timers"
• Introduce more intuitive parameterization of surrogate gradients
• Enable distributed parameter values for EpropArchivingNode, FlushEventMechanism, IgnoreAndSpikeMechanism

Bug Fixes

• Convert non-thread-skipping from unittest to pytest
• Add Apple' stub-based libraries (.tbd) to list of library suffixes
• Ensure NEST can be built without Boost
• Fix issue: #3532: Disconnect correctly with CompressedSpikes:ON/Off
• Fix a number of problems with GetNodes
• nest-server: BadRequest: 400 Bad Request: name '' is not defined
• Make parsing of XML files robust against extra > at end of file
• Fix issue with sorting when simulating more than 2 billion neurons
• Reinstate get/set_verbosity for backward compatiblity
• Fix CI trigger for nest-extension-module
• Hike Cython version requirement to >=3.0.0
• Update dependabot.yml pip path and version strategy to increase-if-necessary
• multimeter/voltmeter now raise an exception if one tries to set a recording interval that is not a multiple of the resolution
• Update documentation requirements path in environment.yml
• Fix use-after-free of ltdl error string

Maintenance

• Add missing include needed on macOS 26.4
• Replace deprecated MPI C++ bindings by their C equivalent
• Update dependabot.yml pip path and version strategy to increase-if-necessary
• Clarify documentation of node update() method
• Add note in docs about how to use volume transmitter during network setup
• Remove test_get_nodes.sli
• Remove test_global_rng.sli to complete #3630
• Integrate one_to_one and pairwise_bernoulli cases into test_all_to_all
• Remove test that has no meaningful function any more
• Simplify test implementation and remove complex reusable code for better readability (replacement for #3510)
• Add missing case to ticket-800 test
• Update comment to reflect behavior after merge of #3103.
• Convert unittest test_symmetric_connections to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_threaded_multimeter to Pytest
• Update test_pp_psc_delta.py and remove sli version
• Convert unittest test_spike_poisson_ps_base2 to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_ppd_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_gamma_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_inh_stdp_synapse to Pytest
• Remove issue-1974.sli as a follow-up to #3439
• Redirect performance benchmarks docs to new repository
• Add venv option for source installation in docs
• Update doc install requirements
• Fix assertion to ensure range index is properly cast to size_t
• Fix destructor warning by updating PoolWrapper destructor signature
• Refactor sli_vector_to_object function to fix unreachable code warning
• Replace numpy.in1d() with numpy.isin() in testsuite
• Implement activation events to reduce memory usage in the e-prop mechanism
• Minor documentation fixes
• Fix compiler warnings related to size_t
• Fix typesetting error in eprop_iaf_psc_delta_adapt documentation
• Pin libNeurosim/CSA version in CI install
• Add pandoc to the environment dependencies
• Update N-MNIST download URL and robustify download method in e-prop tutorial
• Add links for impressum and data protection on Read the Docs
• Load NMNIST_pixels_blocklist.txt relative to script directory
• Update conf.py to fix pynest links and fix build warnings
• Add documentation to install latest development version with pip
• Restrict wheel build workflow to releases and manual triggers
• Remove helpdesk (and fix formatting in many files)
• Remove last mentions of SLI
• Remove nest_vars.sh and adjust corresponding documentation
• Remove run_test.sh
• Fix typo in citation
• Improve maths typesetting in Hill-Tononi synapse
• Fix broken link in docs
• Reorganize test files
• Fix minor typos in docs
• Remove deprecated eprop image and simplify image paths
• [Hide default thumbnail image from autogenerated sphinx-gallery](https://github.com/nest/nest-simu...

NEST 3.10-rc.3

NEST 3.10 is the result of 1781 commits by 24 developers since NEST 3.9 which was released on 2025-09-30.

This long-awaited release changes the inner structure by removing the legacy simulation language interface (SLI) layer and promoting PyNEST as primary user interface. People already using NEST via Python will benefit from the cleaner function calls, without any changes necessary to their code. Depending on the model setup, instantiation of large models may be noticeably faster. Simulation run-times are mostly unaffected, or have been seen to speed up in a few cases. Along with these changes, NEST can now be installed directly from PyPI with

pip install nest-simulator
pip install --pre nest-simulator  # for the release-candidates

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.10"

Enhancements

• Provide more information about changes introduced by PyNEST-NG
• Move from boost::any to std::variant
• Restore full welcome message
• Restore GetStatus backward compatibility with NEST 3.9 for plain output
• PyNEST-NG: A new Python interface for NEST directly connecting Python to C++
• Add PyNEST example for ArtificialSynchrony
• Add PyNEST examples for Brette et al. 2007
• Add pip install option to documentation
• E-prop optimizations
• New feature: cycle timers
• Improve documentation on wall-time vs cpu time timers
• Modernize the stopwatch implementation
• Add correct metadata for "New feature: cycle timers"

