Remote files

In versions snakemake>=3.5.

The Snakefile supports a wrapper function, remote(), indicating a file is on a remote storage provider (this is similar to temp() or protected()). In order to use all types of remote files, the Python packages boto, moto, filechunkio, pysftp, dropbox, requests, ftputil, XRootD, and biopython must be installed.

During rule execution, a remote file (or object) specified is downloaded to the local cwd, within a sub-directory bearing the same name as the remote provider. This sub-directory naming lets you have multiple remote origins with reduced likelihood of name collisions, and allows Snakemake to easily translate remote objects to local file paths. You can think of each local remote sub-directory as a local mirror of the remote system. The remote() wrapper is mutually-exclusive with the temp() and protected() wrappers.

Snakemake includes the following remote providers, supported by the corresponding classes:

  • Amazon Simple Storage Service (AWS S3): snakemake.remote.S3
  • Google Cloud Storage (GS): snakemake.remote.GS
  • Microsoft Azure Blob Storage: snakemake.remote.AzBlob
  • File transfer over SSH (SFTP): snakemake.remote.SFTP
  • Read-only web (HTTP[S]): snakemake.remote.HTTP
  • File transfer protocol (FTP): snakemake.remote.FTP
  • Dropbox: snakemake.remote.dropbox
  • XRootD: snakemake.remote.XRootD
  • GenBank / NCBI Entrez: snakemake.remote.NCBI
  • WebDAV: snakemake.remote.webdav
  • GFAL: snakemake.remote.gfal
  • GridFTP: snakemake.remote.gridftp
  • iRODS: snakemake.remote.iRODS
  • EGA: snakemake.remote.EGA

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

This section describes usage of the S3 RemoteProvider, and also provides an intro to remote files and their usage.

It is important to note that you must have credentials (access_key_id and secret_access_key) which permit read/write access. If a file only serves as input to a Snakemake rule, read access is sufficient. You may specify credentials as environment variables or in the file =/.aws/credentials, prefixed with AWS_*, as with a standard boto config. Credentials may also be explicitly listed in the Snakefile, as shown below:

For the Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage providers, the sub-directory used must be the bucket name.

Using remote files is easy (AWS S3 shown):

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEY", secret_access_key="MYSECRET")

rule all:
    input:
        S3.remote("bucket-name/file.txt")

Expand still works as expected, just wrap the expansion:

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        S3.remote(expand("bucket-name/{letter}-2.txt", letter=["A", "B", "C"]))

Only remote files needed to satisfy the DAG build are downloaded for the workflow. By default, remote files are downloaded prior to rule execution and are removed locally as soon as no rules depend on them. Remote files can be explicitly kept by setting the keep_local=True keyword argument:

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEY", secret_access_key="MYSECRET")

rule all:
    input: S3.remote('bucket-name/prefix{split_id}.txt', keep_local=True)

If you wish to have a rule to simply download a file to a local copy, you can do so by declaring the same file path locally as is used by the remote file:

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEY", secret_access_key="MYSECRET")

rule all:
    input:
        S3.remote("bucket-name/out.txt")
    output:
        "bucket-name/out.txt"
    run:
        shell("cp {output[0]} ./")

In some cases the rule can use the data directly on the remote provider, in these cases stay_on_remote=True can be set to avoid downloading/uploading data unnecessarily. Additionally, if the backend supports it, any potentially corrupt output files will be removed from the remote. The default for stay_on_remote and keep_local can be configured by setting these properties on the remote provider object:

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEY", secret_access_key="MYSECRET", keep_local=True, stay_on_remote=True)

The remote provider also supports a new glob_wildcards() (see How do I run my rule on all files of a certain directory?) which acts the same as the local version of glob_wildcards(), but for remote files:

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEY", secret_access_key="MYSECRET")
S3.glob_wildcards("bucket-name/{file_prefix}.txt")

# (result looks just like as if the local glob_wildcards() function were used on a locally with a folder called "bucket-name")

If the AWS CLI is installed it is possible to configure your keys globally. This removes the necessity of hardcoding the keys in the Snakefile. The interactive AWS credentials setup can be done using the following command:

aws configure

S3 then can be used without the keys.

from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider
S3 = S3RemoteProvider()

Finally, it is also possible to overwrite the S3 host via adding a host argument (taking a URL string) to S3RemoteProvider.

