Contributing guidelines

We encourage contributions from the community. To contribute:

Fork the Repository: Start by forking this repository to your account.
Develop Your Component: Create your Viash component, ensuring it aligns with our best practices (detailed below).
Submit a Pull Request: After testing your component, submit a pull request for review.

Procedure of adding a component

Step 1: Find a component to contribute

Find a tool to contribute to this repo.
Check whether it is already in the Project board.
Check whether there is a corresponding Snakemake wrapper or nf-core module which we can use as inspiration.
Create an issue to show that you are working on this component.

Step 2: Add config template

Change all occurrences of xxx to the name of the component.

Create a file at src/xxx/config.vsh.yaml with contents:

name: xxx
description: xxx
keywords: [tag1, tag2]
links:
  homepage: yyy
  documentation: yyy
  issue_tracker: yyy
  repository: yyy
references: 
  doi: 12345/12345678.yz
license: MIT/Apache-2.0/GPL-3.0/...
argument_groups:
  - name: Inputs
    arguments: <...>
  - name: Outputs
    arguments: <...>
  - name: Arguments
    arguments: <...>
resources:
  - type: bash_script
    path: script.sh
test_resources:
  - type: bash_script
    path: test.sh
  - type: file
    path: test_data
engines:
  - <...>
runners:
  - type: executable
  - type: nextflow

Step 3: Fill in the metadata

Fill in the relevant metadata fields in the config. Here is an example of the metadata of an existing component.

functionality:
  name: arriba
  description: Detect gene fusions from RNA-Seq data
  keywords: [Gene fusion, RNA-Seq]
  links:
    homepage: https://arriba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
    documentation: https://arriba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
    repository: https://github.com/suhrig/arriba
    issue_tracker: https://github.com/suhrig/arriba/issues
  references:
    doi: 10.1101/gr.257246.119
    bibtex: |
      @article{
        ... a bibtex entry in case the doi is not available ...
      }
  license: MIT

Step 4: Find a suitable container

Google biocontainer <name of component> and find the container that is most suitable. Typically the link will be https://quay.io/repository/biocontainers/xxx?tab=tags.

If no such container is found, you can create a custom container in the next step.

Step 5: Create help file

To help develop the component, we store the --help output of the tool in a file at src/xxx/help.txt.

cat <<EOF > src/xxx/help.txt
```sh
xxx --help
```
EOF

docker run quay.io/biocontainers/xxx:tag xxx --help >> src/xxx/help.txt

Notes:

This help file has no functional purpose, but it is useful for the developer to see the help output of the tool.
Some tools might not have a --help argument but instead have a -h argument. For example, for arriba, the help message is obtained by running arriba -h:
```
docker run quay.io/biocontainers/arriba:2.4.0--h0033a41_2 arriba -h
```

Step 6: Create or fetch test data

To help develop the component, it's interesting to have some test data available. In most cases, we can use the test data from the Snakemake wrappers.

To make sure we can reproduce the test data in the future, we store the command to fetch the test data in a file at src/xxx/test_data/script.sh.

cat <<EOF > src/xxx/test_data/script.sh

# clone repo
if [ ! -d /tmp/snakemake-wrappers ]; then
  git clone --depth 1 --single-branch --branch master https://github.com/snakemake/snakemake-wrappers /tmp/snakemake-wrappers
fi

# copy test data
cp -r /tmp/snakemake-wrappers/bio/xxx/test/* src/xxx/test_data
EOF

The test data should be suitable for testing this component. Ensure that the test data is small enough: ideally <1KB, preferably <10KB, if need be <100KB.

Step 7: Add arguments for the input files

By looking at the help file, we add the input arguments to the config file. Here is an example of the input arguments of an existing component.

For instance, in the arriba help file, we see the following:

Usage: arriba [-c Chimeric.out.sam] -x Aligned.out.bam \
              -g annotation.gtf -a assembly.fa [-b blacklists.tsv] [-k known_fusions.tsv] \
              [-t tags.tsv] [-p protein_domains.gff3] [-d structural_variants_from_WGS.tsv] \
              -o fusions.tsv [-O fusions.discarded.tsv] \
              [OPTIONS]

-x FILE  File in SAM/BAM/CRAM format with main alignments as generated by STAR 
          (Aligned.out.sam). Arriba extracts candidate reads from this file.

