Agent skill

Galaxy Bridge

by ClawBio in ClawBio/ClawBio

Galaxy tool discovery, intelligent recommendation, and execution — 8,000+ bioinformatics tools from usegalaxy.org with multi-signal scoring and workflow suggestions

MITAuto-check passedResearch & Science

Install Galaxy Bridge

skills CLI
$ npx skills add ClawBio/ClawBio --skill galaxy-bridge -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install ClawBio/ClawBio galaxy-bridge --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ClawBio/ClawBio.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/galaxy-bridge .claude/skills/galaxy-bridge && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
galaxy-bridge
GitHub stars
1.2k
Used in
2 other repos
Token cost
~2.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
782 words
Files
214
Skills in repo
104
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Galaxy tool discovery, intelligent recommendation, and execution — 8,000+ bioinformatics tools from usegalaxy.org with multi-signal scoring and workflow suggestions

  • Works in 11 steps: Intelligent tool recommendation —… → Workflow suggestions — 8 pre-defined… → Input format awareness — provide your… → …
  • Tasks that involve Bioinformatics
  • SKILL.md covers Why This Exists, Core Capabilities, Input Formats and Workflow, plus 9 more sections
  • Runs Shell and Python scripts from its folder; calls python; reaches usegalaxy.org; needs GALAXY_API_KEY

What it does

Galaxy Bridge is an agent skill from ClawBio/ClawBio. Galaxy tool discovery, intelligent recommendation, and execution — 8,000+ bioinformatics tools from usegalaxy.org with multi-signal scoring and workflow suggestions

Its SKILL.md is about 2.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 216 other files (for example `demo/reproducibility/commands.sh`, `galaxy_bridge.py` and `galaxy_catalog.json`).

It sits in Research & Science, covering Bioinformatics. The repository describes itself as: 🦖 ClawBio - The first bioinformatics-native AI agent skill library. Local-first. Reproducible. Open. Free. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Bioinformatics

Example prompts

  • “/galaxy-bridge”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • A Bash shell
  • A credential in GALAXY_API_KEY

Workflow steps

11 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Intelligent tool recommendation — describe a task in plain English; multi-signal scoring across 7 dimensions returns the best Galaxy tool…
  2. Workflow suggestions — 8 pre-defined pipeline templates (RNA-seq DE, metagenomics, variant calling, WES germline, ChIP-seq, nanopore…
  3. Input format awareness — provide your file extension (.fastq, .bam, .vcf) for format-aware recommendations
  4. Version deduplication — 8,182 catalog entries collapse to ~2,300 unique tools; latest version preferred, version count as maturity signal
  5. EDAM ontology resolution — 108 EDAM topic/operation IDs resolved to human-readable labels for richer matching
  6. Natural language search — keyword-based search across 8,000+ Galaxy tools by name, description, section, and EDAM terms
  7. Remote execution — run Galaxy tools on usegalaxy.org via BioBlend API
  8. Category browsing — explore 86 ToolShed categories with tool counts
  9. Tool detail inspection — view inputs, outputs, and parameter schemas
  10. Offline demo mode — FastQC demo with pre-cached results (no API key needed)
  11. Cross-platform chaining — Galaxy VEP → ClawBio PharmGx, Galaxy Kraken2 → ClawBio metagenomics

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit dece754. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships script files (Shell and Python, from the files we listed), which the agent can run.

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • python

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • usegalaxy.org

    Also links to:

    • galaxyproject.org
    • bioblend.readthedocs.io
    • toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • GALAXY_API_KEY

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Galaxy Bridge loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 45 tokens; SKILL.md has 782 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~45
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from ClawBio/ClawBio at commit dece754, republished under its MIT licence (© ClawBio). 782 words, ~2,444 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/galaxy-bridge/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 213 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
galaxy-bridge
description
Galaxy tool discovery, intelligent recommendation, and execution — 8,000+ bioinformatics tools from usegalaxy.org with multi-signal scoring and workflow suggestions
license
MIT
metadata.version
0.2.0
metadata.author
Manuel Corpas
metadata.tags
galaxy, bioinformatics, tool-discovery, workflows, NGS, genomics, proteomics, metagenomics

Galaxy Bridge

ClawBio's gateway to the Galaxy ecosystem — 1,770+ production bioinformatics tools, discoverable and executable through natural language.