Google Cloud Storage (GS)

Usage of the GS provider is the same as the S3 provider. For authentication, one simply needs to login via the gcloud tool before executing Snakemake, i.e.:

$ gcloud auth application-default login

In the Snakefile, no additional authentication information has to be provided:

from snakemake.remote.GS import RemoteProvider as GSRemoteProvider
GS = GSRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        GS.remote("bucket-name/file.txt")

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

Usage of the Azure Blob Storage provider is similar to the S3 provider. For authentication, an account name and shared access signature (SAS) or key can be used. If these variables are not passed directly to AzureRemoteProvider (see [BlobServiceClient class](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/python/api/azure-storage-blob/azure.storage.blob.blobserviceclient?view=azure-python) for naming), they will be read from environment variables, named AZ_BLOB_ACCOUNT_URL and AZ_BLOB_CREDENTIAL. AZ_BLOB_ACCOUNT_URL takes the form https://<accountname>.blob.core.windows.net and may also contain a SAS. If a SAS is not part of the URL, AZ_BLOB_CREDENTIAL has to be set to the SAS or alternatively to the storage account key.

When using AzBlob as default remote provider you will almost always want to pass these environment variables on to the remote execution environment (e.g. Kubernetes) with –envvars, e.g –envvars AZ_BLOB_ACCOUNT_URL AZ_BLOB_CREDENTIAL.

from snakemake.remote.AzBlob import RemoteProvider as AzureRemoteProvider
AS = AzureRemoteProvider()# assumes env vars AZ_BLOB_ACCOUNT_URL and possibly AZ_BLOB_CREDENTIAL are set

rule a:
    input:
        AS.remote("path/to/file.txt")

File transfer over SSH (SFTP)

Snakemake can use files on remove servers accessible via SFTP (i.e. most *nix servers). It uses pysftp for the underlying support of SFTP, so the same connection options exist. Assuming you have SSH keys already set up for the server you are using in the Snakefile, usage is simple:

from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        SFTP.remote("example.com/path/to/file.bam")

If you need to create the output directories in the remote server, you can specify mkdir_remote=True in the RemoteProvider constructor.

from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider(mkdir_remote=True)

rule all:
    input:
        "/home/foo/bar.txt"
    output:
        SFTP.remote('example.com/home/foo/create/dir/bar.txt')
    shell:
        "cp {input} {output}"

The remote file addresses used must be specified with the host (domain or IP address) and the absolute path to the file on the remote server. A port may be specified if the SSH daemon on the server is listening on a port other than 22, in either the RemoteProvider or in each instance of remote():

from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider(port=4040)

rule all:
    input:
        SFTP.remote("example.com/path/to/file.bam")
from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        SFTP.remote("example.com:4040/path/to/file.bam")

The standard keyword arguments used by pysftp may be provided to the RemoteProvider to specify credentials (either password or private key):

from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider(username="myusername", private_key="/Users/myusername/.ssh/particular_id_rsa")

rule all:
    input:
        SFTP.remote("example.com/path/to/file.bam")
from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

rule all:
    input:
        SFTP.remote("example.com/path/to/file.bam")

If you share credentials between servers but connect to one on a different port, the alternate port may be specified in the remote() wrapper:

from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

rule all:
    input:
        SFTP.remote("some-example-server-1.com/path/to/file.bam"),
        SFTP.remote("some-example-server-2.com:2222/path/to/file.bam")

There is a glob_wildcards() function:

from snakemake.remote.SFTP import RemoteProvider
SFTP = RemoteProvider()
SFTP.glob_wildcards("example.com/path/to/{sample}.bam")

Read-only web (HTTP[s])

Snakemake can access web resources via a read-only HTTP(S) provider. This provider can be helpful for including public web data in a workflow.

