If you find yourself here, it is likely because one of the many Galaxy community members is reaching out to you, trying to convince you that your software should be made available in Galaxy.
Why Galaxy Tools
The short version is:
- Wide Reach
- Citations
- User-Friendly Installation
- Low-effort Required of You
In trade for all of that, generally the only thing we ask of you is that you publish your software under an OSI-approved license.
Packaging
With your software under an open license, we will be able to package your software for the Conda packaging system, and usually contribute your package to the BioConda repository, where your software will join the leagues of thousands of other bioinformatics tools that are easily usable for Conda users and Galaxy developers.
Tool Wrapper Development
With a conda package created, we will be able to build a Galaxy Tool Wrapper for your tool. These XML files describe a standardized interface to a wide array of bioinformatics software.
The Galaxy Community can work to build, or help you build, the tool wrapper. This will make your software accessible to a wide array of users.
If you have developed a command line tool requiring complex configuration, the Galaxy developers have huge amounts of experience providing coherent and comprehensible interfaces that users can take advantage of, even if they have never used the command line.
Easy Installation
With the tool wrapper developed, Galaxy admins can easily install your software (the package and the tool wrapper) via a few clicks in the web interface, or via automation and scripting. This can make your software much more attractive to administrators who can scale your software across their cluster.
Extensive Community
Your tool installed in Galaxies across the Universe, we have an extensive, active community of developers and bioinformaticians writing tutorials and providing support (or directing people upstream where necessary).