# Live-cell tracking

OMERO-Screen can follow individual cells through time. On a live-cell timelapse, every segmented nucleus is linked across frames so that it keeps one `track_id` for its whole lifetime, and each division is recorded as a parent → daughter link. Tracks go into the same CellView database as every other measurement. You can explore them in napari, correct them by hand in [Mastodon](https://mastodon.readthedocs.io/), and, on PIP-FUCCI plates, repair and review them with an edit log.


# The workflow

``` text
omero-screen --stitch --track           1  generate tracks
     │  Trackastra links nuclei across frames; track_id / parent_track_id
     │  go into the measurements
     ▼
cellview import plate                   2  tracks land in CellView
     ▼
napari: Tracks widget                   3  view, inspect lineages, export
     ├──▶ Mastodon (Fiji)               4a manual curation of any plate
     └──▶ repair + review in napari     4b PIP-FUCCI plates: edit log
```

| Step | Tool | Guide |
|----|----|----|
| 1-2 | `omero-screen --stitch --track`, `cellview import plate` | [Generate tracks](generate.md) |
| 3 | Tracks widget | [Tracks widget](../napari/user-guide/tracks_widget.md) |
| 4a | Mastodon | [Curate in Mastodon](mastodon.md) |
| 4b | `cellview repair-tracks`, Track Review widget, `cellview curate` | [Repair and review](review.md) |


# Raw and curated columns

Every tracked cell carries two pairs of columns:

- `track_id_raw` / `parent_track_id_raw`: the tracker's output. Nothing ever changes them.
- `track_id` / `parent_track_id`: the current best lineage. Repair and curation write here.

Keeping the raw pair means every correction can be audited, and repeated, from the tracker's original output.