Bug Fixes

• Convert non-thread-skipping from unittest to pytest
• Add Apple' stub-based libraries (.tbd) to list of library suffixes
• Ensure NEST can be built without Boost
• Fix issue: #3532: Disconnect correctly with CompressedSpikes:ON/Off
• Fix a number of problems with GetNodes
• Make parsing of XML files robust against extra > at end of file
• Fix issue with sorting when simulating more than 2 billion neurons
• Reinstate get/set_verbosity for backward compatiblity
• multimeter/voltmeter now raise an exception if one tries to set a recording interval that is not a multiple of the resolution
• Update documentation requirements path in environment.yml
• Fix use-after-free of ltdl error string

Maintenance

• Add missing include needed on macOS 26.4
• Replace deprecated MPI C++ bindings by their C equivalent
• Clarify documentation of node update() method
• Add note in docs about how to use volume transmitter during network setup
• Remove test_get_nodes.sli
• Remove test_global_rng.sli to complete #3630
• Integrate one_to_one and pairwise_bernoulli cases into test_all_to_all
• Remove test that has no meaningful function any more
• Simplify test implementation and remove complex reusable code for better readability (replacement for #3510)
• Add missing case to ticket-800 test
• Update comment to reflect behavior after merge of #3103.
• Convert unittest test_symmetric_connections to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_threaded_multimeter to Pytest
• Update test_pp_psc_delta.py and remove sli version
• Convert unittest test_spike_poisson_ps_base2 to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_ppd_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_gamma_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_inh_stdp_synapse to Pytest
• Remove issue-1974.sli as a follow-up to #3439
• Redirect performance benchmarks docs to new repository
• Add venv option for source installation in docs
• Update doc install requirements
• Fix assertion to ensure range index is properly cast to size_t
• Fix destructor warning by updating PoolWrapper destructor signature
• Refactor sli_vector_to_object function to fix unreachable code warning
• Replace numpy.in1d() with numpy.isin() in testsuite
• Implement activation events to reduce memory usage in the e-prop mechanism
• Minor documentation fixes
• Fix compiler warnings related to size_t
• Fix typesetting error in eprop_iaf_psc_delta_adapt documentation
• Pin libNeurosim/CSA version in CI install
• Add pandoc to the environment dependencies
• Update N-MNIST download URL and robustify download method in e-prop tutorial
• Add links for impressum and data protection on Read the Docs
• Load NMNIST_pixels_blocklist.txt relative to script directory
• Update conf.py to fix pynest links and fix build warnings
• Add documentation to install latest development version with pip
• Restrict wheel build workflow to releases and manual triggers
• Remove helpdesk (and fix formatting in many files)
• Remove last mentions of SLI
• Remove nest_vars.sh and adjust corresponding documentation
• Remove run_test.sh
• Fix typo in citation
• Improve maths typesetting in Hill-Tononi synapse
• Fix broken link in docs
• Reorganize test files
• Fix minor typos in docs
• Remove deprecated eprop image and simplify image paths
• Hide default thumbnail image from autogenerated sphinx-gallery
• Rename nest-docker master branch to main
• Remove unused pool class and ends_with() function
• Delete link to X, formerly known as Twitter
• Add a link to more details on installing NEST via pip
• Update what's new for 3.10
• Trusted publishing to pypi
• Fix failing weight plot in e-prop examples
• Add missing model to eprop model relationships image
• Fix the Python 3.14 builds and add some clarifications to the documentation
• [Test on CI without Boost and GSL and adjust ...

NEST 3.10-rc.2

NEST 3.10 is the result of 1770 commits by 24 developers since NEST 3.9 which was released on 2025-09-30.

This long-awaited release changes the inner structure by removing the legacy simulation language interface (SLI) layer and promoting PyNEST as primary user interface. People already using NEST via Python will benefit from the cleaner function calls, without any changes necessary to their code. Depending on the model setup, instantiation of large models may be noticeably faster. Simulation run-times are mostly unaffected, or have been seen to speed up in a few cases. Along with these changes, NEST can now be installed directly from PyPI with

pip install nest-simulator
pip install --pre nest-simulator  # for the release-candidates

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.10"

Enhancements

• Provide more information about changes introduced by PyNEST-NG
• Move from boost::any to std::variant
• Restore full welcome message
• PyNEST-NG: A new Python interface for NEST directly connecting Python to C++
• Add PyNEST example for ArtificialSynchrony
• Add PyNEST examples for Brette et al. 2007
• Add pip install option to documentation
• E-prop optimizations
• New feature: cycle timers
• Improve documentation on wall-time vs cpu time timers
• Modernize the stopwatch implementation
• Add correct metadata for "New feature: cycle timers"