Why This Exists

Galaxy (usegalaxy.org) hosts the world's largest collection of curated bioinformatics tools — 1,770+ on the main server alone, covering everything from FASTQ QC to metagenomics to protein structure prediction. But discovering the right tool requires knowing exact tool IDs, navigating nested ToolShed categories, and understanding parameter schemas.

Galaxy Bridge makes these tools agent-accessible: search by natural language, execute via CLI, and chain Galaxy tools with ClawBio's local skills for cross-platform workflows that neither system can do alone.

Core Capabilities

  1. Intelligent tool recommendation — describe a task in plain English; multi-signal scoring across 7 dimensions returns the best Galaxy tool with explanations
  2. Workflow suggestions — 8 pre-defined pipeline templates (RNA-seq DE, metagenomics, variant calling, WES germline, ChIP-seq, nanopore, genome assembly, variant annotation)
  3. Input format awareness — provide your file extension (.fastq, .bam, .vcf) for format-aware recommendations
  4. Version deduplication — 8,182 catalog entries collapse to ~2,300 unique tools; latest version preferred, version count as maturity signal
  5. EDAM ontology resolution — 108 EDAM topic/operation IDs resolved to human-readable labels for richer matching
  6. Natural language search — keyword-based search across 8,000+ Galaxy tools by name, description, section, and EDAM terms
  7. Remote execution — run Galaxy tools on usegalaxy.org via BioBlend API
  8. Category browsing — explore 86 ToolShed categories with tool counts
  9. Tool detail inspection — view inputs, outputs, and parameter schemas
  10. Offline demo mode — FastQC demo with pre-cached results (no API key needed)
  11. Cross-platform chaining — Galaxy VEP → ClawBio PharmGx, Galaxy Kraken2 → ClawBio metagenomics

Input Formats

FormatExtensionRequired FieldsExample
FASTQ.fq, .fastq, .fq.gzSequence readsIllumina paired-end reads
VCF.vcf, .vcf.gzVariant callsAnnotated VCF for VEP
BAM.bamAligned readsBWA-MEM2 output
FASTA.fa, .fastaSequencesReference genome
Tabular.tsv, .csvVaries by toolGene expression matrix

Workflow

  1. Search — User describes what they need → bridge searches local catalog + Galaxy API
  2. Select — Ranked results with descriptions, versions, and categories
  3. Configure — Show tool inputs/outputs schema; user provides files and parameters
  4. Execute — Upload input to Galaxy, run tool, poll for completion
  5. Retrieve — Download outputs to local directory
  6. Bundle — Generate reproducibility package (commands.sh, environment.yml, checksums)

CLI Reference

bash
# Intelligent tool recommendation (new in v0.2.0)
python galaxy_bridge.py --recommend "quality control on my sequencing reads"
python galaxy_bridge.py --recommend "classify microbial species" --format .fastq
python galaxy_bridge.py --recommend "call variants" --format .bam
python galaxy_bridge.py --recommend "annotate variants from WES" --format .vcf

# Workflow / pipeline suggestions (new in v0.2.0)
python galaxy_bridge.py --workflow "RNA-seq differential expression"
python galaxy_bridge.py --workflow "metagenomics"
python galaxy_bridge.py --workflow "whole exome sequencing"

# Search for tools by keyword
python galaxy_bridge.py --search "metagenomics profiling"
python galaxy_bridge.py --search "variant annotation"
python galaxy_bridge.py --search "RNA-seq differential expression"

# Browse Galaxy ToolShed categories
python galaxy_bridge.py --list-categories

# View tool details (inputs, outputs, parameters)
python galaxy_bridge.py --tool-details toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/repos/devteam/fastqc/fastqc/0.74+galaxy1

# Run a tool on Galaxy (requires GALAXY_API_KEY)
python galaxy_bridge.py --run fastqc --input reads.fq.gz --output /tmp/qc_results

# Demo mode (works offline, no API key needed)
python galaxy_bridge.py --demo

Recommendation Engine

The --recommend flag uses multi-signal scoring across 7 dimensions to rank tools:

SignalMax PointsDescription
Section match30Tool's Galaxy category matches the detected task
Preferred tool20Tool is a known best-in-class for the task
Exact name match15Tool name appears in the query
Keyword match15Query words found in tool name/description
EDAM ontology10EDAM topic/operation IDs match the task
Format compatibility10Tool accepts the specified input format
Version maturity5Tools with more versions score higher (log scale)

15 task categories are recognised: Quality Control, Read Mapping, Variant Calling, Variant Annotation, WES/WGS, RNA-seq, Metagenomics, Genome Assembly, Genome Annotation, Phylogenetics, ChIP-seq, Single-cell, Proteomics, Nanopore, BAM Processing.

8 workflow templates: WES Germline, WES Annotation, RNA-seq DE, Metagenomics Profiling, Variant Calling, ChIP-seq, Nanopore Assembly, Genome Assembly.

Show full SKILL.md (281 more words)Show less

Demo

Running --demo executes a simulated FastQC analysis using pre-cached results:

$ python galaxy_bridge.py --demo

Galaxy Bridge — Demo Mode (offline)
====================================
Tool: FastQC v0.74+galaxy1
Input: demo/demo_reads.fq (bundled synthetic FASTQ, 1000 reads)
Output: demo/fastqc_demo_output.html

Result: PASS — Per base sequence quality ✓
        PASS — Per sequence quality scores ✓
        WARN — Per base sequence content (normal for Illumina)
        PASS — Sequence length distribution ✓

Reproducibility bundle written to demo/reproducibility/

Galaxy Tool Categories

The bridge indexes tools across all 56 Galaxy ToolShed categories, including:

  • Sequence Analysis (~30 tools): FastQC, Trimmomatic, Cutadapt, fastp
  • Metagenomics (~25 tools): Kraken2, MetaPhlAn, HUMAnN, QIIME2
  • Variant Analysis (~25 tools): VEP, SnpSift, BCFtools, FreeBayes
  • RNA (~20 tools): HISAT2, StringTie, featureCounts, DESeq2
  • Proteomics (~15 tools): MaxQuant, SearchGUI, PeptideShaker
  • Phylogenetics (~15 tools): IQ-TREE, RAxML, MAFFT, MUSCLE
  • Genome Annotation (~15 tools): Prokka, Augustus, MAKER
  • Assembly (~15 tools): SPAdes, Flye, Unicycler, MEGAHIT
  • Single Cell (~10 tools): Scanpy, CellRanger, Seurat
  • ChIP-seq/Epigenetics (~10 tools): MACS2, deepTools, DiffBind
  • GWAS (~10 tools): PLINK, REGENIE, BOLT-LMM
  • Nanopore (~10 tools): NanoPlot, Medaka, minimap2

Output Structure

output_dir/
├── report.md              # Analysis summary with methods and results
├── result.json            # Machine-readable: tool ID, version, parameters, output paths
├── galaxy_outputs/        # Raw outputs downloaded from Galaxy
│   ├── fastqc_report.html
│   └── ...
└── reproducibility/
    ├── commands.sh        # Portable replay recipe (CLAWBIO_ROOT / OUTPUT_DIR)
    ├── environment.yml    # Conda environment for the run (python + bioblend)
    └── checksums.sha256   # SHA-256 of the input and the downloaded outputs

Dependencies

Required:

  • Python 3.9+
  • bioblend (Galaxy Python SDK)

Optional (for execution):

  • GALAXY_URL environment variable (default: https://usegalaxy.org)
  • GALAXY_API_KEY environment variable (register at usegalaxy.org)

Safety

  • Local-first search: Tool discovery uses the bundled galaxy_catalog.json — no API calls needed
  • API key optional: Demo mode and search work without credentials
  • No data retention: Uploaded files are deleted from Galaxy after output retrieval
  • Reproducibility: Every execution generates a full provenance bundle
  • Disclaimer: ClawBio is a research and educational tool. It is not a medical device and does not provide clinical diagnoses. Consult a healthcare professional before making any medical decisions.

