Summary

FlowViewer is a tool for real-time analysis of Nextflow pipeline execution. It helps gather statistics, view process graphs, and analyze output files. Key features include:

• Constructs process graphs at the start of a session and updates the data within them in real time
• Viewing session information: who started it, when, with which command, and in which environment
• Visualization of files created during the pipeline execution
• Detailed analytics of process telemetry

The main advantage of FlowViewer is its self-hosted approach. You can deploy the tool on your own laboratory server, confident that your research data will not leak to third-party servers. Since the project is open-source, you can personally verify its security or customize the solution to create your own (non-commercial) build. The plugin complies with nf-core requirements and requires no script modifications to operate, allowing you to integrate it into existing pipelines and enjoy real-time statistics collection.

Get Started

Launch the webview with the following command:

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/data \
  flow-viewer

To launch the plugin, specify the following in nextflow.config:

plugins {
    id 'nf-flowviewer'
}

flowViewer {
    serverUrl = '<BASE_URL>'
}

Parameter	Description
serverUrl	Host for the statistics-gathering web application (http://localhost:3000)

WorkFlow Configuration

WorkFlow is the project name used to link project runs across different devices. Define it in the configuration:

flowViewer {
    workflowName = 'project-1'
}

RunBy Parameter

To distinguish the devices from which the script was launched, use the RunBy parameter. It can be specified either in the pipeline configuration or as an environment variable:

export FLOWVIEWER_RUN_BY="developer-1"

Or in the config:

flowViewer {
    runBy = 'developer-1'
}

Priority: A value set via an environment variable takes precedence over a value in the configuration.

Artifacts Configuration

Limit artifact collection since pipelines can generate massive files (tens of GB in size):

flowViewer {
    artifactMaxSize = 512
}

artifactMaxSize - The maximum size of data read from the file, in bytes (512 bytes by default).

Examples

Basic Docker Setup

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/data \
  flow-viewer

Complete Configuration Example

plugins {
    id 'nf-flowviewer'
}

flowViewer {
    serverUrl = 'http://localhost:3000'
    workflowName = 'my-rna-seq-pipeline'
    runBy = 'developer-1'
    artifactMaxSize = 512
}

Documentation Setup

Create Markdown documentation for any NextFlow file by creating an .md file next to the Nextflow pipeline launch file with the same name:

├─ main.nf
└─ main.md

Or:

├─ dna-seq.nf
└─ dna-seq.md

If no matching .md file is found, the plugin will use the README.md file located in the same directory.

License

Apache 2.0