Affected Repositories

• PyAutoLabs/PyAutoCTI (primary)
• PyAutoLabs/autocti_workspace

Branch Survey

Suggested branch: feature/cti-fits-fit-output-dir

Implementation Steps

1. Add Path(output_path).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) before hdu_list.writeto in autocti/dataset_1d/plot/fit_plots.py::fits_fit and autocti/charge_injection/plot/fit_ci_plots.py::fits_fit.
2. One test per writer: call fits_fit with a nested folder that doesn't exist yet and assert fit.fits is written. Control: both fail on main. Then run the full test_autocti serially.
3. autocti_workspace config/build/profile_release.yaml: PYAUTO_FAST_PLOTS: "1", drop the workaround comment. Witness: 3/3 smoke scripts pass through run_python.py with that profile.

autocti: fits_fit writes fit.fits into a directory nothing creates when PYAUTO_FAST_PLOTS=1

Type: bug
Target: autocti
Repos:

• autocti
• autocti_workspace
  Themes:
• cti
• visualization
  Difficulty: small
  Autonomy: supervised
  Priority: normal
  Status: formalised
  Consequence: glance
  Witness: with PYAUTO_TEST_MODE=1 PYAUTO_SKIP_VISUALIZATION=0 PYAUTO_FAST_PLOTS=1, scripts/dataset_1d/modeling/start_here.py and scripts/imaging_ci/modeling/start_here.py in autocti_workspace run to completion and write image/fit_dataset/fit.fits; autocti_workspace config/build/profile_release.yaml flips back to PYAUTO_FAST_PLOTS: "1".
  Review-minutes: 3
  Unattended: ready
  Epic: cti-upkeep
  Phase: 3

What happens

Found 2026-11-05 while adding autocti_workspace config/build/profile_release.yaml
for the release train (PyAutoHands#332). All 3 smoke_tests.txt scripts fail
under the release profile with FAST_PLOTS on:

FileNotFoundError: .../output/test_mode/dataset_1d/simple/species[x2]/<hash>/analyses/analysis_0/image/fit_dataset/fit.fits
  autocti/dataset_1d/model/plotter.py:202  fit_plots.fits_fit(fit=fit, output_path=output_path)
  autocti/dataset_1d/plot/fit_plots.py:216 hdu_list.writeto(Path(output_path) / "fit.fits", ...)

output_path is the image_path / "fit_dataset" subfolder. It only gets created as a
side effect of autoarray.plot.utils.subplot_save saving a figure. With
PYAUTO_FAST_PLOTS=1 that function returns before it creates the directory, so the
FITS write fails. PyAutoGalaxy avoids this because its base plotter image_path
calls os.makedirs, and its fits writers target that path directly.

Fix

Create the directory before the write in both FITS writers:
autocti/dataset_1d/plot/fit_plots.py::fits_fit and
autocti/charge_injection/plot/fit_ci_plots.py::fits_fit (or make the CTI plotters'
subfolder paths mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)). Add a unit test that calls
fits_fit with a non-existent output directory. Then set the release profile's
FAST_PLOTS back to "1" (the temporary workaround comment points here).