Usage Overview

py-gbcms can be used in two ways depending on your needs:

🔧 Standalone CLI (Single/Few Samples)

Best for:

  • Processing 1-10 samples

  • Quick ad-hoc analysis

  • Local development and testing

  • Direct control over parameters

Pros:

  • ✅ Simple - just one command

  • ✅ Fast to set up

  • ✅ Full control over threading

  • ✅ Works anywhere (local, server, container)

Cons:

  • ❌ Manual parallelization for multiple samples

  • ❌ No automatic resource management

  • ❌ Requires manual error handling

Example:

Learn more: CLI Quick Start


🔄 Nextflow Workflow (Many Samples, HPC)

Best for:

  • Processing 10+ samples

  • HPC/SLURM cluster environments

  • Reproducible pipelines

  • Automated retry and error handling

Pros:

  • ✅ Automatic parallelization across samples

  • ✅ Smart resource management

  • ✅ Built-in retry logic

  • ✅ Resume failed runs

  • ✅ Portable (Docker/Singularity)

Cons:

  • ❌ Requires Nextflow installation

  • ❌ More setup (samplesheet, config)

  • ❌ Learning curve for Nextflow DSL

Example:

Learn more: Nextflow Workflow Guide


📊 Quick Comparison

Feature
CLI
Nextflow

Setup complexity

Low

Medium

Best for # samples

1-10

10+

Parallelization

Manual

Automatic

Resource management

Manual

Automatic

HPC integration

Manual

Built-in

Resume failed jobs

No

Yes

Reproducibility

Good

Excellent

Which Should I Use?

Use CLI if you:

  • Have a few samples to process

  • Want quick results

  • Are working locally or on a single server

  • Need full manual control

Use Nextflow if you:

  • Have many samples (10+)

  • Are on an HPC cluster (SLURM, PBS, etc.)

  • Need reproducible pipelines

  • Want automatic parallelization and error handling

  • Plan to re-run the analysis multiple times

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