Advertise on podcast: The Nextflow Podcast

In this episode, Phil is joined by Ben Sherman, Jon Manning and Rike Hanssen to take a fresh look at Nextflow plugins, two years on from the plugin walkthrough in episode 35. They cover what plugins are for: sharing reusable functions across pipelines, hooking into workflow events with observers (e.g., nf-slack notifications for nf-core full-size tests, or carbon footprint tracking with nf-co2footprint), and building custom executors and file systems. Ben explains what changed in Nextflow 25.10: the new nextflow plugin create command to scaffold a project, far less Gradle boilerplate, make install for local testing, and make release to publish to the plugin registry at registry.nextflow.io, with a one-time approval for the plugin name. Older Nextflow versions still read the legacy JSON index, which the registry keeps updated for plugins that support them. Rike demos nf-emoji, her first plugin, with themed emoji progress bars, special-day countdowns and optional terminal confetti, and talks about using AI to write tests once she knew her way around the code. Ben explains how custom config scopes let the Nextflow language server validate plugin settings. Jon introduces the new plugin development side quest at training.nextflow.io, covering scaffolding, custom functions, trace observers, testing and config scopes. The episode wraps up with how plugin name claims are reviewed, the expectation that community plugins are open source, and options for distributing private plugins internally. 00:00 Podcast Episode 58 - Plugins 00:09 Introduction 01:01 Welcome to our guests 01:48 An introduction to plugins 06:14 Common plugin use cases 08:25 What's new in Nextflow plugins since 2024 17:11 Demo: Rike's NF-emoji plugin 30:23 Global installs & custom config scopes 33:30 The new plugin training material 42:34 Publishing and approving plugins 47:50 Closing thoughts

In episode 57 (March 2026), Phil is joined by Edmund Miller and Ben Sherman to discuss how recent and upcoming Nextflow language changes can make pipeline chaining and meta pipelines easier. The episode was split into two parts: this first part surveyed current solutions, listen to episode 56 to check that out. In this episode we focus on defining workflow “contracts” through clearer inputs (typed params in Nextflow 25.10 and proposed record types, including streamlined sample sheet/record ingestion from CSV/JSON/YAML or queries) and clearer outputs (workflow outputs leaving preview in 25.10, adding an entry-workflow publish section and an output block to publish channels, route files, and serialize channel contents into JSON/CSV/YAML index files). We discuss reducing direct params access inside modules, using records to pass validated param bundles, generating/leveraging nextflow_schema.json for external tooling like Seqera Platform to validate chains, exploring glue pipelines, command-line piping of Nextflow runs, and how lineage IDs could support more data-centric, automated workflows. 00:00 Welcome 01:18 Nextflow language 02:09 Inputs and outputs 04:14 Streamlining sample sheet parsing 07:47 Placement of params 12:03 Sharing workflows 14:09 Outputs 20:04 Workflow ouputs to chain pipelines 25:56 Publishing channels 32:03 Schema 34:37 Schema + pipeline chaining 37:13 Piping pipelines 41:20 Nextflow Lineage 45:56 Conclusion and wrap-up

Episode 56 of The Nextflow Podcast (March 2026) focuses on pipeline chaining and meta pipelines in Nextflow, with guests Ben Sherman and Edmund Miller. The episode was split into two parts: this first part surveys current solutions, while part two will cover future Nextflow language changes. The discussion defines meta pipelines as importing pipelines (e.g., nf-core/rnaseq) as subworkflows to form one DAG with parallelization and full resume, versus pipeline chaining using external orchestration to run Pipeline A then feed outputs to Pipeline B. They cover obstacles to meta pipelines in nf-core, including tooling, parameter/config clashes, and tight coupling of pipeline code and configuration. Current chaining approaches include bash/Makefiles, Python, Seqera Platform APIs, nf-cascade (running Nextflow inside Nextflow), wrapping Nextflow with Snakemake, and automation/orchestration tools like Node-RED, n8n, Dagster, and Temporal, including event-driven patterns on AWS. 00:00 Nextflow Podcast, Episode 56 00:08 Welcome 01:42 Introduction to meta pipelines and pipeline chaining 05:01 What makes importing pipelines difficult? 06:55 CLI tooling to import pipelines 09:13 Overlapping config scopes 10:53 Subworkflows or pipelines? 12:38 Pipeline chaining 13:36 nf-cascade 16:42 Nextflow in Snakemake 22:26 Automating Nextflow runs 24:10 Event-driven bioinformatics 26:32 Node-RED + Seqera 30:40 Node-RED flexibility 33:45 Glue code 35:31 Other automation frameworks 37:02 Bioinformatics pipelines vs. ETL workflows 38:56 Tangent: What makes Nextflow special 44:11 Dagster automation demo 47:29 Temporal automation demo 51:13 Wrap up

