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name: tracker-development description: "Implement, adapt, and debug PyTracking tracker packages and parameter modules safely, including BaseTracker contracts, registration, output dictionaries, multi-object/segmentation conventions, and runtime checkpoint handoff." disable-model-invocation: true metadata: disco-role: operating license: GPL 3.0

Tracker Development

Use this sub-skill when a task asks to create, adapt, review, or debug a PyTracking tracker implementation or parameter file. This includes tracker package layout, BaseTracker.initialize() / track() contracts, get_tracker_class() registration, TrackerParams and feature parameters, output dictionaries, segmentation or multi-object conventions, and connecting an LTR-trained checkpoint to a runtime parameter module.

Do not use this sub-skill to run evaluations, videos, webcams, or experiments; route command execution to tracking-evaluation. Route full training, training-setting edits, and checkpoint creation to ltr-training. Route saved-result analysis, plots, VOS metrics, VOT packaging, and benchmark submission packaging to analysis-and-packaging.

Fast routing

• Need the file layout and implementation checklist for a new tracker and parameter module: read references/extension-guide.md.
• Need TrackerParams, FeatureParams, Choice, feature extractors, TensorList, DCF/Fourier/optimization utilities, or checkpoint handoff details: read references/parameter-and-library-api.md.
• Need symptom-to-fix guidance for import errors, missing parameters(), bad output keys, segmentation/multi-object mistakes, or checkpoint loading failures: read references/troubleshooting.md.
• Need a safe static layout check without importing tracker code: run scripts/validate_tracker_layout.py.

Standard development loop

1. Choose a Python module-safe tracker package name such as mytracker; this becomes both the runtime tracker name and the folder under pytracking/tracker/ and pytracking/parameter/.
2. Implement a class inheriting BaseTracker and provide initialize(self, image, info) -> dict and track(self, image, info=None) -> dict.
3. Register the class in the tracker package __init__.py with get_tracker_class().
4. Create at least one parameter module with parameters() returning a TrackerParams object.
5. Connect checkpoints through runtime parameters only after the selected .pth or .pth.tar file is present under the user's configured network path, or after the user explicitly chooses an absolute path.
6. Validate the layout statically before trying imports or tracker runs.

python skills/disco/pytracking/sub-skills/tracker-development/scripts/validate_tracker_layout.py \
  --repo-root /path/to/pytracking-checkout \
  --tracker-name mytracker \
  --param-name default

Guardrails

• Keep runtime tracker output dictionaries compatible with the PyTracking evaluator; do not invent result keys that replace target_bbox.
• Do not run dataset/video/webcam/experiment commands from this sub-skill. After static layout and parameter review, hand execution to tracking-evaluation.
• Do not start or modify LTR training here. If the needed network does not exist yet, hand the training task to ltr-training.
• Do not analyze benchmark results or package submissions here; use analysis-and-packaging.
• Do not make future agents depend on hidden inspection environments or generated review artifacts. Use only the user's checkout and the bundled helper script.