Bug Fixes

• Convert non-thread-skipping from unittest to pytest
• Add Apple' stub-based libraries (.tbd) to list of library suffixes
• Ensure NEST can be built without Boost
• Fix issue: #3532: Disconnect correctly with CompressedSpikes:ON/Off
• Fix a number of problems with GetNodes
• Make parsing of XML files robust against extra > at end of file
• Fix issue with sorting when simulating more than 2 billion neurons
• Reinstate get/set_verbosity for backward compatiblity
• multimeter/voltmeter now raise an exception if one tries to set a recording interval that is not a multiple of the resolution
• Update documentation requirements path in environment.yml
• Fix use-after-free of ltdl error string

Maintenance

• Add missing include needed on macOS 26.4
• Replace deprecated MPI C++ bindings by their C equivalent
• Clarify documentation of node update() method
• Add note in docs about how to use volume transmitter during network setup
• Remove test_get_nodes.sli
• Remove test_global_rng.sli to complete #3630
• Integrate one_to_one and pairwise_bernoulli cases into test_all_to_all
• Remove test that has no meaningful function any more
• Simplify test implementation and remove complex reusable code for better readability (replacement for #3510)
• Add missing case to ticket-800 test
• Update comment to reflect behavior after merge of #3103.
• Convert unittest test_symmetric_connections to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_threaded_multimeter to Pytest
• Update test_pp_psc_delta.py and remove sli version
• Convert unittest test_spike_poisson_ps_base2 to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_ppd_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_gamma_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_inh_stdp_synapse to Pytest
• Remove issue-1974.sli as a follow-up to #3439
• Redirect performance benchmarks docs to new repository
• Add venv option for source installation in docs
• Update doc install requirements
• Fix assertion to ensure range index is properly cast to size_t
• Fix destructor warning by updating PoolWrapper destructor signature
• Refactor sli_vector_to_object function to fix unreachable code warning
• Replace numpy.in1d() with numpy.isin() in testsuite
• Implement activation events to reduce memory usage in the e-prop mechanism
• Minor documentation fixes
• Fix compiler warnings related to size_t
• Fix typesetting error in eprop_iaf_psc_delta_adapt documentation
• Pin libNeurosim/CSA version in CI install
• Add pandoc to the environment dependencies
• Update N-MNIST download URL and robustify download method in e-prop tutorial
• Add links for impressum and data protection on Read the Docs
• Load NMNIST_pixels_blocklist.txt relative to script directory
• Update conf.py to fix pynest links and fix build warnings
• Add documentation to install latest development version with pip
• Restrict wheel build workflow to releases and manual triggers
• Remove helpdesk (and fix formatting in many files)
• Remove last mentions of SLI
• Remove nest_vars.sh and adjust corresponding documentation
• Remove run_test.sh
• Fix typo in citation
• Improve maths typesetting in Hill-Tononi synapse
• Fix broken link in docs
• Reorganize test files
• Fix minor typos in docs
• Remove deprecated eprop image and simplify image paths
• Hide default thumbnail image from autogenerated sphinx-gallery
• Rename nest-docker master branch to main
• Remove unused pool class and ends_with() function
• Delete link to X, formerly known as Twitter
• Add a link to more details on installing NEST via pip
• Update what's new for 3.10
• Trusted publishing to pypi
• Fix failing weight plot in e-prop examples
• Add missing model to eprop model relationships image
• Fix the Python 3.14 builds and add some clarifications to the documentation
• Test on CI without Boost and GSL and adjust tests where necessary

The list contains 82 PRs.

There were also the ...

NEST 3.10-rc1

NEST 3.10 is the result of 1731 commits by 24 developers since NEST 3.9 which was released on 2025-09-30.

This long-awaited release changes the inner structure by removing the legacy simulation language interface (SLI) layer and promoting PyNEST as primary user interface. People already using NEST via Python will benefit from the cleaner function calls, without any changes necessary to their code. Depending on the model setup, instantiation of large models may be noticeably faster. Simulation run-times are mostly unaffected, or have been seen to speed up in a few cases. Along with these changes, NEST can now be installed directly from PyPI with

pip install nest-simulator
pip install --pre nest-simulator  # for the release-candidates

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.10"

Enhancements

• Provide more information about changes introduced by PyNEST-NG
• Move from boost::any to std::variant
• Restore full welcome message
• PyNEST-NG: A new Python interface for NEST directly connecting Python to C++
• Add PyNEST example for ArtificialSynchrony
• Add PyNEST examples for Brette et al. 2007
• Add pip install option to documentation
• E-prop optimizations
• New feature: cycle timers
• Improve documentation on wall-time vs cpu time timers
• Modernize the stopwatch implementation
• Add correct metadata for "New feature: cycle timers"