In episode 55 of the Nextflow podcast (February 2026), Phil Ewels is joined by Adam Talbot and Ken Brewer to discuss a new Seqera project: using Terraform to manage Seqera Platform configuration as infrastructure as code. They cover why reproducible, reliable infrastructure matters alongside portable Nextflow pipelines, and how Terraform helps reduce “click ops,” provide version control, prevent drift, and support change control via plan/apply workflows and pull requests.The conversation introduces Terraform concepts and highlights use cases such as deploying many workspaces at scale (e.g., universities), regulated clinical environments with approvals, integrating Seqera with existing enterprise Terraform workflows, benchmarking and iterating cloud infrastructure, and managing dev/staging/prod via variables.https://github.com/seqeralabs/terraform-provider-seqera

In this episode, Phil Ewels sits down with Lorenzo Fontana, an engineer at Seqera with deep expertise in Linux kernel internals, eBPF, and systems programming. Full transcript and summary blog post here: https://seqera.io/podcasts/episode-54-fusion-snapshots/ Lorenzo is the co-author of the O'Reilly book "Linux Observability with eBPF" and a key developer behind Fusion and Fusion Snapshots. We explore Lorenzo's fascinating journey from Linux security tools to bioinformatics infrastructure, and take a technical deep dive into how Fusion Snapshots actually work under the hood: including CRIU, incremental dumps, and how tasks can be frozen and migrated between cloud instances in under two minutes.🔗 Links mentioned in this episode:Fusion & Seqera:• Fusion Snapshots Blog Post: https://seqera.io/blog/fusion-snapshotting/• Try Fusion Snapshots with Seqera Compute: https://seqera.io/platform/Lorenzo's Background:• Linux Observability with BPF (O'Reilly): https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/linux-observability-with/9781492050193/• Falco Runtime Security: https://falco.org/Open Source Projects:• criu-static: https://github.com/seqeralabs/criu-static• staticreg: https://github.com/seqeralabs/staticreg• CRIU Project: https://criu.org/⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Nextflow Podcast ep54: Lorenzo Fontana00:04 Welcome and intro01:33 Background in eBPF06:46 Becoming an expert in eBPF11:29 O'Reilly Book13:02 Falco and linux kernel bugs16:07 Move to Seqera20:42 Intro to Fusion26:18 Comparing Fusion to other solutions29:00 Fusion Snapshots31:15 How Fusion Snapshots moves tasks35:58 Contributions back to CRIU39:05 criu-static43:12 staticreg44:36 Fusion Snapshots broken down46:50 Fusion Snapshot spot reclamation50:18 Incremental dumps53:59 Fusion snapshot process timing57:25 Seqera full stack59:20 Call to action01:00:52 pigz01:03:41 How to try Fusion Snapshots01:04:42 AI usage in the future01:11:06 Wrap up📢 Connect with us:• Community forum: https://community.seqera.io• nf-core: https://nf-co.re• Seqera: https://seqera.io#Nextflow #Bioinformatics #CloudComputing #Seqera #FusionSnapshots #SpotInstances #eBPF #Linux

