How CARP fits together

CARP is a set of building blocks. Most projects only need a few of them. Here’s how they connect.

The short version

• On the phone: your Flutter app uses CARP Mobile Sensing (CAMS) to run a study. Sampling packages let CAMS collect more kinds of data (health, location, surveys…), and wearable packages let it talk to devices (Apple Watch, Polar…).
• On the server: CARP Web Services (CAWS) stores study protocols, deployments and the collected data. Gardener can add data from Fitbit, Garmin, Withings and Dexcom accounts.
• For researchers: the CARP Portal (web) and carp-cli (terminal, Python) set up studies and get data out of CAWS. CARP DSP runs data-science pipelines on it.

Ecosystem map

On the phone

Your appor the CARP Studies App

Sampling packageshealth · context · survey · audio …WearablesApple Watch · Polar · Movesense …CAWS clientcarp_backend · carp_webservices

CARP Mobile Sensingruns the study on the phonecarp_coreprotocols · devices · triggers · tasks · measures

study to the phonedata to the server

Server

CAWSCARP Web Services: studies and datacarp.core-kotlinsame domain model, server sideGardenerFitbit · Garmin · Withings · Dexcom

set upexport

Researcher tools

CARP Portalset up studies, invite, exportcarp-cliterminal and PythonCARP DSPdata-science pipelines

Highlighted boxes are the parts every CAWS-based study uses. Click a box to open its docs. The phone and the server share one domain model (protocols, devices, triggers, tasks, measures): carp_core in Dart and carp.core-kotlin on the server. That is why a protocol made in the Portal runs unchanged in the app. Without CAWS, only the phone part is needed: the protocol lives in your app code and data stays on the phone or goes to your own server.

Every package, with its repo and what it depends on, is listed in Components.

From study protocol to data

sequenceDiagram
  autonumber
  actor R as Researcher
  participant S as CAWS
  participant A as App
  actor P as Participant
  R->>S: Create the study and protocol<br/>(Portal or carp-cli)
  R->>S: Invite participants<br/>(email or study code)
  P->>A: Sign in or enter the code
  A->>S: Ask for my study
  S-->>A: The protocol for this phone
  Note over A: CARP Mobile Sensing collects data
  A->>S: Upload measurements<br/>(every 10 minutes)
  S-->>R: Export data<br/>(Portal, carp-cli or DSP)

Step in the diagram	Where it is covered
1–2	Step 1: Configure your study, Go live
3–5	What participants see
after 5 (collecting)	Measures and data
6–7	Where data goes

Where to go next

ComponentsEvery CARP piece with its repo, package and what it depends on.

CAMS architectureThe phone runtime in detail.

Study protocolDevices, triggers, tasks and measures, with examples.

API ReferenceGenerated reference for every CARP Dart package.