Templates Archive

The TemplateFlow Archive aggregates all the templates for redistribution. The archive uses DataLad to maintain all templates under version control.

Accessing the Archive via the Python client ¶

The recommended way to use TemplateFlow is via the Python Client

Accessing the Archive via DataLad ¶

First, make sure you have a functional installation of DataLad. The archive has a top-level data structure to maintain all templates. This is the super-dataset , and it is maintained on GitHub . The latest stable super-dataset can be referenced with ///templateflow :

$ datalad install -r ///templateflow

The -r switch ensures all available templates are also installed .

Once the super-dataset and its siblings are installed, metadata will be already accessible. However, the different imaging data resources (NIfTI, GIFTI and transforms files) have to be pulled down.

For example, to download the complete tpl-MNI152NLin2009cAsym :

$ cd templateflow
$ datalad get -r tpl-MNI152NLin2009cAsym

TemplateFlow's data structure ¶

Browse the archive ¶

Naming conventions ¶

The TemplateFlow Archive is organized in a BIDS-like structure . However, it deviates from the standard at times (e.g., the tpl key replaces sub ). Here we outline the most common names that are found in TemplateFlow.

Common key names using in TemplateFlow:

Key	Entity	Description
`tpl`	Template identifier	A unique name of the template, matching those of BIDS.
`res`	Resolution	See `template_description.json` within each template for more information about what the index specifies.
`atlas`	Atlas	Name of an atlas.
`desc`	Description	Additional information about the file to differentiate it from other files.

TemplateFlow uses all the valid suffices of BIDS, but the most commonly found in the Archive are:

Suffix	Description
`dseg`	discrete segmentation
`pseg`	probability segmentation
`mask`	binary mask
`xfm`	transform file
`T2w`	T2 weighted image
`T1w`	T1 weighted image

Common file-formats used in TemplateFlow:

Extension	Description
`.nii.gz`	Image
`.tsv`	Tabular information
`.json`	Meta-information
`.h5`	Transform file

Thus a template with the following name: tpl-test_res-high_atlas-myatlas_desc-200nodes_dseg.nii.gz would be a NIfTI image containing the discrete segmentation of myatlas that contains 200nodes . The template identifier is test . The resolution information will be found in the template_description.json file under the entry high .