Galaxy Tool Developers (SIG)

👥 Who are we?

We are developers of Galaxy tool wrappers with a shared interest in high-quality, sustainable tool development, agreed-upon maintenance responsibilities, and open collaboration. We try to support each other to increase the overall quality of our work through coordination, mentoring, and knowledge sharing.

Many of us are members of Galaxy’s Intergalactic Utilities Commission (IUC), but we explicitly welcome anyone seeking to improve Galaxy’s tool ecosystem and/or their own tool wrapping skills. Whether you are an experienced developer or just starting with Galaxy tool wrapping, you can participate in our discussions, learn from others, and take on meaningful tasks related to tool development and maintenance across scientific domains.

🎯 Scope and Goals

🔭 Scope:

This SIG focuses on all aspects of Galaxy tool development and maintenance - from wrapping and testing to publication, review, and long-term support.

🚀 Goals:

• 🧩 Facilitate the development, maintenance, and support of Galaxy tools.
• 🤝 Provide mutual support in resolving development challenges and technical blockers.
• ⚙️ Actively coordinate tool-related activities as a community-driven effort.
• 💡 Maintain shared best practices for wrapping, testing, versioning, and documentation.
• 🧭 Support new and aspiring tool developers through training sessions, workshops, and mentoring.
• ✅ Ensure consistent quality across tool-related repositories.
• 🗣️ Represent tool developers’ needs in Galaxy governance discussions (via the IUC and the Community Board).

🧰 Key Activities

• 📅 Bimonthly virtual meetings: Held to plan and discuss work-in-progress tools, and upcoming development initiatives.

• 🧪 Peer review and development standards: Coordinate the review of new tool submissions and updates to ensure quality, compliance, and adherence to IUC best practices for development, testing, and documentation.

• 🎓 Training and onboarding: Host sessions and workshops for new and existing developers to build skills and familiarity with Galaxy tool development.

• 📝 Task management: Use the IUC GitHub project board to assign, track, and update tasks; structured follow-up ensures accountability and progress.

• 🤝 Collaboration: Work with other SIGs and Working Groups to improve interoperability, consistency, and the overall Galaxy tool ecosystem.

• ⚡ Hackathons and collaborative sprints: Address pending pull requests, troubleshoot development roadblocks, and accelerate progress on shared projects.

🌐 Membership and Participation

Open to all active and aspiring tool developers contributing to the IUC or related Galaxy repositories.

Everyone is free to join and contribute, but the SIG follows a structured format for meetings and task management using the GitHub board.

Members are encouraged to actively take part in maintaining, updating, and supporting Galaxy tools as part of a coordinated community effort.

If you think you can contribute - through development, testing, review, or documentation - we’ll be happy to help you get started and discuss relevant tasks with you.

👤 Members can:

• Participate in discussions, reviews, and pull requests.

• Help improve IUC guidelines and continuous integration systems.

• Mentor newcomers or support developer training.

• Bring cross-cutting tool development topics to SIG meetings.

• Take on and track open tasks on the IUC GitHub project board, visible to all contributors.

• If they have doubts, issues, or problems related to tool development or their own tools, they can join the meetings to get them clarified.

Communication

• 💬 Matrix Channel: https://matrix.to/#/#galaxy-iuc_iuc:gitter.im

• 📊 GitHub Project Board: https://github.com/orgs/galaxyproject/projects/81

• 🕐 Meetings: Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the Month at 14:00 CET | 🗓️ Agenda and Meeting Link | 🗓️ Subscribe to Calendar

• 📢 Updates: Shared through IUC and Galaxy community channels.

📚 Resources

• 📘 IUC Development Guidelines: https://galaxy-iuc-standards.readthedocs.io/

• 🧩 Tools-IUC development repository: https://github.com/galaxyproject/tools-iuc

• 🧩 Other Galaxy tool repositories: https://github.com/galaxyproject/tools-iuc?tab=readme-ov-file#other-repositories-with-galaxy-tools

• 🎓 Galaxy Training Material: Tool Development Tutorials

• 🧰 Galaxy ToolShed: https://toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/

• 🚀 Planemo: https://planemo.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

• 🧠 Planemo Language Server: https://github.com/galaxyproject/galaxy-language-server

• 🌈 Community Guidelines: Galaxy Code of Conduct

🔗 Alignment

This SIG operates as an extension of the IUC, not as a new entity. For IUC members and contributors, it provides a structured way to:

• 🤝 Collaborate more effectively on tool development,

• 🧭 Actively maintain and support existing tools,

• 🧑‍🏫 Mentor new developers,

• ⚙️ Coordinate maintenance and review, and

• 🗳️ Represent the tool developer community within the Galaxy Community Board.

The SIG collaborates closely with:

• Workflows Working Group

• Galaxy Training Network (GTN)

• Galaxy Community Board (GCB)

👥 Leads and Contact

🤝 Status

Affiliation: Intergalactic Utilities Commission (IUC)

Created: August 2025

Stage: Active (within IUC)