Cannoodt, R., Cannoodt, H., Schaumont, D., Waldrant, K., Van de Kerckhove, E., Boschmans, A., De Maeyer, D., & Verbeiren, T. (2024).
Viash: A meta-framework for building reusable workflow modules. Journal of Open Source Software, 9(93), 6089.
This article introduces Viash, a framework for creating reusable workflow modules for data workflows.
http://dx.doi.org/10.21105/joss.06089
Abstract:
Most bioinformatics workflows consist of software components that are tightly coupled to the logic of the workflow itself. This limits the reusability of the individual components or introduces maintenance overhead when they need to be reimplemented in multiple workflows.
We introduce Viash, a tool for speeding up the development of robust workflows through “code-first” prototyping, separation of concerns, and code generation of modular workflow components. By decoupling the component functionality from the workflow logic, component functionality becomes fully workflow-agnostic, and the resulting workflows are agnostic toward specific component requirements.
This separation of concerns improves the reusability of components and facilitates multidisciplinary and pan-organisational collaborations. Viash has been applied in various projects, from proof-of-concept workflows to supporting an international data science competition.
Viash is available as an open-source project at github.com/viash-io/viash and documentation is available at viash.io.
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