Bug Fixes

• Convert non-thread-skipping from unittest to pytest
• Add Apple' stub-based libraries (.tbd) to list of library suffixes
• Fix issue: #3532: Disconnect correctly with CompressedSpikes:ON/Off
• Fix a number of problems with GetNodes
• Make parsing of XML files robust against extra > at end of file
• Fix issue with sorting when simulating more than 2 billion neurons
• multimeter/voltmeter now raise an exception if one tries to set a recording interval that is not a multiple of the resolution
• Update documentation requirements path in environment.yml
• Fix use-after-free of ltdl error string

Maintenance

• Add missing include needed on macOS 26.4
• Replace deprecated MPI C++ bindings by their C equivalent
• Clarify documentation of node update() method
• Add note in docs about how to use volume transmitter during network setup
• Remove test_get_nodes.sli
• Remove test_global_rng.sli to complete #3630
• Integrate one_to_one and pairwise_bernoulli cases into test_all_to_all
• Remove test that has no meaningful function any more
• Simplify test implementation and remove complex reusable code for better readability (replacement for #3510)
• Add missing case to ticket-800 test
• Update comment to reflect behavior after merge of #3103.
• Convert unittest test_symmetric_connections to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_threaded_multimeter to Pytest
• Update test_pp_psc_delta.py and remove sli version
• Convert unittest test_spike_poisson_ps_base2 to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_ppd_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_gamma_sup_generator to Pytest
• Convert unittest test_inh_stdp_synapse to Pytest
• Remove issue-1974.sli as a follow-up to #3439
• Redirect performance benchmarks docs to new repository
• Add venv option for source installation in docs
• Update doc install requirements
• Fix assertion to ensure range index is properly cast to size_t
• Fix destructor warning by updating PoolWrapper destructor signature
• Refactor sli_vector_to_object function to fix unreachable code warning
• Replace numpy.in1d() with numpy.isin() in testsuite
• Implement activation events to reduce memory usage in the e-prop mechanism
• Minor documentation fixes
• Fix compiler warnings related to size_t
• Fix typesetting error in eprop_iaf_psc_delta_adapt documentation
• Pin libNeurosim/CSA version in CI install
• Add pandoc to the environment dependencies
• Update N-MNIST download URL and robustify download method in e-prop tutorial
• Add links for impressum and data protection on Read the Docs
• Load NMNIST_pixels_blocklist.txt relative to script directory
• Update conf.py to fix pynest links and fix build warnings
• Add documentation to install latest development version with pip
• Restrict wheel build workflow to releases and manual triggers
• Remove helpdesk (and fix formatting in many files)
• Remove last mentions of SLI
• Remove nest_vars.sh and adjust corresponding documentation
• Remove run_test.sh
• Fix typo in citation
• Improve maths typesetting in Hill-Tononi synapse
• Fix broken link in docs
• Reorganize test files
• Fix minor typos in docs
• Remove deprecated eprop image and simplify image paths
• Hide default thumbnail image from autogenerated sphinx-gallery
• Rename nest-docker master branch to main
• Remove unused pool class and ends_with() function
• Delete link to X, formerly known as Twitter
• Add a link to more details on installing NEST via pip
• Update what's new for 3.10

The list contains 75 PRs.

There were also the following pull requests aside the above categorization:

• Port test_localonly from SLI to Py and fix bug in GetLocalNodeCollection (Bug Fixes)

• Port test_connect_array_*_mpi from SLI to Pytest (Maintenance)

• Port test_rate_neurons_mpi from SLI to Py (and improve MPITestWrapper) (Maintenance)

• Port test_issue_1974 from SLI to Py (Maintenance)

• Port regression test 665 to Pytests (Maintenance)

• [Port regression test 414 to Pytests](https://github.com/...

NEST 3.9

NEST 3.9 is the result of 1217 commits by 24 developers since NEST 3.8 which was released on 2024-08-02.

This release notably adds features for several models, specifically, biologically-inspired features for the e-prop plasticity and the tripartite connectivity, used for astrocytes, which now supports multiple primary connection rules. New additions were made to the documentation including improved neuron model descriptions. Changes include many bug fixes and improvements.

