Hi everyone,

I'm working on a tool to solve a specific annoyance I've faced in genomics pipelines: the need to build (and store) a new Docker image every time I need a slightly different combination of standard tools.

If you've ever had to wait 10 minutes for a Dockerfile to build just to add bcftools to an image that already had samtools, this is for you.

Ligase is a registry proxy that generates "virtual" images on the fly. It doesn't build anything; it dynamically merges any layers from tools in the Biocontainers ecosystem into a single manifest at pull-time.

This means you can docker run --rm -it ligase.sh/v1/4n6h25213k5f:latest and you’ll get a shell with bwa and samtools ready to go.

You can visit ligase.sh/v1/4n6h25213k5f to see whats included in the image and make edits.

How to use it

1. Go to: https://ligase.sh
2. Select tools: (e.g., bwa, samtools, fastqc)
3. Copy the command (docker run ..)

You can use the image in your Nextflow script or your HPC's run command, for example.

Current Status

This is currently a v1 Alpha running on Cloudflare Workers. It is free to use.

I am looking for feedback on:

• Compatibility: Does it work with your specific Kubernetes/Singularity/Nextflow setup?
• Tooling: Are there specific Biocontainers that break when merged? (I'm testing mostly with bwa/samtools/gatk variants so far).
• Features: Would "named collections" (e.g., ligase.sh/my-lab/variant-calling) be useful for your team?

Check it out at ligase.sh and let me know (I'll try to share the source soon once I've neatened things up a bit)

Thanks!