From 42aa4ff4aca7f1aa49a74064de9386c3bc33e946 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alessio Buccino <alejoe9187@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:14:16 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/5] auto_label_units -> model_base_label_units + unitrefine
 function

---
 doc/api.rst                                   |  3 +-
 doc/how_to/auto_curation_prediction.rst       | 10 +--
 doc/references.rst                            |  2 +-
 src/spikeinterface/curation/__init__.py       |  3 +-
 .../curation/model_based_curation.py          |  8 +-
 .../tests/test_model_based_curation.py        | 23 +++++-
 .../curation/unitrefine_curation.py           | 74 +++++++++++++++++++
 7 files changed, 107 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py

diff --git a/doc/api.rst b/doc/api.rst
index 38990a430d..adfdb85470 100755
--- a/doc/api.rst
+++ b/doc/api.rst
@@ -373,9 +373,10 @@ spikeinterface.curation
     .. autofunction:: remove_redundant_units
     .. autofunction:: remove_duplicated_spikes
     .. autofunction:: remove_excess_spikes
-    .. autofunction:: auto_label_units
+    .. autofunction:: model_based_label_units
     .. autofunction:: load_model
     .. autofunction:: train_model
+    .. autofunction:: unitrefine_label_units
 
 Curation Model
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/doc/how_to/auto_curation_prediction.rst b/doc/how_to/auto_curation_prediction.rst
index ad672f22a8..3e5f8ddd4f 100644
--- a/doc/how_to/auto_curation_prediction.rst
+++ b/doc/how_to/auto_curation_prediction.rst
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ repo's URL after huggingface.co/) and that we trust the model.
 
 .. code::
 
-    from spikeinterface.curation import auto_label_units
+    from spikeinterface.curation import model_based_label_units
 
-    labels_and_probabilities = auto_label_units(
+    labels_and_probabilities = model_based_label_units(
         sorting_analyzer = sorting_analyzer,
         repo_id = "SpikeInterface/toy_tetrode_model",
         trust_model = True
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ create the labels:
 
 .. code::
 
-    labels_and_probabilities = si.auto_label_units(
+    labels_and_probabilities = si.model_based_label_units(
         sorting_analyzer = sorting_analyzer,
         model_folder = "my_folder_with_a_model_in_it",
     )
@@ -39,5 +39,5 @@ are also saved as a property of your ``sorting_analyzer`` and can be accessed li
 
 .. code::
 
-    labels = sorting_analyzer.sorting.get_property("classifier_label")
-    probabilities = sorting_analyzer.sorting.get_property("classifier_probability")
+    labels = sorting_analyzer.get_sorting_property("classifier_label")
+    probabilities = sorting_analyzer.get_sorting_property("classifier_probability")
diff --git a/doc/references.rst b/doc/references.rst
index be05b69c0c..24eba16902 100644
--- a/doc/references.rst
+++ b/doc/references.rst
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ If you use the default "similarity_correlograms" preset in the :code:`compute_me
 
 If you use the "slay" preset in the :code:`compute_merge_unit_groups` method, please cite [Koukuntla]_
 
-If you use :code:`auto_label_units` or :code:`train_model`, please cite [Jain]_
+If you use :code:`unitrefine_label_units`, :code:`model_based_label_units` or :code:`train_model`, please cite [Jain]_
 
 Benchmark
 ---------
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/__init__.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/__init__.py
index b64070e662..68737a0f12 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/__init__.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/__init__.py
@@ -20,5 +20,6 @@
 from .sortingview_curation import apply_sortingview_curation
 
 # automated curation
-from .model_based_curation import auto_label_units, load_model
+from .model_based_curation import model_based_label_units, load_model
 from .train_manual_curation import train_model, get_default_classifier_search_spaces
+from .unitrefine_curation import unitrefine_label_units
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py
index e779e13182..0598a6afa1 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@ def predict_labels(
         )
 
         # Set predictions and probability as sorting properties
-        self.sorting_analyzer.sorting.set_property("classifier_label", predictions)
-        self.sorting_analyzer.sorting.set_property("classifier_probability", probabilities)
+        self.sorting_analyzer.set_sorting_property("classifier_label", predictions)
+        self.sorting_analyzer.set_sorting_property("classifier_probability", probabilities)
 
         if export_to_phy:
             self._export_to_phy(classified_units)
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def _export_to_phy(self, classified_df):
         classified_df.to_csv(f"{sorting_path}/cluster_prediction.tsv", sep="\t", index_label="cluster_id")
 