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.9"

Enhancements

• Enhance e-prop plasticity with biologically inspired features
• Re-organise tripartite connectivity generation to support multiple primary connection rules
• Add Windows docker instructions for installation
• Update built-in timer documentation
• Add detailed neuron documentation
• Enhance gunicorn options in NEST Server
• Add optional support for per-thread timers and timing MPI synchronization
• Add logger for nest-server-mpi

Bug fixes

• Provide a non-invasive fix for the stopwatch issue
• Fix command of nest-server
• Ensure testsuite runs all tests again, run MUSIC tests correctly and set lower bounds for number of tests expected
• Fix data race in NodeManager
• Fix data race in mechanism preventing excessive update times
• Use unique_ptr< SecondaryEvent > to avoid memory leaks
• Properly delete proxy node objects on kernel finalization
• Update the data serialization in hl_api_server.py
• Fix return data in nest-server
• Fix corner cases uncovered by Clang sanitizer
• Fix incorrect initialization in move constructor
• Fix incorrect conversion of string inf to double seen on MinGW
• Fix error with GetConnections when using multiple threads in combination with detailed timers
• Correctly detect that substring was not found
• Fix issue with first spike passing through adaptive synapse
• Fix nest-server-mpi
• Fix parentheses in connection_helpers
• Allow passing OpenMP root directory to -Dwith-openmp
• Check if dot binary exists
• Fix memory safety issue in slistartup.cc

Maintenance

• Fix issue with latest Cython release
• Change version of isort CI OS image from Ubuntu 20.04 to Ubuntu 22.04
• Fix Numpy types
• Improved wrappers and OpenMPI handling in Python MPI tests
• Simplify handling of OTHER labels in new-style mpitests
• Move critical section so it can be avoided by limiting verbosity
• Update instances of conda with mamba in docs
• Hike version number after release of 3.8
• Add what's new for 3.9
• Fix some warnings about mismatching integer types (replaces #3026)
• Remove Potjans and Diesmann microcircuit example from this repo and redirect to new one
• Update Izhikevich model documentation
• Add note about failure modes when using sphinx-build
• Port regression test 707 to Pytests
• Port regression test 708 to Pytests
• Port regression test 888 to Pytests
• Port regression test 737 to Pytests
• Port regression test 735 to Pytests
• Port regression test 157 to Pytests
• Port regression test 293 to Pytests
• Port regression test 156 to Pytests
• Port regression test 382 to Pytests
• Port regression test 349 to Pytests
• Port regression test 310 to Pytests
• Change Ubuntu-20.04 version to 22.04 in CI pipelines
• Fix example for EI clustered network
• Port unittest/test_voltmeter_reset to Pytests
• Port regression test 327 to Pytests
• Port regression test 659 to Pytests
• Handle CalledProcessError better
• Port test_gap_junctions_mpi from SLI to Py
• Port mpitests/issue_600.sli to Pytests
• Port mpitests/issue-281.sli to Python
• Port mpitests/issue_2119.sli to python
• Derive astrocyte_lr_1994 directly from Node
• Add NEAT to related projects in docs
• Improve discoverablility of network models in NEST docs
• Fix sphinx warnings in docs
• Whitespace changes for black-25
• Remove deprecated environment variable from SLI init script
• Port test_count_connections from SLI to Py
• Change doc folder name for nest server and other services
• Update HPC docs with pldd usage
• Add packages for nest-server-mpi
• Update MAM benchmark on website
• Add line number to error message
• Updates to formatting for bumping psf/black version #3330
• Loosen pylint threshold
• Update version of mermaid in documentation
• Fix typo in exact-integration documentation
• Fix typo in multimeter documentation
• Update unit from seconds to Siemens
• Updating documentation for iaf_psc_exp and iaf_cond_exp
• Remove code for dry_run mode
• Optimize computation in iaf_psc_alpha_ps model
• Optimize computation in GrowthCurveGaussian
• Add note to aeif models about refractory period and peculiarities
• Fix Read the Docs warning about JavaScript search functionality
• Fix typo in multimeter docs
• Update boost detection and issue warning message
• Configure Sphinx gallery to copy files from pynest/examples
• Update documentation for mailing list guidelines
• Update documentation on Gap Junctions
• Update README on GitHub
• [Fix minor issues in docs](https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pul...

NEST 3.8

NEST 3.8 is the result of 533 commits by 16 developers since NEST 3.7 which was released on 2024-04-12.

This release adds models with exact and simplified NMDA dynamics, as well as improvements and corrections of model documentation. The model directory was reworked to now feature interactive filtering and new concept overview pages. For the first time, the release contains also documentation of the expected performance for established neuronal network models of different sizes.
On the technical side, an important bug in slicing node collections has been fixed, and various issues caused by version updates of other tools such as NumPy and Python on MacOS have been addressed.

