Biodepot Launcher: an app to install, manage and launch bioinformatics workflows.

Abstract

We present the Biodepot Launcher, a desktop application that facilitates installation, management and deployment of bioinformatics workflows using the Biodepot-workflow-builder (Bwb). With the new app, Bwb can be started by double-clicking on an icon, eliminating the need for typing cryptic start up commands into the terminal. This creates an end-to-end graphical and easy-to-use interface to manage and launch containerized workflows on the local computer or cloud instances. Biodepot Launcher is written in React and Javascript, and uses the node.js framework Neutralinojs and web browser routines to allow the application to execute on Linux, Windows and Mac desktop environments.