The Nextflow Podcast is back! After a brief hiatus, Phil Ewels returns with a comprehensive look at everything that happened in 2025 across the Nextflow ecosystem. Joining Phil for this year-in-review are Rob Syme (Scientific Support Lead), Marcel Ribeiro Dantas (Senior Developer Advocate), and Rob Newman (Product Manager Lead) from Seqera.In this episode, we cover:* Nextflow Language Evolution - The new syntax parser, VSCode extension with native language server support, nextflow lint and format commands, and the game-changing Lineage tracking feature for full data provenance. * Plugin Ecosystem - The new plugin registry at registry.nextflow.io, easier plugin development, and the complete AWS SDK v2 rewrite for dramatically improved S3 performance at scale.* Workflow Inputs and Outputs - How workflow outputs are replacing publishDir, typed parameters, and the foundations being laid for static types in Nextflow.* Seqera Platform Updates - The redesigned pipeline run details page, single-VM compute environments with 4-6x faster startup, Seqera Compute, Fusion Snapshots for spot instance resilience, Studios improvements, and Data Explorer S3 API support.* AI and Automation - Seqera AI developments, the MCP server for integrating with Claude/Cursor/Copilot, and Node-RED integration for pipeline chaining and automation.* Community Growth - nf-core tools releases, the syntax adoption roadmap, Nextflow Summits in Boston and Barcelona, the Ambassador program expanding to 40 countries, Training Weeks, and Seqera's Series B funding.Links mentioned in this episode:- Nextflow Plugin Registry: https://registry.nextflow.io- Node-RED Integration: https://seqera.io/blog/node-red/- Seqera MCP Server: https://seqera.io/blog/seqera-mcp/- nf-core Syntax Roadmap: https://nf-co.re/blog/2025/nextflow_syntax_nf-core_roadmap- Fusion Snapshots: https://seqera.io/blog/fusion-snapshotting/- Seqera Compute: https://seqera.io/blog/seqera-compute-public-preview/Subscribe to stay updated on all things Nextflow, and check out the full show notes at seqera.io/podcast00:00 Nextflow Podcast - Episode 53: 2025 Recap00:09 Welcome01:10 Introductions02:54 Nextflow Language Evolution03:44 Nextflow VSCode Extension06:47 Nextflow lint and format08:21 Nextflow Lineage12:33 Nextflow Plugin Registry17:29 AWS SDK v2 upgrade21:09 Workflow Inputs/Outputs and Static Types26:38 Seqera Platform: Pipeline Run Details29:57 Dynamic resource labels30:56 Pipeline versioning31:58 Pipeline Chaining with Node-RED35:07 Single VM Compute Environments39:14 Seqera Compute41:24 Fusion Snapshots44:32 Seqera AI49:03 Seqera MCP Server50:04 Data Explorer & s3 APIs51:24 Datasets52:54 Seqera Studios Updates56:56 Seqera company updates57:31 nf-core/tools updates58:41 Topics01:00:05 Syntax updates in nf-core01:00:55 Community growth01:03:43 Nextflow Summits and events01:05:00 Nextflow Ambassadors01:07:19 Training Weeks01:09:13 Wrap up

