Description:nf-r-ipc is a Nextflow plugin that provides Arrow-only interoperability between Nextflow (Groovy) and R via an external Rscript runtime.
Core functionality:
- Exposes plugin functions `rFunction`, `rRecords`, `rTable`, and `channelFromR` for calling R code and producing channel-friendly records.
- Uses a strict Arrow IPC request/response contract (no JSON control or payload sidecars).
- Supports nested list/map round-trip through a value-graph schema.
- Supports table-mode record workflows for channel composition.
- Preserves NULL vs typed NA distinctions and provides helper APIs for missing-value handling and type-safe conversion utilities.
Technical choices:
- Process isolation with external Rscript execution.
- Arrow Java on the Nextflow side and nanoarrow on the R side.
- Strict protocol validation and fail-fast behavior for malformed payloads.
- Conda-aware runtime resolution compatible with Nextflow usage patterns.
Benefits to the Nextflow community:
- Reliable R integration with explicit typed semantics.
- Deterministic, testable IPC boundary and robust error envelopes.
- Channel-first APIs that compose naturally with existing Nextflow operators.
License:
Apache License 2.0