Web addresses must be specified without protocol, so if your URI looks like this:

https://server3.example.com/path/to/myfile.tar.gz

The URI used in the Snakefile must look like this:

server3.example.com/path/to/myfile.tar.gz

It is straightforward to use the HTTP provider to download a file to the cwd:

import os
from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider

HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("www.example.com/path/to/document.pdf", keep_local=True)
    run:
        outputName = os.path.basename(input[0])
        shell("mv {input} {outputName}")

To connect on a different port, specify the port as part of the URI string:

from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider
HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("www.example.com:8080/path/to/document.pdf", keep_local=True)

By default, the HTTP provider always uses HTTPS (TLS). If you need to connect to a resource with regular HTTP (no TLS), you must explicitly include insecure as a kwarg to remote():

from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider
HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("www.example.com/path/to/document.pdf", insecure=True, keep_local=True)

If the URI used includes characters not permitted in a local file path, you may include them as part of the additional_request_string in the kwargs for remote(). This may also be useful for including additional parameters you don not want to be part of the local filename (since the URI string becomes the local file name).

from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider
HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("example.com/query.php", additional_request_string="?range=2;3")

If the file requires authentication, you can specify a username and password for HTTP Basic Auth with the Remote Provider, or with each instance of remote(). For different types of authentication, you can pass in a Python `requests.auth object (see here) the auth kwarg.

from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider
HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("example.com/interactive.php", keep_local=True)
from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider
HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("example.com/interactive.php", username="myusername", password="mypassword", keep_local=True)
from snakemake.remote.HTTP import RemoteProvider as HTTPRemoteProvider
HTTP = HTTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        HTTP.remote("example.com/interactive.php", auth=requests.auth.HTTPDigestAuth("myusername", "mypassword"), keep_local=True)

Since remote servers do not present directory contents uniformly, glob_wildcards() is __not__ supported by the HTTP provider.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Snakemake can work with files stored on regular FTP. Currently supported are authenticated FTP and anonymous FTP, excluding FTP via TLS.

Usage is similar to the SFTP provider, however the paths specified are relative to the FTP home directory (since this is typically a chroot):

from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider

FTP = FTPRemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

rule all:
    input:
        FTP.remote("example.com/rel/path/to/file.tar.gz")

The port may be specified in either the provider, or in each instance of remote():

from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider

FTP = FTPRemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword", port=2121)

rule all:
    input:
        FTP.remote("example.com/rel/path/to/file.tar.gz")
from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider

FTP = FTPRemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

rule all:
    input:
        FTP.remote("example.com:2121/rel/path/to/file.tar.gz")

Anonymous download of FTP resources is possible:

from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider
FTP = FTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        # only keeping the file so we can move it out to the cwd
        FTP.remote("example.com/rel/path/to/file.tar.gz", keep_local=True)
    run:
        shell("mv {input} ./")

glob_wildcards():

from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider
FTP = FTPRemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

print(FTP.glob_wildcards("example.com/somedir/{file}.txt"))

Setting immediate_close=True allows the use of a large number of remote FTP input files in a job where the endpoint server limits the number of concurrent connections. When immediate_close=True, Snakemake will terminate FTP connections after each remote file action (exists(), size(), download(), mtime(), etc.). This is in contrast to the default behavior which caches FTP details and leaves the connection open across actions to improve performance (closing the connection upon job termination). :

from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider
FTP = FTPRemoteProvider()

rule all:
    input:
        # only keep the file so we can move it out to the cwd
        # This server limits the number of concurrent connections so we need to have Snakemake close each after each FTP action.
        FTP.remote(expand("ftp.example.com/rel/path/to/{file}", file=large_list), keep_local=True, immediate_close=True)
    run:
        shell("mv {input} ./")

glob_wildcards():

from snakemake.remote.FTP import RemoteProvider as FTPRemoteProvider
FTP = FTPRemoteProvider(username="myusername", password="mypassword")

print(FTP.glob_wildcards("example.com/somedir/{file}.txt"))

Dropbox

The Dropbox remote provider allows you to upload and download from your Dropbox account without having the client installed on your machine. In order to use the provider you first need to register an “app” on the Dropbox developer website, with access to the Full Dropbox. After registering, generate an OAuth2 access token. You will need the token to use the Snakemake Dropbox remote provider.