In Episode 52 of the Nextflow podcast, Phil Ewels is joined by Ziad Al Bkhetan and Steven Manos from the Australian BioCommons to explore how Nextflow and Seqera Platform are transforming bioinformatics research across Australia. Discover how the Australian BioCommons emerged as a national infrastructure investment to support molecular life sciences researchers, building digital platforms and tools that serve diverse research communities - from genome assembly to proteomics. Learn about their journey from identifying Nextflow as the leading workflow management system in Australia to successfully deploying Seqera Platform for over 90 users across 18+ research institutions. The conversation covers fascinating success stories including the collaborative development of the nf-core/proteinfold pipeline, supporting structural biology researchers with advanced protein folding tools, and the innovative Ozark community phylogenetic trees workflow. Steven and Ziad share insights on overcoming challenges like integrating web platforms with traditional HPC infrastructure at Australia's tier-one supercomputing facilities (NCI and Pawsey), and building hybrid compute environments that seamlessly span local HPC and cloud resources. Key highlights include Australia's growing contribution to the global nf-core community, culminating in their first official participation in the March 2025 nf-core hackathon with a dedicated Sydney hub. The team also discusses practical advice for other countries looking to establish national Nextflow services, emphasizing the importance of building local expertise and community engagement. For Australian researchers interested in accessing these services, visit biocommons.org.au to learn more about available platforms, training opportunities, and community resources. 00:00 Podcast Ep 52: BioCommons 00:06 Welcome 00:41 Ziad - introduction 01:36 Steven - introduction 03:40 Introduction to Australian BioCommons 08:13 Nextflow usage in Australia 09:05 BioCommons collaboration with Seqera 12:24 Compute infrastructures in Australia 15:05 Nextflow support & training 16:43 Highlights and lowlights 19:11 Protein fold 21:50 Ozard Community 23:39 Automation with Seqera Platform 25:52 Nextflow Communty in Australia 29:27 2025 nf-core hackathon 31:57 Future plans for Nextflow & Seqera Platform 33:04 Tips for building a National Nextflow platform 36:21 Next steps 37:51 Wrap up Resources: Australian BioCommons: https://biocommons.org.aunf-core office hours: https://nf-co.re/blog/2025/apac-helpdesk-2025

In Episode 51 of the Nextflow podcast, Phil Ewels and Ben Sherman discuss Nextflow's upcoming strict syntax - a significant evolution bringing clearer error messages and a more consistent language framework. They explore key changes including the separation of code from declarations, removal of for/while loops in favour of operators, and changes to type annotations. Learn how these improvements lay the groundwork for better developer experiences with features like static type checking and auto-formatting. The episode covers migration timelines, practical steps to prepare, and how these changes will ultimately lead to more robust, maintainable pipeline code. Check out the Nextflow docs for the "Updating Nextflow Syntax" guide to start preparing today. 00:00 Podcast Ep51: Strict Syntax 00:07 Welcome and introduction 01:20 Language server background 04:18 Syntax sugar is just empty calories 06:50 Bespoke language syntax 08:20 To DSL3 or not 2 DSL 10:59 Nextflow versioning 15:13 Diving into specifics 16:08 Mixing statements with script declarations 19:19 Better inspect command 21:08 Custom Classes 23:32 For loops, while and switch 26:02 Standard library 26:56 Type annotations 28:49 addParams 32:26 Process script section 34:20 Moving into lib/ 36:36 Configuration syntax 41:14 Relieving pressure from the config 43:38 Timelines 44:55 The gain for the pain 47:54 Next steps 48:43 Conclusion

In this milestone 50th episode of the Nextflow podcast, host Phil Ewels sits down with Krešimir Beštak, a PhD student and active contributor to the nf-core community, to explore an exciting frontier in bioinformatics: microscopy and spatial omics. While Nextflow is traditionally associated with genomics workflows, Krešimir shares how it’s being used to power image analysis pipelines like MCMICRO, supporting complex research into cardiovascular disease and cancer diagnostics. Based at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Krešimir discusses his transition from master’s student to PhD researcher, the translational applications of spatial proteomics, and how Nextflow enables reproducible workflows far beyond its original scope. 00:00 Podcast Ep 50: Krešimir00:09 Welcome and introductions03:13 Introduction to Spatial Omics04:26 Multiplexing markers06:38 Metabolite microscopy07:23 Myocardial multiomics08:58 Microscopy data analysis11:32 nf-core/mcmicro13:05 2D vs 3D microscopy13:38 Computational bottlenecks within analysis15:43 Other nf-core imaging pipelines18:36 Downstream analysis after molkart19:53 Manual interventions23:27 Minerva25:39 Google Maps for cells27:16 Microscopy community around Nextflow30:34 How to get involved31:38 Changes in Nextflow for microscopy32:43 Nextflow Ambassador program33:17 Conclusion