 
-def auto_label_units(
+def model_based_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer: SortingAnalyzer,
     model_folder=None,
     model_name=None,
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ def auto_label_units(
     ----------
     sorting_analyzer : SortingAnalyzer
         The sorting analyzer object containing the spike sorting results.
-    model_folder : str or Path, defualt: None
+    model_folder : str or Path, default: None
         The path to the folder containing the model
     repo_id : str | Path, default: None
         Hugging face repo id which contains the model e.g. 'username/model'
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
index 9f845bb1c3..23e4dd3587 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from spikeinterface.curation.tests.common import sorting_analyzer_for_curation, trained_pipeline_path
 from spikeinterface.curation.model_based_curation import ModelBasedClassification
-from spikeinterface.curation import auto_label_units, load_model
+from spikeinterface.curation import model_based_label_units, load_model
 from spikeinterface.curation.train_manual_curation import _get_computed_metrics
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -39,13 +39,13 @@ def test_model_based_classification_init(sorting_analyzer_for_curation, model):
 
 
 def test_metric_ordering_independence(sorting_analyzer_for_curation, trained_pipeline_path):
-    """The function `auto_label_units` needs the correct metrics to have been computed. However,
+    """The function `model_based_label_units` needs the correct metrics to have been computed. However,
     it should be independent of the order of computation. We test this here."""
 
     sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("template_metrics", metric_names=["half_width"])
     sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("quality_metrics", metric_names=["num_spikes", "snr"])
 
-    prediction_prob_dataframe_1 = auto_label_units(
+    prediction_prob_dataframe_1 = model_based_label_units(
         sorting_analyzer=sorting_analyzer_for_curation,
         model_folder=trained_pipeline_path,
         trusted=["numpy.dtype"],
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def test_metric_ordering_independence(sorting_analyzer_for_curation, trained_pip
 
     sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("quality_metrics", metric_names=["snr", "num_spikes"])
 
-    prediction_prob_dataframe_2 = auto_label_units(
+    prediction_prob_dataframe_2 = model_based_label_units(
         sorting_analyzer=sorting_analyzer_for_curation,
         model_folder=trained_pipeline_path,
         trusted=["numpy.dtype"],
@@ -168,3 +168,18 @@ def test_exception_raised_when_metric_params_not_equal(sorting_analyzer_for_cura
     model, model_info = load_model(model_folder=trained_pipeline_path, trusted=["numpy.dtype"])
     model_based_classification = ModelBasedClassification(sorting_analyzer_for_curation, model)
     model_based_classification._check_params_for_classification(enforce_metric_params=True, model_info=model_info)
+
+
+def test_unitrefine_label_units(sorting_analyzer_for_curation):
+    """Test the `unitrefine_label_units` function."""
+
+    sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("template_metrics", metric_names=["half_width"])
+    sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("quality_metrics", metric_names=["num_spikes", "snr"])
+
+    from spikeinterface.curation import unitrefine_label_units
+
+    labels = unitrefine_label_units(sorting_analyzer_for_curation)
+
+    assert "label" in labels.columns
+    assert "probability" in labels.columns
+    assert labels.shape[0] == len(sorting_analyzer_for_curation.sorting.get_unit_ids())
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7b4692ad8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from spikeinterface.core import SortingAnalyzer
+from spikeinterface.curation.model_based_curation import model_based_label_units
+
+
+def unitrefine_label_units(
+    sorting_analyzer: SortingAnalyzer,
+    noise_neural_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier",
+    sua_mua_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier",
+):
+    """Label units using UnitRefine, which is a cascade of pre-trained classifiers for
+    noise/neural unit classification and SUA/MUA classification.
+    The noise/neural classifier is applied first to remove noise units,
+    then the SUA/MUA classifier is applied to the remaining units.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    sorting_analyzer : SortingAnalyzer
+        The sorting analyzer object containing the spike sorting results.
+    noise_neural_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/unitrefine-noise-neural-classifier"
+        The path to the folder containing the model or a string to a repo on HuggingFace.
+        If None, the noise/neural classification step is skipped.
+        By default, it uses a pre-trained model hosted on HuggingFace.
+    sua_mua_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/unitrefine-sua-mua-classifier"
+        The path to the folder containing the model or a string to a repo on HuggingFace.
+        If None, the SUA/MUA classification step is skipped.
+        By default, it uses a pre-trained model hosted on HuggingFace.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    labels : pd.DataFrame
+        A DataFrame with unit ids as index and "label"/"probability" as column.
+
+    References
+    ----------
+    The approach is described in [Jain]_.
+    """
+    import pandas as pd
+    import pandas as pd
+
+    if noise_neural_classifier is None and sua_mua_classifier is None:
+        raise ValueError("At least one of noise_neural_classifier or sua_mua_classifier must be provided.")
+
+    if noise_neural_classifier is not None:
+        # 1. apply the noise/neural classification and remove noise
+        noise_neuron_labels = model_based_label_units(
+            sorting_analyzer=sorting_analyzer,
+            repo_id=noise_neural_classifier,
+            trust_model=True,
+        )
+        noise_units = noise_neuron_labels[noise_neuron_labels["prediction"] == "noise"]
+        sorting_analyzer_neural = sorting_analyzer.remove_units(noise_units.index)
+    else:
+        sorting_analyzer_neural = sorting_analyzer
+        noise_units = pd.DataFrame(columns=["prediction", "probability"])
+
+    if sua_mua_classifier is not None:
+        # 2. apply the sua/mua classification and aggregate results
+        if len(sorting_analyzer.unit_ids) > len(noise_units):
+            sua_mua_labels = model_based_label_units(
+                sorting_analyzer=sorting_analyzer_neural,
+                repo_id=sua_mua_classifier,
+                trust_model=True,
+            )
+            all_labels = pd.concat([sua_mua_labels, noise_units]).sort_index()
+        else:
+            all_labels = noise_units
+    else:
+        all_labels = noise_neuron_labels
+
+    # rename prediction column to label
+    all_labels = all_labels.rename(columns={"prediction": "label"})
+    return all_labels