Using the Dropbox provider is straightforward:

from snakemake.remote.dropbox import RemoteProvider as DropboxRemoteProvider
DBox = DropboxRemoteProvider(oauth2_access_token="mytoken")

rule all:
    input:
        DBox.remote("path/to/input.txt")

glob_wildcards() is supported:

from snakemake.remote.dropbox import RemoteProvider as DropboxRemoteProvider
DBox = DropboxRemoteProvider(oauth2_access_token="mytoken")

DBox.glob_wildcards("path/to/{title}.txt")

Note that Dropbox paths are case-insensitive.

XRootD

Snakemake can be used with XRootD backed storage provided the python bindings are installed. This is typically most useful when combined with the stay_on_remote flag to minimise local storage requirements. This flag can be overridden on a file by file basis as described in the S3 remote. Additionally glob_wildcards() is supported:

from snakemake.remote.XRootD import RemoteProvider as XRootDRemoteProvider

XRootD = XRootDRemoteProvider(stay_on_remote=True)
file_numbers = XRootD.glob_wildcards("root://eospublic.cern.ch//eos/opendata/lhcb/MasterclassDatasets/D0lifetime/2014/mclasseventv2_D0_{n}.root")

rule all:
    input:
        XRootD.remote(expand("local_data/mclasseventv2_D0_{n}.root", n=file_numbers))

rule make_data:
    input:
        XRootD.remote("root://eospublic.cern.ch//eos/opendata/lhcb/MasterclassDatasets/D0lifetime/2014/mclasseventv2_D0_{n}.root")
    output:
        'local_data/mclasseventv2_D0_{n}.root'
    shell:
        'xrdcp {input[0]} {output[0]}'

GenBank / NCBI Entrez

Snakemake can directly source input files from GenBank and other NCBI Entrez databases if the Biopython library is installed.

from snakemake.remote.NCBI import RemoteProvider as NCBIRemoteProvider
NCBI = NCBIRemoteProvider(email="someone@example.com") # email required by NCBI to prevent abuse

rule all:
    input:
        "size.txt"

rule download_and_count:
    input:
        NCBI.remote("KY785484.1.fasta", db="nuccore")
    output:
        "size.txt"
    run:
        shell("wc -c {input} > {output}")

The output format and source database of a record retrieved from GenBank is inferred from the file extension specified. For example, NCBI.RemoteProvider().remote("KY785484.1.fasta", db="nuccore") will download a FASTA file while NCBI.RemoteProvider().remote("KY785484.1.gb", db="nuccore") will download a GenBank-format file. If the options are ambiguous, Snakemake will raise an exception and inform the user of possible format choices. To see available formats, consult the Entrez EFetch documentation. To view the valid file extensions for these formats, access NCBI.RemoteProvider()._gb.valid_extensions, or instantiate an NCBI.NCBIHelper() and access NCBI.NCBIHelper().valid_extensions (this is a property).

When used in conjunction with NCBI.RemoteProvider().search(), Snakemake and NCBI.RemoteProvider().remote() can be used to find accessions by query and download them:

from snakemake.remote.NCBI import RemoteProvider as NCBIRemoteProvider
NCBI = NCBIRemoteProvider(email="someone@example.com") # email required by NCBI to prevent abuse

# get accessions for the first 3 results in a search for full-length Zika virus genomes
# the query parameter accepts standard GenBank search syntax
query = '"Zika virus"[Organism] AND (("9000"[SLEN] : "20000"[SLEN]) AND ("2017/03/20"[PDAT] : "2017/03/24"[PDAT])) '
accessions = NCBI.search(query, retmax=3)

# give the accessions a file extension to help the RemoteProvider determine the
# proper output type.
input_files = expand("{acc}.fasta", acc=accessions)

rule all:
    input:
        "sizes.txt"

rule download_and_count:
    input:
        # Since *.fasta files could come from several different databases, specify the database here.
        # if the input files are ambiguous, the provider will alert the user with possible options
        # standard options like "seq_start" are supported
        NCBI.remote(input_files, db="nuccore", seq_start=5000)

    output:
        "sizes.txt"
    run:
        shell("wc -c {input} > sizes.txt")

Normally, all accessions for a query are returned from NCBI.RemoteProvider.search(). To truncate the results, specify retmax=<desired_number>. Standard Entrez fetch query options are supported as kwargs, and may be passed in to NCBI.RemoteProvider.remote() and NCBI.RemoteProvider.search().