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.8"

Enhancements

• Add benchmark results to docs
• Add models with exact and simplified NMDA dynamics according to Brunel and Wang (2001)
• Update documentation for iaf_psc_exp
• Add "How NEST Works" diagram and text to NEST docs index page
• Modify model directory documentation UI and related pages
• Add note on parameter corrections for the AMAT2 model (Heiberg et al 2018)

Bug Fixes

• Correct errors in slicing of node collections
• Fix MUSIC support in NEST
• Make test log parsing more robust
• Fix corner case for node collections
• Change numpy datatype to adapt to NumPy 2.0
• Fix Boost dependency for iaf_bw_2001 model
• Fix uploading of CI artifacts
• Hike Python version for macOS tests to 3.12

Maintenance

• Add warning concerning order of parameter creation and change in number of threads
• Add What's New section for 3.8 in docs
• Update benchmark result docs
• Apply security best practices – Update pre-commit configuration
• Clarify documentation related to recorders and recording backends
• Improve speed of dump_connections() in layer_impl.h
• Add microcircuit rate verification comments
• Improve glossary references in documentation
• Fix Izhikevich model equation in the documentation
• Replace aliases that have been removed with NumPy 2.0
• Update VM Badge to v3.7
• Fix minor Sphinx warnings related to broken links
• Fix conductance based neuron model header files
• Fix broken attribution link in docs
• Add deprecation notice to iaf_cond_alpha_mc model documentation
• Update models with adaptation mechanisms and change tag 'adaptive threshold' to 'adaptation'
• Add OpenSSF Scorecard badge to README
• Add whats new link for 3.8
• Fix minor typo in documentation

NEST 3.8-rc2

NEST 3.8 is the result of 441 commits by 16 developers since NEST 3.7 which was released on 2024-04-12.

This release adds models with exact and simplified NMDA dynamics, as well as improvements and corrections of model documentation. For the first time, the release contains documentation of the expected performance for established neuronal network models of different sizes. On the technical side, an important bug in slicing node collections has been fixed, and various issues caused by version updates of other tools such as NumPy and Python on MacOS have been addressed.

Enhancements

• Add benchmark results to docs
• Add models with exact and simplified NMDA dynamics according to Brunel and Wang (2001)
• Update documentation for iaf_psc_exp
• Add "How NEST Works" diagram and text to NEST docs index page
• Add note on parameter corrections for the AMAT2 model (Heiberg et al 2018)

Bug Fixes

• Correct errors in slicing of node collections
• Fix MUSIC support in NEST
• Make test log parsing more robust
• Fix corner case for node collections
• Change numpy datatype to adapt to NumPy 2.0
• Fix Boost dependency for iaf_bw_2001 model
• Fix uploading of CI artifacts
• Hike Python version for macOS tests to 3.12

Maintenance

• Add warning concerning order of parameter creation and change in number of threads
• Add What's New section for 3.8 in docs
• Update benchmark result docs
• Apply security best practices – Update pre-commit configuration
• Clarify documentation related to recorders and recording backends
• Improve speed of dump_connections() in layer_impl.h
• Add microcircuit rate verification comments
• Improve glossary references in documentation
• Fix Izhikevich model equation in the documentation
• Replace aliases that have been removed with NumPy 2.0
• Update VM Badge to v3.7
• Fix minor Sphinx warnings related to broken links
• Fix conductance based neuron model header files
• Fix broken attribution link in docs

NEST 3.8-rc1

NEST 3.8 is the result of 408 commits by 15 developers since NEST 3.7 which was released on 2024-04-12.

This release adds models with exact and simplified NMDA dynamics, as well as improvements and corrections of model documentation. On the technical side, an important bug in slicing node collections has been fixed, and various issues caused by version updates of other tools such as NumPy and Python on MacOS have been addressed.

Enhancements

• Add models with exact and simplified NMDA dynamics according to Brunel and Wang (2001)
• Update documentation for iaf_psc_exp
• Add "How NEST Works" diagram and text to NEST docs index page
• Add note on parameter corrections for the AMAT2 model (Heiberg et al 2018)

Bug Fixes

• Correct errors in slicing of node collections
• Change numpy datatype to adapt to NumPy 2.0
• Hike Python version for macOS tests to 3.12
• Fix MUSIC support in NEST
• Make test log parsing more robust
• Fix corner case for node collections
• Add warning concerning order of parameter creation and change in number of threads
• Fix uploading of CI artifacts

Maintenance

• Apply security best practices – Update pre-commit configuration
• Clarify documentation related to recorders and recording backends
• Improve speed of dump_connections() in layer_impl.h
• Add microcircuit rate verification comments
• Improve glossary references in documentation
• Fix Izhikevich model equation in the documentation
• Replace aliases that have been removed with NumPy 2.0
• Update VM Badge to v3.7
• Fix minor Sphinx warnings related to broken links
• Fix conductance based neuron model header files
• Fix broken attribution link in docs

NEST 3.7

NEST 3.7 is the result of 1392 commits by 34 developers since NEST 3.6 which was released on 2023-09-28.

This release most notably brings support for spike-based machine learning using eligibility traces, a tripartite and a pairwise-poisson connection rule. Structurally the extension module interface has been redefined and now supports module unloading. Changes contain many bug fixes and improvements.

