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Marius van den Beek & IWC

GCC 2024

https://bit.ly/iwc-gcc-2024

Maintaining and improving a large collection of workflows

In this talk I will describe recent developments and ongoing work within the Intergalaxy Workflows Commission (IWC, https://github.com/galaxyproject/iwc) to support many different communities in their efforts to create high-quality and tested Galaxy workflows that can run anywhere.

The IWC collects and maintains user-friendly, correct and reliable workflows, with currently more than 50 available workflows. To keep the barrier to contribution minimal, the IWC only requires:

A readme file that details what the workflow does, what types of input datasets are required and what the expected output is

Test cases that ensure workflows are working beyond the Galaxy server at which the workflow has been developed

A Galaxy workflow that follows the best practices

The IWC github repository uses CI (Continuous Integration) automation to automatically create advanced metadata files, such as RO-crate files, distribute workflows to dockstore, workflowhub and the usegalaxy.* instances and creates individual workflow repositories and releases on github. The IWC can also automatically update included tools to the newest version available, thereby ensuring that workflows are always receiving the latest enhancements.

In this talk, I will describe the daily testing, automated updates, improvements to the submission procedure, maintenance of workflows that include other workflows and efficient methods for creating reference data for these workflows.

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Marius van den Beek & IWC

GCC 2024

https://bit.ly/iwc-gcc-2024

Intergalactic Workflow Commission:

Join us 🛸

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What is the IWC?

A group of volunteer workflow aficionados
A community place centered around Galaxy workflows
Created in 2018 and became active in 2021

Lower barrier to workflow use
Sharing and reuse of production-ready workflows
Assist with workflow development and testing
Communicate requirements to development team
Document tips and tricks, contribute to training material

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Where can you find IWC workflows?

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Where can you find IWC workflows?

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Evolution of IWC

First Workflow added February 2021

COVID-19 analysis workflow

12 Workflows in 2021
+10 Workflows in 2022
+23 Workflows in 2023
+22 Workflows in 2024

as of yesterday

Total of 67 workflows

10 more almost ready!

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IWC workflow runs on usegalaxy.org

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IWC workflow runs on usegalaxy.org

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Why submit a workflow to the IWC?

Discoverability
DOIs & citations
Automatic deployment to

usegalaxy.* server
Workflowhub
Dockstore

Daily workflow tests
Tests against new Galaxy releases
Automatic updates
Versioning
Bug reports & Contributions from users
Benchmarks
Static pages

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🎉 I want in, how do I join?

Add yourself here to become a member of the github team
Join our galaxyproject/iwc element channel
Video Call every 2nd Thursday
Come and work on your favorite workflow during the CoFest
Advanced Workflow Development Training

Tomorrow 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Any Contribution is Welcome!

Questions
Bug reports
Write or Teach Tutorials
Small or large changes
New workflows
Tell your friends!

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A vision for the future

Workflows should be the primary entrypoint for users

It is much easier to execute workflows than tools
We can provide much more context for a given analysis
Showing progress is much simpler

A large collection of workflows ready to use
Make it easier to submit workflows to IWC
A lively, open and collaborative community

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