Integration with Bio Orchestrator

Triggers when: User mentions "galaxy", "usegalaxy", "tool shed", "run on galaxy", "NGS pipeline", or references a Galaxy tool ID.

Chaining partners:

  • pharmgx-reporter — Galaxy VEP annotates variants → PharmGx generates dosage report
  • claw-metagenomics — Galaxy Kraken2 → ClawBio metagenomics profiling
  • equity-scorer — Galaxy VCF processing → HEIM equity scoring
  • vcf-annotator — Galaxy VEP/SnpSift ↔ ClawBio annotation

Citations

© ClawBio, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 213 other files in skills/galaxy-bridge of ClawBio/ClawBio.

  • SKILL.md
  • demo/demo_reads.fq
  • demo/fastqc_demo_output.html
  • demo/reproducibility/commands.sh
  • galaxy_bridge.py
  • galaxy_catalog.json
  • galaxy_skills/INDEX.md
  • galaxy_skills/add-lofreq-alignment-quality-scores.md
  • galaxy_skills/add-metadata.md
  • galaxy_skills/align-sequences.md
  • galaxy_skills/alleyoop.md
  • galaxy_skills/augustus.md
  • galaxy_skills/axtchain.md
  • galaxy_skills/bakta.md
  • galaxy_skills/bam-filter.md
  • galaxy_skills/bamcompare.md
  • galaxy_skills/bamleftalign.md
  • galaxy_skills/bandage-image.md
  • … and 196 more

Open the folder on GitHubat commit dece754

Used in 2 other repositories

We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 2 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in ClawBio/ClawBio, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Galaxy Bridge next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Galaxy Bridge compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Galaxy Bridge this skillClawBio/ClawBio1.2k2 repos~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
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13C Metabolic Flux AnalysisK-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills48k1 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Clinvar Databasegoogle-deepmind/science-skills3.2k2 repos~3.9kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Metabolic Study Planneraiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw15k—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Dbsnp Databasegoogle-deepmind/science-skills3.2k2 repos~3.4kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0

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Questions about Galaxy Bridge

What does Galaxy Bridge do?

Galaxy tool discovery, intelligent recommendation, and execution — 8,000+ bioinformatics tools from usegalaxy.org with multi-signal scoring and workflow suggestions. Galaxy Bridge is an agent skill from ClawBio/ClawBio.

When should I use Galaxy Bridge?

Galaxy Bridge fits situations like: tasks that involve Bioinformatics.

How do I install Galaxy Bridge in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add ClawBio/ClawBio --skill galaxy-bridge -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/galaxy-bridge in ClawBio/ClawBio) into .claude/skills/galaxy-bridge in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Galaxy Bridge in Codex?

Run `npx skills add ClawBio/ClawBio --skill galaxy-bridge -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/galaxy-bridge in ClawBio/ClawBio) into .agents/skills/galaxy-bridge in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Galaxy Bridge in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add ClawBio/ClawBio --skill galaxy-bridge -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/galaxy-bridge, .gemini/skills/galaxy-bridge, .github/skills/galaxy-bridge and .opencode/skills/galaxy-bridge in your project.

What does Galaxy Bridge need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Galaxy Bridge needs a shell and Python for the scripts in its folder, the command-line tools its instructions call (python) and credentials named GALAXY_API_KEY. Our summary lists: Python 3; A Bash shell; A credential in GALAXY_API_KEY.

Does Galaxy Bridge access the network?

SKILL.md names 4 domains. In commands or code: usegalaxy.org; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. As links in the text: galaxyproject.org, bioblend.readthedocs.io and toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Galaxy Bridge safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Galaxy Bridge use?

Galaxy Bridge is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Galaxy Bridge use?

About 2.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 9.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Galaxy Bridge?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Galaxy Bridge: Alphagenome Single Variant Analysis (google-deepmind/science-skills, 3.2k stars), 13C Metabolic Flux Analysis (K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills, 48k stars), Clinvar Database (google-deepmind/science-skills, 3.2k stars) and Metabolic Study Planner (aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw, 15k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Galaxy Bridge?

ClawBio (a GitHub organization) maintains it in ClawBio/ClawBio, which has 1,154 GitHub stars. The repository holds 104 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: ClawBio/ClawBio on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.