Join host Phil Ewels in Episode 49 of the Nextflow Podcast as he interviews Dr. Olga Botvinnik, founder and CEO of Seanome. Olga discusses her journey from studying at MIT to founding her non-profit research institute focused on marine genomics. Discover her groundbreaking work in annotating unknown proteins and her efforts in collaborating with the Earth BioGenome Project. Olga also shares her experience with the Nextflow and nf-core communities, and her vision for developing tools to aid research in understudied ocean organisms. Join us as we chat about the vast potential of marine genomics and its applications. 00:00 Podcast Episode 49: Olga Botvinnik / Seanome 00:06 Welcome 01:18 Olga's background 07:30 Colonial tunicates 09:38 Starting Seanome with Arctic clams 11:07 Vision for Seanome 12:46 Earth BioGenome Project 13:46 Animal genomics not metagenomics 14:53 Building nf-core/proteinannotator 19:46 Software engineering in bioinformatics 22:21 nf-core early days 27:46 Bioinformatics Beyoncé 30:50 Seanome future steps 32:10 Final thoughts: Why the ocean 34:19 Goodbyes

In this episode of the Nextflow Podcast, we dive into highlights from the recent Nextflow Summit held in Barcelona in 2024. The summit featured an incredible range of talks, demonstrations, and discussions showcasing the latest advancements in workflows, data analysis, and community collaboration. With so much exciting content to explore, we’ve picked out some of our favourite moments to share with you. From impactful new features to inspiring keynote addresses and humorous presentations, this episode offers a curated selection of clips that capture the energy and innovation from the event. Join us as we relive the summit’s best bits and discuss their significance for the Nextflow community. 00:00 Start 00:10 Podcast introduction 00:47 Introductions: Group 1 01:56 Clip 1: Wave mirroring 04:32 Clip 2: Throwing cat food 06:00 Clip 3: crisprseq 08:03 Clip 4: nf-test 10:34 Clip 5: Workflow output definition 12:39 Clip 6: Open Science Software Foundation launch 15:08 Clip 7: FAIR code with nf-core 16:58 Clip 8: Teaching with Nextflow 18:56 Clip 9: Conda lock files 21:24 Clip 10: MultiQC in scripts 22:43 Clip 11: Small Nextflow Big Nextflow 25:17 Introduction: Team 2 26:11 Clip 12: Genomics England 29:47 Clip 13: Alphafold interactive reports 33:26 Clip 14: Data Studios 35:32 Clip 15: Covid and Ebola 37:35 Clip 16: Seqera AI 41:34 Clip 17: Nextflow VSCode DAGs 44:33 Clip 18: Fusion snapshots 48:38 Clip 19: Sustainable computing 52:38 Clip 20: nf-core/tools 56:37 Clip 21: Industry best practices with nf-core 58:58 Clip 22: Federated data queries 01:01:56 Clip 23: Nextflow Ambassadors 01:05:04 Conclusion

In episode 47 of The Nextflow Podcast, Phil Ewels and Ben Sherman discuss the launch of the new Nextflow language server, a significant upgrade providing advanced code intelligence features such as code completion and error hints for VS Code users. They detail the benefits of formalizing Nextflow as its own programming language, reducing reliance on Groovy, and improving error messages and code clarity. They also cover new documentation, plans for future features like type annotations, and encourage community feedback and adoption. Find the new docs here: https://www.nextflow.io/docs/latest/vscode.html 00:00 Podcast Ep 47 - Version 2 - VSCode Extension 00:09 Welcome and introductions 00:44 Podcast rebranding 01:29 Nextflow Summit announcements 02:48 Language server background 06:27 Nextflow as a programming language 09:58 Building a language server 14:12 VS Code interactions with the language server 15:22 VS Code demo 15:50 Errors + warnings tray 17:10 Errors: Level 0 20:00 Errors: Level 1 22:32 Errors: Level 2 23:02 To def or not to def 24:46 Variable references 25:34 Number of arguments 25:57 Hover hints on workflows and processes 26:19 Code navigation 26:52 Output hints 27:17 Code peeks 27:56 Getting help 28:29 Code formatting 30:25 Nextflow schema params 32:03 Future warnings 34:02 Preview DAG 34:54 Fixing new syntax errors 35:42 Config files 37:07 Updating the plugin 37:33 Roadmap: Type checking 38:55 Conclusion