As of NEST 3.7, NEST requires a C++17 compatible compiler.

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.7"

Enhancements

• Add a tripartite connection rule for neuron-astrocyte connectivity
• Models no longer wrapped in SLI Module, model registration and thread-setting in managers revised
• Further improve iaf_psc_alpha documentation
• Add detailed timers for gathering and delivering secondary events
• Port MPI tests from SLI to Python, Part I
• Create NEST Extension Interface for NEST compatible with new registration scheme and unloading
• Move registration of ConnBuilders, Backends, growth curves from nestmodule to respective managers, allowing unloading
• Align documentation of connection management with connectivity concepts publication (v2)
• User configurable voltage initialization for the compartmental model
• Implement e-prop plasticity
• New connection rule for Poisson-distributed number of synapses between neuron pairs
• Add iaf_tum_2000: a neuron model with integrated short-term plasticity synapse
• Add plantuml to docs
• Add ignore_and_fire neuron model
• Align documentation of connection management with connectivity concepts publication
• Add EI_clustered_network by Rostami et al to PyNEST examples
• Add CLion IDE developer documentation
• Modify doc index page
• Improve doc install pages
• Improve docs for guides and getting started
• Update model documentation for iaf_psc_delta model
• Add a section in installation docs about running NEST with EBRAINS

Bug fixes

• Properly suppress pylint complaints about unused plt in tests
• Allow isort pre-commit to make in-place changes
• Replace assertDictContainsSubset() which has been removed in Python 3.12
• Ensure Connect() does not allow passing parameters that need to be set at the synapse-model level
• Register only spikes actually sent with weight_recorder
• Properly handle OpenMP linker flags
• Ensure all MPI communication to is handled by master thread
• Ensure assert_valid_syn_id() is always called with correct thread id
• Avoid MPI deadlocks on SynapseCollection.get()/set()
• Fix data race in nestkernel/per_thread_bool_indicator.cpp
• astrocyte_lr_1994: Store result of expression evaluation in proper variable
• Make -Dwith-mpi respect provided path and ensure "default off" options are turned on only by explicit ON
• Correctly handle random parameters appearing in the denominator
• Fix MUSIC support in NEST
• bug fix iaf_psc_exp_multisynapse / sli2py test_iaf_psc_exp_multisynapse
• Add localhost ipv4 to default origins for NEST Server
• Update docstring for pynest ResetKernel() to include module unloading

Maintenance

• Harden GitHub Actions – Harden Runner and pin Actions
• Code re-organization for shorter build times (or taming the 96% troll)
• Update test failing due to removed scipy method
• Fix tests and examples to pass Pylint test R1730
• Port test-set-start-stop-origin.sli from Sli-2-Py
• Organize Python dependencies in separate requirements files
• Apply security best practices – Update Dependabot
• Apply security best practices – Add CodeQL workflow
• Apply security best practices – Dependency review
• Apply security best practices – Create OpenSSF Scorecard workflow
• Sli2py iaf_psc_alpha_multisynapse
• Add GCC compiler problem matcher to CI
• Port test_thread_local_ids.sli to Pytest
• Port test_steppedsim.sli to Pytest
• Port test_wfr_settings.sli to Pytest
• Port issue-311 from SLI-2-Py
• Update extension for API extractor
• Copy documentation to CI artifacts
• Port sinusoidal generator tests (SLI-2-Py)
• Port test_setconnections_threads.sli to Pytest
• Minor cleanup of code and comments
• Update clang-format version to 17.0.4 and activate InsertBraces
• port test_iaf_psc_exp to py
• Fix misplaced assert statement causing a lot of warnings
• Sort results of NEST releases on Zenodo by most recent
• Fix broken links in documentation
• Add note about missing random generators for osx-arm64
• Add missing keyword to glif neuron model documentation
• Move tests that are irrelevant post-sli to sli2py_ignore
• Add missing links to examples in model documentation
• Update the documentaton regarding Windows
• Update documentation of video tutorial to clarify version
• Remove unused doxygen groups in developer documentation
• Remove last mentions of C++11 as default
• Set buffer shrink limit to 20% by default (activates shrinking) and fix documentation
• Fix path to docker compose file in documentation
• Add brief install instructions for the NESTML package in our ppa
• Simplify clearing of spike buffers
• Increase admonition to warning
• Clean doc for NEST Server and related projects
• Modify doc extensions to check for correct files
• Fix various Sphinx warnings
• Fix typo in documentation of iaf_psc_alpha
• [Rename the variable "Ca" in astrocyte_lr_1994 to "Ca_astro"](https://gith...

NEST 3.7-rc1

NEST 3.7 is the result of 1282 commits by 30 developers since NEST 3.6 which was released on 2023-09-28.

