parasweep: A template-based utility for generating, dispatching, and post-processing of parameter sweeps

Abstract

We introduce parasweep, a free and open-source utility for facilitating parallel parameter sweeps with computational models. Instead of requiring parameters to be passed by command-line, which can be error-prone and time-consuming, parasweep leverages the model's existing configuration files using a template system, requiring minimal code changes. parasweep supports a variety different sweep types, generating parameter sets accordingly and dispatching a parallel job for each set, with support for local execution as well as common high-performance computing (HPC) job schedulers. Post-processing is facilitated by providing a mapping between the parameter sets and the simulations. We demonstrate the usage of parasweep with an example.