In this episode of Channels, the Nextflow podcast, host Geraldine from Seqera and her colleague Ben Sherman dive into the differences and similarities between Nextflow and the Workflow Description Language (WDL). They discuss the origins and development of WDL at the Broad Institute, the challenges of working with different workflow languages, and how Nextflow's channel-based data flow model compares to WDL's approach. The conversation covers key features, type systems, and runtime specifications, highlighting the strengths and limitations of both languages. Ben hints at upcoming improvements and enhancements for Nextflow, aimed at making the language more robust and user-friendly. The episode offers valuable insights for bioinformaticians and developers navigating the complexities of workflow management.

In this episode of Channels, the Nextflow podcast, join us as we explore Nextflow and AI. Our special guest, Sasha from Seqera, shares his remarkable journey from the consumer tech industry to bioinformatics. Learn about the birth of TinyBio, its innovations in bioinformatics AI applications, and its recent acquisition by Seqera. We delve into AI concepts, the challenges faced, and the future of integrating AI with Nextflow. Tune in to discover how advancements in AI are reshaping the bioinformatics landscape. 00:00 Podcast 45: Tinybio : Nextflow x AI 00:09 Introduction 00:34 Sasha's background 03:17 How tinybio started 05:57 Tinybio co-founder: Vishal Patel 06:35 tinybio chat public launch 09:20 Failed feature launches 10:39 Running the code too 12:46 User trust 14:11 Accessing files via chat 15:08 Experiment idea generator 17:16 Pipeline generator 20:25 AI concepts: Foundational models 22:36 AI concepts: RAG 24:53 AI concepts: Langchain 26:37 AI concepts: Fine tuning 29:14 Challenges in bioinformatics AI 31:53 AI concepts: Q&A training 33:09 Motivation for joining Seqera 34:43 What happens to tinybio now? 35:36 Future plans 38:20 AI and open-source 40:50 Find more updates 41:37 Wrap up

In episode 44 of the Nextflow Channels podcast, Phil Ewels welcomes Alex Pelzer— a key figure in the Nextflow and nf-core community. Alex shares his journey from academia to the pharmaceutical industry, highlighting the critical role of regulatory frameworks in bioinformatics. 🌟 Key Highlights: The transition from working at QBiC to Boehringer Ingelheim. The importance of maintaining high-quality, reproducible pipelines in bioinformatics. Understanding regulatory requirements and their impact on clinical trials. How regulatory standards and open-source initiatives like @nf-core are shaping the future of bioinformatics. Alex also discusses the formation of the @nf-core Regulatory Special Interest Group, which aims to bring together experts in the field to establish and promote best practices for ensuring pipeline quality and compliance with regulatory standards. Looking forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming #NextflowSummit in Barcelona this October! We’ll be working with this #regulatory group during the nf-core hackathon. 00:00 Episode 44: Regulatory revolution 00:06 Introductions 00:33 Upcoming Nextflow Summit Announcement 01:34 Alex’s Background and Early Days with Nextflow 04:41 Formation and Growth of nf-core 06:18 Transition to Pharma and Regulatory Work 08:56 Regulatory Challenges and Practices in Bioinformatics 13:30 Tool Selection and Quality Assurance 15:23 Evaluating Software Trustworthiness 17:08 Overhead in Academia vs. Industry 18:11 Downstream analysis 20:57 Regulatory Special Interest Group 25:28 Special Interest Groups in nf-core 28:59 Future Directions and Community Involvement 30:15 Open source contributions in pharma 33:27 Conclusion and Upcoming Events