ndx-hed 0.2.0

Released October 20, 2025

Overview

Version 0.2.0 represents a major step forward in the development of the HED extension for NWB (Neurodata Without Borders).
This release introduces core functionality for HED schema integration, event validation, and round-trip conversion between BIDS and NWB event formats, alongside expanded documentation, example files, and improved developer tooling.

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🚀 New features

HED integration and metadata

• Introduced HedLabMetaData object for managing HED schema metadata within NWB files ([#24](#24)).
• Updated schema handling to allow multiple hed_schema objects while maintaining robust quantity validation ([#25](#25)).
• Fixed name argument handling for HedLabMetaData objects and added further clarifications ([#40](#40), [#42](#42)).

Event validation and conversion

• Implemented round-trip conversion between BIDS events and NWB events, enabling interoperability across data standards ([#27](#27)).
• Added a first-pass HED validator for NWB files, laying the foundation for comprehensive event annotation checks ([#28](#28)).
• Enabled full NWB file validation using embedded HED annotations ([#29](#29)).
• Improved validation of HED value vectors and properly handled external definitions, resolving key issues with external schema references ([#35](#35), [#44](#44)).

Examples and documentation

• Added a new examples/ directory demonstrating ndx-hed usage with HED schemas and NWB event data ([#30](#30), [#31](#31)).
• Expanded and restructured documentation with improved formatting, additional explanations, and corrected URLs ([#33](#33), [#34](#34), [#47](#47), [#48](#48)).
• Updated Sphinx build requirements and documentation automation workflows for smoother releases ([#49](#49)).

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🧩 Code quality and maintenance

• Addressed numerous Ruff linting and formatting issues to maintain compliance and improve readability ([#19](#19), [#36](#36), [#38](#38), [#46](#46)).
• Updated dependencies, including hedtools to version 0.7.1, ensuring compatibility with the latest HED Python utilities ([#45](#45)).
• Added project badges (coverage, build status, PyPI, etc.) to the README for improved project visibility ([#18](#18)).
• Moved Kay Robbins to the front of the author/contact list ([#39](#39)).
• Updated release dates and changelog information for transparency and historical accuracy ([#50](#50)).

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🧠 Contributors

Thank-you to all contributors to this release:

• @VisLab
• @rly
• @copilot

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🔗 Related Resources

• [Full diff: v0.1.0 → v0.2.0](0.1.0...0.2.0)
• [HED Python tools (hed-python)](https://github.com/hed-standard/hed-python)
• [NWB (Neurodata Without Borders)](https://www.nwb.org/)

ndx-hed 0.1.0

Release 0.1.0 July 25, 2024

• Implements a HedTags class that extends NWB VectorData.
• Validates tags in the constructor and as they are added.
• The HedTags class can be used alone or added to any DynamicTable.
• The initial release only supports string HED version specifications, not tuples or lists.