WebDAV

WebDAV support is currently experimental and available in Snakemake 4.0 and later.

Snakemake supports reading and writing WebDAV remote files. The protocol defaults to https://, but insecure connections can be used by specifying protocol=="http://". Similarly, the port defaults to 443, and can be overridden by specifying port=## or by including the port as part of the file address.

from snakemake.remote import webdav

webdav = webdav.RemoteProvider(username="test", password="test", protocol="http://")

rule a:
    input:
        webdav.remote("example.com:8888/path/to/input_file.csv"),
    shell:
        # do something

GFAL

GFAL support is available in Snakemake 4.1 and later.

Snakemake supports reading and writing remote files via the GFAL command line client (gfal-* commands). By this, it supports various grid storage protocols like GridFTP. In general, if you are able to use the gfal-* commands directly, Snakemake support for GFAL will work as well.

from snakemake.remote import gfal

gfal = gfal.RemoteProvider(retry=5)

rule a:
    input:
        gfal.remote("gridftp.grid.sara.nl:2811/path/to/infile.txt")
    output:
        gfal.remote("gridftp.grid.sara.nl:2811/path/to/outfile.txt")
    shell:
        # do something

Authentication has to be setup in the system, e.g. via certificates in the .globus directory. Usually, this is already the case and no action has to be taken. The keyword argument to the remote provider allows to set the number of retries (10 per default) in case of failed commands (the GRID is usually relatively unreliable). The latter may be unsupported depending on the system configuration.

Note that GFAL support used together with the flags --no-shared-fs and --default-remote-provider enables you to transparently use Snakemake in a grid computing environment without a shared network filesystem. For an example see the surfsara-grid configuration profile.

GridFTP

GridFTP support is available in Snakemake 4.3.0 and later.

As a more specialized alternative to the GFAL remote provider, Snakemake provides a GridFTP remote provider. This provider only supports the GridFTP protocol. Internally, it uses the globus-url-copy command for downloads and uploads, while all other tasks are delegated to the GFAL remote provider.

from snakemake.remote import gridftp

gridftp = gridftp.RemoteProvider(retry=5)

rule a:
    input:
        gridftp.remote("gridftp.grid.sara.nl:2811/path/to/infile.txt")
    output:
        gridftp.remote("gridftp.grid.sara.nl:2811/path/to/outfile.txt")
    shell:
        # do something

Authentication has to be setup in the system, e.g. via certificates in the .globus directory. Usually, this is already the case and no action has to be taken. The keyword argument to the remote provider allows to set the number of retries (10 per default) in case of failed commands (the GRID is usually relatively unreliable). The latter may be unsupported depending on the system configuration.

Note that GridFTP support used together with the flags --no-shared-fs and --default-remote-provider enables you to transparently use Snakemake in a grid computing environment without a shared network filesystem. For an example see the surfsara-grid configuration profile.

Remote cross-provider transfers

It is possible to use Snakemake to transfer files between remote providers (using the local machine as an intermediary), as long as the sub-directory (bucket) names differ:

from snakemake.remote.GS import RemoteProvider as GSRemoteProvider
from snakemake.remote.S3 import RemoteProvider as S3RemoteProvider

GS = GSRemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEYID", secret_access_key="MYSECRETACCESSKEY")
S3 = S3RemoteProvider(access_key_id="MYACCESSKEYID", secret_access_key="MYSECRETACCESSKEY")

fileList, = S3.glob_wildcards("source-bucket/{file}.bam")
rule all:
    input:
        GS.remote( expand("destination-bucket/{file}.bam", file=fileList) )
rule transfer_S3_to_GS:
    input:
        S3.remote( expand("source-bucket/{file}.bam", file=fileList) )
    output:
        GS.remote( expand("destination-bucket/{file}.bam", file=fileList) )
    run:
        shell("cp {input} {output}")

iRODS

You can access an iRODS server to retrieve data from and upload data to it. If your iRODS server is not set to a certain timezone, it is using UTC. It is advised to shift the modification time provided by iRODS (modify_time) then to your timezone by providing the timezone parameter such that timestamps coming from iRODS are converted to the correct time.

