Shell Parameters

The Shell Parameters section contains details about the psiturk shell.

[Shell Parameters]
launch_in_sandbox_mode = true
bonus_message = "Thanks for participating!"
use_psiturk_ad_server = true
ad_location = false

launch_in_sandbox_mode [true | false]

If set to true, the psiturk shell will launch in sandbox mode. if set to false, the shell will launch in live mode. We recommend leaving this option to true to lessen the chance of accidentally posting a live HIT to mTurk.

See also

Overview of the command-line interface
The basic features of the psiTurk command line.

bonus_message [string]

If set to a string, automatically uses this string as the message to participants when bonusing them for an assignment. If not set, you will be prompted to type in a message each time you bonus participants. (This message is required by AMT.)

use_psiturk_ad_server [true | false]

Warning

Non-use of the psiturk ad server is an experimental feature.

If set to true, then the psiTurk secure ad server functionality will be enabled, and your ad will be hosted on psiturk.org when creating hits on AMT.

If you want to host your own ad, then set this to false. You are responsible for obtaining your own cert and key and for configuring your own proxy server in front of psiturk/gunicorn. It is not necessary to also include the cert and key in the [Server Parameters] section – you can have a proxy server such as nginx in front of psiturk/gunicorn which handles SSL connections. Although if you don’t have your SSL certs in both places, then traffic between your proxy server and psiturk/gunicorn will not be encrypted. Perhaps that doesn’t matter to you though if you configure your proxy server to pass traffic to your gunicorn/psiturk server via localhost.

If set to false then you must also specify your custom ad_location (see below).

See also

See the [Server Parameters] certfile and keyfile configs for ssl-enabling the psiturk server (although this is not required to use your own ad location).

See also

See this gist for an example nginx psiturk SSL configuration

ad_location [false | string]

Warning

Non-use of the psiturk ad server is an experimental feature.

ad_location is only used if use_psiturk_ad_server is false. Set to whatever you set up your proxy server to listen on. This will be sent directly to AMT when creating your HITs to tell AMT where to look for your ad.

Format is as follows:

https://<host>:<port>/ad

Some gotcha’s:

  • don’t forget the /ad at the end. And don’t append a trailing backslash.
  • you must use https:// or AMT will explode.
  • the <port> should be the port your proxy server (such as nginx) is running on, not the psiturk port. See the gist for a full example.

See also

See the information for the use_psiturk_ad_server configuration above as well.