Migration guide: legacy to current workflows

Use this guide when moving from the previous BatDetect2 workflow to the current CLI and API.

Who should migrate now

You should migrate if:

you are starting a new workflow,
you want the current docs path,
you want the newer CLI and API surface,
you are maintaining code that does not depend on the exact legacy JSON or feature outputs.

You may need the legacy workflow a bit longer if:

downstream tooling depends on the exact old output structure,
you rely on older notebooks built around batdetect2.api,
you depend on legacy feature extraction outputs without a validated replacement yet.

CLI mapping

batdetect2 detect AUDIO_DIR ANN_DIR DETECTION_THRESHOLD -> batdetect2 process directory MODEL_PATH AUDIO_DIR OUTPUT_PATH --detection-threshold ...

Main changes:

the model path is now a positional argument on the process subcommand,
the current workflow expects an explicit checkpoint path rather than silently relying on the old default CLI behavior,
output formatting is configurable,
threshold override is an option rather than a required positional argument,
there are separate subcommands for directory, file-list, and dataset-driven inference.

Python API mapping

old: import batdetect2.api as api
current: from batdetect2.api_v2 import BatDetect2API

Typical migration shape:

from pathlib import Path

from batdetect2.api_v2 import BatDetect2API

api = BatDetect2API.from_checkpoint(Path("path/to/model.ckpt"))
prediction = api.process_file(Path("path/to/audio.wav"))

Useful replacements:

legacy process_file -> current BatDetect2API.process_file
legacy process_audio -> current BatDetect2API.process_audio
legacy process_spectrogram -> current BatDetect2API.process_spectrogram
legacy one-off batch loops -> current process_files or CLI process

Output and terminology changes

Legacy workflows often centered on:

BatDetect2-style JSON output,
cnn_feats,
spec_features,
spec_slices.

Current workflows center on:

ClipDetections and Detection objects,
per-detection detection_score,
per-detection class_scores,
per-detection features,
configurable output formatters.

What to validate after migration

Before replacing a legacy workflow in production or research analysis, validate:

that thresholds are still appropriate,
that outputs are being saved in the right format,
that downstream code reads the new outputs correctly,
that feature-related assumptions still hold,
that evaluation and ecological interpretation are unchanged only where you have actually verified that.

Migration checklist

Identify the old entry points you use.
Replace them with the current CLI or BatDetect2API equivalents.
Choose an output format explicitly.
Re-run on a small reviewed subset.
Compare outputs and downstream behavior.
Update any notebooks or scripts that assume legacy field names.

Current getting started: {doc}../getting_started
Current tutorials: {doc}../tutorials/index
Current API reference: {doc}../reference/api

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