iRODS actually does not save the timestamp from your original file but creates its own timestamp of the upload time. When iRODS downloads the file for processing, it does not take the timestamp from the remote file. Instead, the file will have the timestamp when it was downloaded. To get around this, we create a metadata entry to store the original file stamp from your system and alter the timestamp of the downloaded file accordingly. While uploading, the metadata entries atime, ctime and mtime are added. When this entry does not exist (because this module didn’t upload the file), we fall back to the timestamp provided by iRODS with the above mentioned strategy.

To access the iRODS server you need to have an iRODS environment configuration file available and in this file the authentication needs to be configured. The iRODS configuration file can be created by following the official instructions).

The default location for the configuration file is ~/.irods/irods_environment.json. The RemoteProvider() class accepts the parameter irods_env_file where an alternative path to the irods_environment.json file can be specified. Another way is to export the environment variable IRODS_ENVIRONMENT_FILE in your shell to specify the location.

There are several ways to configure the authentication against the iRODS server, depending on what your iRODS server offers. If you are using the authentication via password, the default location of the authentication file is ~/.irods/.irodsA. Usually this file is generated with the iinit command from the iCommands program suite. Inside the irods_environment.json file, the parameter "irods_authentication_file" can be set to specifiy an alternative location for the .irodsA file. Another possibility to change the location is to export the environment variable IRODS_AUTHENTICATION_FILE.

The glob_wildcards() function is supported.

from snakemake.remote.iRODS import RemoteProvider

irods = RemoteProvider(irods_env_file='setup-data/irods_environment.json',
                       timezone="Europe/Berlin") # all parameters are optional

# please note the comma after the variable name!
# access: irods.remote(expand('home/rods/{f}), f=files))
files, = irods.glob_wildcards('home/rods/{files})

rule all:
    input:
        irods.remote('home/rods/testfile.out'),

rule gen:
    input:
        irods.remote('home/rods/testfile.in')
    output:
        irods.remote('home/rods/testfile.out')
    shell:
        r"""
        touch {output}
        """

An example for the iRODS configuration file (irods_environment.json):

{
    "irods_host": "localhost",
    "irods_port": 1247,
    "irods_user_name": "rods",
    "irods_zone_name": "tempZone",
    "irods_authentication_file": "setup-data/.irodsA"
}

Please note that the zone folder is not included in the path as it will be taken from the configuration file. The path also must not start with a /.

By default, temporarily stored local files are removed. You can specify anyway the parameter overwrite to tell iRODS to overwrite existing files that are downloaded, because iRODS complains if a local file already exists when a download attempt is issued (uploading is not a problem, though).

In the Snakemake source directory in snakemake/tests/test_remote_irods you can find a working example.

EGA

The European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) is a service for permanent archiving and sharing of all types of personally identifiable genetic and phenotypic data resulting from biomedical research projects.

From version 5.2 on, Snakemake provides experimental support to use EGA as a remote provider, such that EGA hosted files can be transparently used as input. For this to work, you need to define your username and password as environment variables EGA_USERNAME and EGA_PASSWORD.

Files in a dataset are addressed via the pattern ega/<dataset_id>/<filename>. Note that the filename should not include the .cip ending that is sometimes displayed in EGA listings:

import snakemake.remote.EGA as EGA

ega = EGA.RemoteProvider()


rule a:
  input:
      ega.remote("ega/EGAD00001002142/COLO_829_EPleasance_TGENPipe.bam.bai")
  output:
      "data/COLO_829BL_BCGSC_IlluminaPipe.bam.bai"
  shell:
      "cp {input} {output}"

Upon download, Snakemake will automatically decrypt the file and check the MD5 hash.