Overview

The steps covered in this tutorial are:

  1. Introduction (this page!)
  2. Create a pipeline
  3. Running with test data
  4. Adding to the nf-core organisation
  5. Making your first release
  6. Next steps

Before you start

So, you want to add a new pipeline to nf-core - brilliant! Before you start typing, check that you’re happy with the following points:

Join the community

At its heart, nf-core is a community - to add a pipeline you need to be part of that community! Please join us on Slack, and ask to be added to the GitHub association through the #github-invitations channel. If you feel like it, you can go to the #say-hello channel and introduce yourself to the rest of the community.

Warning

It’s good to introduce your idea early on so that it can be discussed, before you spend lots of time coding.

The nf-core guidelines state that no two pipelines should overlap too much in their purpose and results. There may be an existing pipeline that can be extended to give the functionality that you are looking for, or there could be another group working on a similar to the pipeline to the one you’re planning.

To avoid problems at a later date, please come and discuss your plans with the nf-core community as early as possible. Ideally before you make a start on your pipeline!

Info

Not all pipelines are suitable for inclusion in the main nf-core community (eg. bespoke or proprietary workflows). However, we hope that you may still wish to use the nf-core template and/or use components of nf-core code. All nf-core code is under a MIT license and where possible we have endeavoured to make the tools work with any Nextflow pipeline. If this is the case for you, please see the unofficial pipelines guidelines for more details.

All nf-core discussion happens on the nf-core Slack, which you can join here: https://nf-co.re/join

These topics are specifically discussed in the #new-pipelines channel: https://nfcore.slack.com/channels/new-pipelines