ValueError: "There must be no dates in .json sidecar" on Philips

[Camilo-Castelblanco]

1. Example NIfTI files converted separately (via dcm2niix)
From one subject/session (BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025), converting DICOMs directly with dcm2niix gives filenames like:

BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025_sT1W_3D_TFE_20250125082423_201.nii(.json)
BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025_T2W_FFE_20250125082423_701.nii(.json)
BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025_3D_Brain_VIEW_FLAIR_20250125082423_401.nii(.json)
BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025_DTI_low_20250125082423_601.nii(.json/.bval/.bvec)
BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025_pCASL_20250125082423_501.nii(.json)
BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025_RESTING_STATE-fMRI_20250125082423_801.nii(.json and many *_tNNNNN.nii/.json)
Scanner: Philips (shows “Philips Scaling Values RS:RI:SS = ...” in dcm2niix output).

2. Heuristic file (simplified)

def create_key(template, outtype=('nii.gz',), annotation_classes=None):
    return template, outtype, annotation_classes

t1w   = create_key('sub-{subject}/ses-{session}/anat/sub-{subject}_ses-{session}_T1w')
t2w   = create_key('sub-{subject}/ses-{session}/anat/sub-{subject}_ses-{session}_T2w')
flair = create_key('sub-{subject}/ses-{session}/anat/sub-{subject}_ses-{session}_FLAIR')
dwi   = create_key('sub-{subject}/ses-{session}/dwi/sub-{subject}_ses-{session}_dwi')
asl   = create_key('sub-{subject}/ses-{session}/perf/sub-{subject}_ses-{session}_asl')
rest  = create_key('sub-{subject}/ses-{session}/func/sub-{subject}_ses-{session}_task-rest_bold')

def infotodict(seqinfo):
    info = {t1w: [], t2w: [], flair: [], dwi: [], asl: [], rest: []}
    for s in seqinfo:
        desc = (s.series_description or '').lower()
        if 'st1w_3d_tfe' in desc:
            info[t1w].append(s.series_id)
        elif 't2w_ffe' in desc:
            info[t2w].append(s.series_id)
        elif '3d_brain_view_flair' in desc:
            info[flair].append(s.series_id)
        elif 'dti_low' in desc:
            info[dwi].append(s.series_id)
        elif 'pcasl' in desc:
            info[asl].append(s.series_id)
        elif 'resting_state-fmri' in desc or 'resting_state' in desc:
            info[rest].append(s.series_id)
    return info

3. Command

heudiconv
--files /filepath/BRK0312_MRI_TP1_01252025/*/DICOM
-o /filepath/bids
-f /dartfs/.../brk_heuristic.py
-s brk0312
--ses tp1
-c dcm2niix
-b
--minmeta

4. Error
Only the FLAIR series converts; then HeuDiConv crashes with:
INFO: Converting ... FLAIR ... (320 DICOMs) -> ...sub-brk0312_ses-ses-tp1_FLAIR_heudiconv954.nii
...
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/.../envs/heudiconv38/bin/heudiconv", line 10, in
sys.exit(main())
File "/.../envs/heudiconv38/lib/python3.8/site-packages/heudiconv/cli/run.py", line 30, in main
workflow(**kwargs)
File "/.../envs/heudiconv38/lib/python3.8/site-packages/heudiconv/main.py", line 479, in workflow
prep_conversion(
File "/.../envs/heudiconv38/lib/python3.8/site-packages/heudiconv/convert.py", line 259, in prep_conversion
convert(
File "/.../envs/heudiconv38/lib/python3.8/site-packages/heudiconv/convert.py", line 639, in convert
tuneup_bids_json_files(bids_outfiles)
File "/.../envs/heudiconv38/lib/python3.8/site-packages/heudiconv/bids.py", line 331, in tuneup_bids_json_files
raise ValueError("There must be no dates in .json sidecar")
ValueError: There must be no dates in .json sidecar
So even with HEUDICONV_ALLOW_DATES=1 and --minmeta, tuneup_bids_json_files still raises ValueError.

5. Environment (HPC)

System: university HPC cluster (SLURM)
OS: Linux x86_64
Python: 3.8 (conda env)

conda create -n heudiconv38 -c conda-forge python=3.8 heudiconv dcm2niix
conda activate heudiconv38
HeuDiConv version: 1.1.6 (INFO: Running heudiconv version 1.1.6)
dcm2niix: v1.0.20250505 (reported in log)
Scanner: Philips (Philips scaling values reported in dcm2niix output).

6. Tried solutions

Set HEUDICONV_ALLOW_DATES=1 (exported in shell; confirmed visible in the same process).
Added --minmeta to reduce metadata from dcm2niix.
Verified that conversion itself runs (FLAIR NIfTI is created successfully).
Error consistently arises during tuneup_bids_json_files(bids_outfiles) with ValueError("There must be no dates in .json sidecar").