From bbd0201f19806e26f5f3807f73779416559d83d1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alessio Buccino <alejoe9187@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:19:19 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/5] Use lightweight model by default

---
 .../curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py    |  4 ++--
 src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py | 14 ++++++++------
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
index 23e4dd3587..96e1de1316 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
@@ -173,8 +173,8 @@ def test_exception_raised_when_metric_params_not_equal(sorting_analyzer_for_cura
 def test_unitrefine_label_units(sorting_analyzer_for_curation):
     """Test the `unitrefine_label_units` function."""
 
-    sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("template_metrics", metric_names=["half_width"])
-    sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("quality_metrics", metric_names=["num_spikes", "snr"])
+    sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("template_metrics", include_multi_channel_metrics=True)
+    sorting_analyzer_for_curation.compute("quality_metrics")
 
     from spikeinterface.curation import unitrefine_label_units
 
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
index 7b4692ad8c..c850637767 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 
 def unitrefine_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer: SortingAnalyzer,
-    noise_neural_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier",
-    sua_mua_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier",
+    noise_neural_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier_lightweight",
+    sua_mua_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier_lightweight",
 ):
     """Label units using UnitRefine, which is a cascade of pre-trained classifiers for
     noise/neural unit classification and SUA/MUA classification.
@@ -18,14 +18,16 @@ def unitrefine_label_units(
     ----------
     sorting_analyzer : SortingAnalyzer
         The sorting analyzer object containing the spike sorting results.
-    noise_neural_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/unitrefine-noise-neural-classifier"
+    noise_neural_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier_lightweight"
         The path to the folder containing the model or a string to a repo on HuggingFace.
         If None, the noise/neural classification step is skipped.
-        By default, it uses a pre-trained model hosted on HuggingFace.
-    sua_mua_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/unitrefine-sua-mua-classifier"
+        By default, it uses a pre-trained lightweight model hosted on HuggingFace that does not require principal
+        component analysis (PCA) features.
+    sua_mua_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier_lightweight"
         The path to the folder containing the model or a string to a repo on HuggingFace.
         If None, the SUA/MUA classification step is skipped.
-        By default, it uses a pre-trained model hosted on HuggingFace.
+        By default, it uses a pre-trained lightweight model hosted on HuggingFace that does not require principal
+        component analysis (PCA) features.
 
     Returns
     -------

From 03d70778fd33f6ae114d8b7d434eb52eec3053ab Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alessio Buccino <alejoe9187@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:22:47 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 3/5] examples!

---
 .../tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py    | 10 +++++-----
 examples/tutorials/curation/plot_3_upload_a_model.py   |  8 ++++----
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py b/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py
index 00bd606c44..939acf0003 100644
--- a/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py
+++ b/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py
@@ -83,10 +83,10 @@
 
 ##############################################################################
 # Great! We can now use the model to predict labels. Here, we pass the HF repo id directly
-# to the ``auto_label_units`` function. This returns a dictionary containing a label and
+# to the ``model_based_label_units`` function. This returns a dictionary containing a label and
 # a confidence for each unit contained in the ``sorting_analyzer``.
 
