From d3ec5355c2ebe79f80d18c69801028428c0b8771 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Walsh <walshmm@ornl.gov>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:47:21 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] add boilerplate changes to standardize how TAVI is
 launched

---
 src/tavi/__main__.py      | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/tavi/frontend/main.py | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 96 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 src/tavi/__main__.py
 create mode 100644 src/tavi/frontend/main.py

diff --git a/src/tavi/__main__.py b/src/tavi/__main__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0509ca38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tavi/__main__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+"""Entry point."""
+
+import argparse
+import sys
+
+from tavi import __version__ as tavi_version
+from tavi.frontend.main import start
+
+
+def _print_text_splash() -> None:
+    # TODO
+    pass
+
+
+def _createArgparser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        prog="TAVI", description="Triple Axis data Visualization Toolkit (TAVI) ", epilog="https://tavi.readthedocs.io/"
+    )
+    parser.add_argument("-v", "--version", action="version", version=tavi_version)
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--headcheck",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="start the gui then shut it down after 5 seconds. This is used for testing",
+    )
+    return parser
+
+
+def main(args: list[str] = None) -> int:
+    """Setups up and runs the application."""
+    parser = _createArgparser()
+    options, _ = parser.parse_known_args(args)
+
+    # show the ascii splash screen
+    _print_text_splash()
+
+    return start(options)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main(sys.argv))
diff --git a/src/tavi/frontend/main.py b/src/tavi/frontend/main.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4ab19d53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tavi/frontend/main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+"""Main Qt entry point."""
+
+import signal
+import sys
+from argparse import Namespace
+
+from qtpy.QtCore import QTimer
+from qtpy.QtWidgets import QApplication
+
+from tavi.backend.model.interface.TaviProjectInterface import TaviProjectInterface
+from tavi.configuration import Configuration
+from tavi.frontend.presenter.main_presenter import MainPresenter
+
+
+def _qapp() -> QApplication:
+    if QApplication.instance():
+        _app = QApplication.instance()
+    else:
+        _app = QApplication(sys.argv)
+    return _app
+
+
+def start(options: Namespace = None) -> int:
+    """Start the UI."""
+    signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal.SIG_DFL)
+
+    app = _qapp()
+    config = Configuration()
+
+    if not config.is_valid():
+        msg = (
+            "Error with configuration settings!",
+            f"Check and update your file: {config.config_file_path}",
+            "with the latest settings found here:",
+            f"{config.template_file_path} and start the application again.",
+        )
+
+        print(" ".join(msg))
+        sys.exit(-1)
+
+    # TODO: Log a welcome message
+    print("Welcome to TAVI!  Happy visualizing!")
+    try:
+        dict_of_model = {"TaviProjectInterface": TaviProjectInterface()}
+        mainWindow = MainPresenter(dict_of_model)
+        mainWindow._view.show()
+
+        if options.headcheck:
+            SECONDS = 3  # arbitrarily chosen
+            # TODO: log that it is doing a headcheck
+            QTimer.singleShot(SECONDS * 1000, lambda: app.exit(0))
+        return app.exec()
+
+    except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001
+        # TODO: logger.exception("Uncaught Error bubbled up to main!")
+        return -1

From cf414231317f57960e73594f26293ff6e7b3b84f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Walsh <walshmm@ornl.gov>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:05:49 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] migrate how we check version to the standard

---
 src/tavi/__init__.py | 12 +-----------
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/tavi/__init__.py b/src/tavi/__init__.py
index 475eb027..9e5687e4 100644
--- a/src/tavi/__init__.py
+++ b/src/tavi/__init__.py
@@ -1,16 +1,6 @@
-"""
-Contains the entry point for the application
-"""
+"""Contain the entry point for the application."""
 
 try:
     from ._version import __version__  # noqa: F401
 except ImportError:
     __version__ = "unknown"
-
-
-def Tavi():  # noqa: N802
-    """Start Class"""
-
-    from .tavimain import Tavi as tavi  # noqa: E501, N813
-
-    return tavi()