This release most notably brings support for spike-based machine learning using eligibility traces, a tripartite and a pairwise-poisson connection rule. Structurally the extension module interface has been redefined and now supports module unloading. Changes contain many bug fixes and improvements.

As of NEST 3.7, NEST requires a C++17 compatible compiler.

Check out more details in the docs: "What's new in NEST 3.7"

Enhancements

• Add a tripartite connection rule for neuron-astrocyte connectivity
• Models no longer wrapped in SLI Module, model registration and thread-setting in managers revised
• Further improve iaf_psc_alpha documentation
• Add detailed timers for gathering and delivering secondary events
• Port MPI tests from SLI to Python, Part I
• Create NEST Extension Interface for NEST compatible with new registration scheme and unloading
• Move registration of ConnBuilders, Backends, growth curves from nestmodule to respective managers, allowing unloading
• User configurable voltage initialization for the compartmental model
• Implement e-prop plasticity
• New connection rule for Poisson-distributed number of synapses between neuron pairs
• Add iaf_tum_2000: a neuron model with integrated short-term plasticity synapse
• Add plantuml to docs
• Add ignore_and_fire neuron model
• Add CLion IDE developer documentation
• Modify doc index page
• Improve doc install pages
• Improve docs for guides and getting started
• Update model documentation for iaf_psc_delta model
• Add a section in installation docs about running NEST with EBRAINS

Bug fixes

• Properly suppress pylint complaints about unused plt in tests
• Allow isort pre-commit to make in-place changes
• Replace assertDictContainsSubset() which has been removed in Python 3.12
• Ensure Connect() does not allow passing parameters that need to be set at the synapse-model level
• Register only spikes actually sent with weight_recorder
• Properly handle OpenMP linker flags
• Ensure all MPI communication to is handled by master thread
• Ensure assert_valid_syn_id() is always called with correct thread id
• Avoid MPI deadlocks on SynapseCollection.get()/set()
• Fix data race in nestkernel/per_thread_bool_indicator.cpp
• astrocyte_lr_1994: Store result of expression evaluation in proper variable
• Correctly handle random parameters appearing in the denominator
• bug fix iaf_psc_exp_multisynapse / sli2py test_iaf_psc_exp_multisynapse
• Add localhost ipv4 to default origins for NEST Server

Maintenance

• Harden GitHub Actions – Harden Runner and pin Actions
• Code re-organization for shorter build times (or taming the 96% troll)
• Update test failing due to removed scipy method
• Fix tests and examples to pass Pylint test R1730
• Port test-set-start-stop-origin.sli from Sli-2-Py
• Organize Python dependencies in separate requirements files
• Apply security best practices – Update Dependabot
• Apply security best practices – Add CodeQL workflow
• Apply security best practices – Dependency review
• Apply security best practices – Create OpenSSF Scorecard workflow
• Sli2py iaf_psc_alpha_multisynapse
• Port test_thread_local_ids.sli to Pytest
• Port test_steppedsim.sli to Pytest
• Port test_wfr_settings.sli to Pytest
• Port issue-311 from SLI-2-Py
• Update extension for API extractor
• Copy documentation to CI artifacts
• Port sinusoidal generator tests (SLI-2-Py)
• Port test_setconnections_threads.sli to Pytest
• Minor cleanup of code and comments
• Update clang-format version to 17.0.4 and activate InsertBraces
• port test_iaf_psc_exp to py
• Fix misplaced assert statement causing a lot of warnings
• Sort results of NEST releases on Zenodo by most recent
• Fix broken links in documentation
• Add note about missing random generators for osx-arm64
• Add missing keyword to glif neuron model documentation
• Move tests that are irrelevant post-sli to sli2py_ignore
• Add missing links to examples in model documentation
• Update the documentaton regarding Windows
• Update documentation of video tutorial to clarify version
• Remove unused doxygen groups in developer documentation
• Remove last mentions of C++11 as default
• Set buffer shrink limit to 20% by default (activates shrinking) and fix documentation
• Fix path to docker compose file in documentation
• Add brief install instructions for the NESTML package in our ppa
• Simplify clearing of spike buffers
• Increase admonition to warning
• Modify doc extensions to check for correct files
• Fix various Sphinx warnings
• Fix typo in documentation of iaf_psc_alpha
• Rename the variable "Ca" in astrocyte_lr_1994 to "Ca_astro"
• Add doi to the BibTeX entry
• Sli2py test iaf ps psp poisson generator accuracy
• Fix broken links in documentation
• Add note to expect changes to tripartite syntax and semantics
• Automatically adjust column widths in testsuite report
• Fix minor integer type mismatches
• Fix broken formatting in documentation
• Stop IPython from time consuming deep inspection of NodeCollection objects
• Fix padding around links in docs

Additionally ...