-labels = sc.auto_label_units(
+labels = sc.model_based_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer = sorting_analyzer,
     repo_id = "SpikeInterface/toy_tetrode_model",
     trusted = ['numpy.dtype']
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def calculate_moving_avg(label_df, confidence_label, window_size):
 #
 
 # Apply the noise/not-noise model
-noise_neuron_labels = sc.auto_label_units(
+noise_neuron_labels = sc.model_based_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer=sorting_analyzer,
     repo_id="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier",
     trust_model=True,
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ def calculate_moving_avg(label_df, confidence_label, window_size):
 analyzer_neural = sorting_analyzer.remove_units(noise_units.index)
 
 # Apply the sua/mua model
-sua_mua_labels = sc.auto_label_units(
+sua_mua_labels = sc.model_based_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer=analyzer_neural,
     repo_id="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier",
     trust_model=True,
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ def calculate_moving_avg(label_df, confidence_label, window_size):
 #
 # .. code-block::
 #
-#    labels = sc.auto_label_units(
+#    labels = sc.model_based_label_units(
 #        sorting_analyzer = sorting_analyzer,
 #        model_folder = "path/to/model/folder",
 #    )
diff --git a/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_3_upload_a_model.py b/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_3_upload_a_model.py
index ad9d16cab5..36c7a20f1d 100644
--- a/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_3_upload_a_model.py
+++ b/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_3_upload_a_model.py
@@ -112,8 +112,8 @@
 #
 #     ` ` ` python (NOTE: you should remove the spaces between each backtick. This is just formatting for the notebook you are reading)
 #
-#         from spikeinterface.curation import auto_label_units
-#         labels = auto_label_units(
+#         from spikeinterface.curation import model_based_label_units
+#         labels = model_based_label_units(
 #             sorting_analyzer = sorting_analyzer,
 #             repo_id = "SpikeInterface/toy_tetrode_model",
 #             trust_model=True
@@ -123,9 +123,9 @@
 #     or you can download the entire repositry to `a_folder_for_a_model`, and use
 #
 #     ` ` ` python
-#         from spikeinterface.curation import auto_label_units
+#         from spikeinterface.curation import model_based_label_units
 #
-#         labels = auto_label_units(
+#         labels = model_based_label_units(
 #             sorting_analyzer = sorting_analyzer,
 #             model_folder = "path/to/a_folder_for_a_model",
 #             trusted = ['numpy.dtype']

From 6bfdb8be49a2ba03d3b4ceeb442703aaa3cceb00 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alessio Buccino <alejoe9187@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:38:08 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 4/5] Update src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py

Co-authored-by: Chris Halcrow <57948917+chrishalcrow@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py | 5 +++--
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
index c850637767..46e8a2e0c3 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ def unitrefine_label_units(
     noise_neural_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier_lightweight",
     sua_mua_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier_lightweight",
 ):
-    """Label units using UnitRefine, which is a cascade of pre-trained classifiers for
-    noise/neural unit classification and SUA/MUA classification.
+    """Label units using a cascade of pre-trained classifiers for
+    noise/neural unit classification and SUA/MUA classification,
+    as shown in the UnitRefine paper (see References).
     The noise/neural classifier is applied first to remove noise units,
     then the SUA/MUA classifier is applied to the remaining units.
 

From 48cd1c51a15913d3933d1906a4846e350fcc62cb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alessio Buccino <alejoe9187@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 09:50:34 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 5/5] Deprecate auto_label_units and set default models to None

---
 .../curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py     | 18 ++++++++++++++---
 .../curation/model_based_curation.py          | 12 +++++++++++
 .../tests/test_model_based_curation.py        |  6 +++++-
 .../curation/unitrefine_curation.py           | 20 ++++++++++---------
 4 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py b/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py
index 939acf0003..6ef986a810 100644
--- a/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py
+++ b/examples/tutorials/curation/plot_1_automated_curation.py
@@ -211,15 +211,15 @@ def calculate_moving_avg(label_df, confidence_label, window_size):
 # For example, the following classifiers are trained on Neuropixels data from 11 mice recorded in
 # V1,SC and ALM: https://huggingface.co/SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier/ and
 # https://huggingface.co/SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier/. One will classify units into
-# `noise` or `not-noise` and the other will classify the `not-noise` units into single
+# `noise` or `neural` and the other will classify the `neural` units into single
 # unit activity (sua) units and multi-unit activity (mua) units.
 #
 # There is more information about the model on the model's HuggingFace page. Take a look!
-# The idea here is to first apply the noise/not-noise classifier, then the sua/mua one.
+# The idea here is to first apply the noise/neural classifier, then the sua/mua one.
 # We can do so as follows:
 #
 