Based on this information, we can add the following input arguments to the config file.

argument_groups:
  - name: Inputs
    arguments:
    - name: --bam
      alternatives: -x
      type: file
      description: |
        File in SAM/BAM/CRAM format with main alignments as generated by STAR
        (Aligned.out.sam). Arriba extracts candidate reads from this file.
      required: true
      example: Aligned.out.bam

Check the documentation for more information on the format of input arguments.

Several notes:

Argument names should be formatted in --snake_case. This means arguments like --foo-bar should be formatted as --foo_bar, and short arguments like -f should receive a longer name like --foo.
Input arguments can have multiple: true to allow the user to specify multiple files.

Step 8: Add arguments for the output files

By looking at the help file, we now also add output arguments to the config file.

For example, in the arriba help file, we see the following:

Usage: arriba [-c Chimeric.out.sam] -x Aligned.out.bam \
              -g annotation.gtf -a assembly.fa [-b blacklists.tsv] [-k known_fusions.tsv] \
              [-t tags.tsv] [-p protein_domains.gff3] [-d structural_variants_from_WGS.tsv] \
              -o fusions.tsv [-O fusions.discarded.tsv] \
              [OPTIONS]

 -o FILE  Output file with fusions that have passed all filters. 

 -O FILE  Output file with fusions that were discarded due to filtering.

Based on this information, we can add the following output arguments to the config file.

argument_groups:
  - name: Outputs
    arguments:
      - name: --fusions
        alternatives: -o
        type: file
        direction: output
        description: |
          Output file with fusions that have passed all filters.
        required: true
        example: fusions.tsv
      - name: --fusions_discarded
        alternatives: -O
        type: file
        direction: output
        description: |
          Output file with fusions that were discarded due to filtering. 
        required: false
        example: fusions.discarded.tsv

Note:

Preferably, these outputs should not be directores but files. For example, if a tool outputs a directory foo/ containing files foo/bar.txt and foo/baz.txt, there should be two output arguments --bar and --baz (as opposed to one output argument which outputs the whole foo/ directory).

Step 9: Add arguments for the other arguments

Finally, add all other arguments to the config file. There are a few exceptions:

Arguments related to specifying CPU and memory requirements are handled separately and should not be added to the config file.
Arguments related to printing the information such as printing the version (-v, --version) or printing the help (-h, --help) should not be added to the config file.

Step 10: Add a Docker engine

To ensure reproducibility of components, we require that all components are run in a Docker container.

engines:
  - type: docker
    image: quay.io/biocontainers/xxx:0.1.0--py_0

The container should have your tool installed, as well as ps.

If you didn't find a suitable container in the previous step, you can create a custom container. For example:

engines:
  - type: docker
    image: python:3.10
    setup:
      - type: python
        packages: numpy

For more information on how to do this, see the documentation.

Here is a list of base containers we can recommend:

Bash: bash, ubuntu
C#: ghcr.io/data-intuitive/dotnet-script
JavaScript: node
Python: python, nvcr.io/nvidia/pytorch
R: eddelbuettel/r2u, rocker/tidyverse
Scala: sbtscala/scala-sbt

Step 11: Write a runner script

Next, we need to write a runner script that runs the tool with the input arguments. Create a Bash script named src/xxx/script.sh which runs the tool with the input arguments.

#!/bin/bash

## VIASH START
## VIASH END

xxx \
  --input "$par_input" \
  --output "$par_output" \
  $([ "$par_option" = "true" ] && echo "--option")

When building a Viash component, Viash will automatically replace the ## VIASH START and ## VIASH END lines (and anything in between) with environment variables based on the arguments specified in the config.

