Workflow Build Process
You can create workflows using the web interface or using the CLI using tools provided by the DNAnexus SDK. This page focuses on creating a workflow in a terminal. It will walk you through important features of the DNAnexus workflow build infrastructure that will help you build your workflows programmatically.
DNAnexus workflows can be built using the
dx build
command, which takes the workflow JSON representation from your local workstation and uploads it to a workflow object on the Platform. The DNAnexus SDK expects the workflow definition to reside in a directory with the following structure:MyWorkflow
├── dxworkflow.json
└── Readme.md
The file
dxworkflow.json
is a DNAnexus workflow metadata file. If it is detected in the directory provided to dx build
, the dx-toolkit will attempt to build a workflow on the Platform by passing the workflow specification in dxworkflow.json
to /workflow-xxxx/new
.
The
Readme.md
file, if present, is inlined into the description
field of the workflow.Having placed the workflow metadata in
MyWorkflow
, you can load your workflow on the DNAnexus Platform:$ dx build MyWorkflow
The built workflow will be in a closed, immutable state. Adding
--keep-open
option will keep the workflow open allowing you to edit the workflow from the DNAnexus UI.$ dx build MyWorkflow --keep-open
Similarly to apps and applets, developers can use the command
dx get
to download the workflow description from the Platform, for example:$ dx get MyWorkflow
This will create a directory
MyWorkflow
(after the workflow's name) containing the workflow representation in the working directory. It can be used again to create a new workflow with dx build
.Last modified 8mo ago