-# Apply the noise/not-noise model
+# Apply the noise/neural model
 noise_neuron_labels = sc.model_based_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer=sorting_analyzer,
     repo_id="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier",
@@ -239,6 +239,18 @@ def calculate_moving_avg(label_df, confidence_label, window_size):
 all_labels = pd.concat([sua_mua_labels, noise_units]).sort_index()
 print(all_labels)
 
+##############################################################################
+# Both steps can be done in one go using the ``unitrefine_label_units`` function:
+#
+
+all_labels = sc.unitrefine_label_units(
+    sorting_analyzer,
+    noise_neural_classifier="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier",
+    sua_mua_classifier="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier",
+)
+print(all_labels)
+
+
 ##############################################################################
 # If you run this without the ``trust_model=True`` parameter, you will receive an error:
 #
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py
index 0598a6afa1..ef8571b62f 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/model_based_curation.py
@@ -281,6 +281,18 @@ def model_based_label_units(
     return classified_units
 
 
+def auto_label_units(*args, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Deprecated function. Please use `model_based_label_units` instead.
+    """
+    warnings.warn(
+        "`auto_label_units` is deprecated and will be removed in v0.105.0. "
+        "Please use `model_based_label_units` instead.",
+        DeprecationWarning,
+    )
+    return model_based_label_units(*args, **kwargs)
+
+
 def load_model(model_folder=None, repo_id=None, model_name=None, trust_model=False, trusted=None):
     """
     Loads a model and model_info from a HuggingFaceHub repo or a local folder.
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
index 96e1de1316..9b6ccd0a21 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/tests/test_model_based_curation.py
@@ -178,7 +178,11 @@ def test_unitrefine_label_units(sorting_analyzer_for_curation):
 
     from spikeinterface.curation import unitrefine_label_units
 
-    labels = unitrefine_label_units(sorting_analyzer_for_curation)
+    labels = unitrefine_label_units(
+        sorting_analyzer_for_curation,
+        noise_neural_classifier="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier_lightweight",
+        sua_mua_classifier="SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier_lightweight",
+    )
 
     assert "label" in labels.columns
     assert "probability" in labels.columns
diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
index 46e8a2e0c3..f7cd21e7e9 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/curation/unitrefine_curation.py
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 
 def unitrefine_label_units(
     sorting_analyzer: SortingAnalyzer,
-    noise_neural_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier_lightweight",
-    sua_mua_classifier: str | Path | None = "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier_lightweight",
+    noise_neural_classifier: str | Path | None = None,
+    sua_mua_classifier: str | Path | None = None,
 ):
     """Label units using a cascade of pre-trained classifiers for
     noise/neural unit classification and SUA/MUA classification,
@@ -19,16 +19,13 @@ def unitrefine_label_units(
     ----------
     sorting_analyzer : SortingAnalyzer
         The sorting analyzer object containing the spike sorting results.
-    noise_neural_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_noise_neural_classifier_lightweight"
+    noise_neural_classifier : str or Path or None, default: None
         The path to the folder containing the model or a string to a repo on HuggingFace.
         If None, the noise/neural classification step is skipped.
-        By default, it uses a pre-trained lightweight model hosted on HuggingFace that does not require principal
-        component analysis (PCA) features.
-    sua_mua_classifier : str or Path or None, default: "SpikeInterface/UnitRefine_sua_mua_classifier_lightweight"
+        Make sure to provide at least one of the two classifiers.
+    sua_mua_classifier : str or Path or None, default: None
         The path to the folder containing the model or a string to a repo on HuggingFace.
         If None, the SUA/MUA classification step is skipped.
-        By default, it uses a pre-trained lightweight model hosted on HuggingFace that does not require principal
-        component analysis (PCA) features.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -43,7 +40,12 @@ def unitrefine_label_units(
     import pandas as pd
 
     if noise_neural_classifier is None and sua_mua_classifier is None:
-        raise ValueError("At least one of noise_neural_classifier or sua_mua_classifier must be provided.")
+        raise ValueError(
+            "At least one of noise_neural_classifier or sua_mua_classifier must be provided. "
+            "Pre-trained models can be found at https://huggingface.co/collections/SpikeInterface/curation-models or "
+            "https://huggingface.co/AnoushkaJain3/models. You can also train models on your own data: "
+            "see https://github.com/anoushkajain/UnitRefine for more details."
+        )
 
     if noise_neural_classifier is not None:
         # 1. apply the noise/neural classification and remove noise