As an example, this is what the Bash script for the arriba component looks like:

#!/bin/bash

## VIASH START
## VIASH END

arriba \
  -x "$par_bam" \
  -a "$par_genome" \
  -g "$par_gene_annotation" \
  -o "$par_fusions" \
  ${par_known_fusions:+-k "${par_known_fusions}"} \
  ${par_blacklist:+-b "${par_blacklist}"} \
  ${par_structural_variants:+-d "${par_structural_variants}"} \
  $([ "$par_skip_duplicate_marking" = "true" ] && echo "-u") \
  $([ "$par_extra_information" = "true" ] && echo "-X") \
  $([ "$par_fill_gaps" = "true" ] && echo "-I")

Step 12: Create test script

If the unit test requires test resources, these should be provided in the test_resources section of the component.

functionality:
  # ...
  test_resources:
    - type: bash_script
      path: test.sh
    - type: file
      path: test_data

Create a test script at src/xxx/test.sh that runs the component with the test data. This script should run the component (available with $meta_executable) with the test data and check if the output is as expected. The script should exit with a non-zero exit code if the output is not as expected. For example:

#!/bin/bash

## VIASH START
## VIASH END

echo "> Run xxx with test data"
"$meta_executable" \
  --input "$meta_resources_dir/test_data/input.txt" \
  --output "output.txt" \
  --option

echo ">> Checking output"
[ ! -f "output.txt" ] && echo "Output file output.txt does not exist" && exit 1

For example, this is what the test script for the arriba component looks like:

#!/bin/bash

## VIASH START
## VIASH END

echo "> Run arriba with blacklist"
"$meta_executable" \
  --bam "$meta_resources_dir/test_data/A.bam" \
  --genome "$meta_resources_dir/test_data/genome.fasta" \
  --gene_annotation "$meta_resources_dir/test_data/annotation.gtf" \
  --blacklist "$meta_resources_dir/test_data/blacklist.tsv" \
  --fusions "fusions.tsv" \
  --fusions_discarded "fusions_discarded.tsv" \
  --interesting_contigs "1,2"

echo ">> Checking output"
[ ! -f "fusions.tsv" ] && echo "Output file fusions.tsv does not exist" && exit 1
[ ! -f "fusions_discarded.tsv" ] && echo "Output file fusions_discarded.tsv does not exist" && exit 1

echo ">> Check if output is empty"
[ ! -s "fusions.tsv" ] && echo "Output file fusions.tsv is empty" && exit 1
[ ! -s "fusions_discarded.tsv" ] && echo "Output file fusions_discarded.tsv is empty" && exit 1

Step 12: Create a `/var/software_versions.txt` file

For the sake of transparency and reproducibility, we require that the versions of the software used in the component are documented.

For now, this is managed by creating a file /var/software_versions.txt in the setup section of the Docker engine.

engines:
  - type: docker
    image: quay.io/biocontainers/xxx:0.1.0--py_0
    setup:
      - type: docker
        run: |
          echo "xxx: \"0.1.0\"" > /var/software_versions.txt

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CONTRIBUTING.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing guidelines

Procedure of adding a component

Step 1: Find a component to contribute

Step 2: Add config template

Step 3: Fill in the metadata

Step 4: Find a suitable container

Step 5: Create help file

Step 6: Create or fetch test data

Step 7: Add arguments for the input files

Step 8: Add arguments for the output files

Step 9: Add arguments for the other arguments

Step 10: Add a Docker engine

Step 11: Write a runner script

Step 12: Create test script

Step 12: Create a `/var/software_versions.txt` file

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CONTRIBUTING.md

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CONTRIBUTING.md

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Contributing guidelines

Procedure of adding a component

Step 1: Find a component to contribute

Step 2: Add config template

Step 3: Fill in the metadata

Step 4: Find a suitable container

Step 5: Create help file

Step 6: Create or fetch test data

Step 7: Add arguments for the input files

Step 8: Add arguments for the output files

Step 9: Add arguments for the other arguments

Step 10: Add a Docker engine

Step 11: Write a runner script

Step 12: Create test script

Step 12: Create a /var/software_versions.txt file

Step 12: Create a `/var/software_versions.txt` file