[Suggestion] Connect to RO-Crate

[jan-janssen]

Based on several suggestions from collaborators, there is already a group discussing the reproducibility of workflow. They are especially focused on storing the meta data together with the workflow in one file format: https://github.com/ResearchObject/workflow-run-crate

[JaGeo]

@jan-janssen could you elaborate on the difference. To me, it seems to be driven by a different subset of the workflow community.

(Yes, would be great to connect)

[jan-janssen]

As far as I understand it is basically a zip archive with a file for the meta data which also contains a list of files which are included in the archive and which specifications these files follow. Furthermore, there is the option to add more meta data like a related citation and so on. But this is my rough understanding, I also need to look into this in more detail.

[JaGeo]

Thus, it is about an already executed workflow ?

[jan-janssen]

Thus, it is about an already executed workflow ?

Not necessarily, I could also imagine it being used to share workflow templates / recipes. But again, I am definitely no expert, we need some more information.

[JaGeo]

Thanks! Sure!

[joergfunger]

We've just tested it with nextflow and the plugin and there it is storing both the template for an execution as well as the actual run of a workflow, which are different entities as illustrated here, see under provenance crate the blue and red data structures. However, I'm not sure if you can directly extract only the recipe with a dry-run of the workflow, in particular I'm not sure if the logic e.g. dynamic if/while loops are integrated in the file format.

[jan-janssen]

https://wfcommons.org - is another collection of workflow also based on the RO-Crate - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-04786-3