Usage

Use alto as a command line tool

The alto tool can be used as a command line tool. Type:

alto -h

to see the help information:

Usage:
  alto command_args
  alto -h | --help
  alto -v | --version

Terra commands

Terra is a cloud-native platform for bioinformatics analysis workflow execution and biomedical data access. Altocumulus sub-commands under terra command are used for workflow operations on Terra workspaces.

alto terra run

Submit workflows to Terra for execution. Workflows can from either Dockstore or Broad Methods Repository. If local files are detected, automatically upload files to the workspace Google Cloud bucket. For Dockstore workflows, collection and name would be used as config namespace and name respectively. Otherwise, namespace and name would be used. After a successful submission, a URL pointing to the job status would be printed out.

Type:

alto terra run -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
  alto terra run [-h] -m METHOD -w WORKSPACE [--bucket-folder <folder>] -i WDL_INPUTS [-o <updated_json>] [--no-cache]
  alto terra run -h
  • Options:

    -m METHOD, --method METHOD

    Workflow name. The workflow can come from either Dockstore or Broad Methods Repository. If it comes from Dockstore, specify the name as organization:collection:name:version (e.g. broadinstitute:cumulus:cumulus:1.5.0) and the default version would be used if version is omitted. If it comes from Broad Methods Repository, specify the name as namespace/name/version (e.g. cumulus/cumulus/43) and the latest snapshot would be used if version is omitted.

    -w WORKSPACE, --workspace WORKSPACE

    Workspace name (e.g. foo/bar). The workspace is created if it does not exist

    --bucket-folder <folder>

    Store inputs to <folder> under workspaces google bucket

    -i WDL_INPUTS, --input WDL_INPUTS

    WDL input JSON.

    -o <updated_json>, --upload <updated_json>

    Upload files/directories to the workspace Google Cloud bucket and output updated input json (with local path replaced by google bucket urls) to <updated_json>.

    --no-cache

    Disable call caching.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    URL pointing to the job status

  • Examples:

    alto terra run -m broadinstitute:cumulus:demultiplexing \
                   -w "My Workspace Field/Workspace 01" \
                   --bucket-folder analysis-01/uploads \
                   -i inputs.json \
                   -o inputs_updated.json
    

alto terra add_method

Add one or more methods to Broad Methods Repository.

Type:

alto terra add_method -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto terra add_method [-h] -n NAMESPACE [-p] wdl [wdl ...]
    alto terra add_method -h
  • Arguments:

    wdl

    Path to WDL file.

  • Options:

    -n NAMESPACE, --namespace NAMESPACE

    Methods namespace

    -p, --public

    Make methods publicly readable

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

alto terra remove_method

Remove methods from Broad Methods Repository.

Type:

alto terra remove_method -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto terra remove_method [-h] -m METHOD
  • Arguments:

    wdl

    Path to WDL file.

  • Options:

    -m METHOD, --method METHOD

    Method takes the format of namespace/name/version. If only namespace is provided, delete all methods under that namespace. If both namespace and name are provided, delete all snapshots for that method. If namespace, name and version are provided, only delete the specific snapshot.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

alto terra storage_estimate

Export workspace storage cost estimates associated with the user to TSV

Type:

alto terra storage_estimate -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto terra storage_estimate [-h] --output OUTPUT [--access {owner,reader,writer}]
  • Options:

    --output OUTPUT

    Output TSV path

    --access [owner|reader|writer]

    Workspace access levels

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

Cromwell commands

Cromwell is a widely-used genomics workflow engine to schedule the execution of WDL jobs, running either on an HPC server or a Cloud VM instance. Altocumulus sub-commands under cromwell command are used for workflow operations between users and a (remote) server running Cromwell.

alto cromwell run

Submit WDL jobs to a Cromwell server for execution. Workflows should be from Dockstore. For Dockstore workflows, collection and name would be used as config namespace and name respectively. If local files are detected, automatically upload files to the workspace Google Cloud bucket. After a successful submission, a URL pointing to the job status would be printed out.

Type:

alto cromwell run -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell run [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] -m METHOD_STR -i INPUT [-o <updated_json>] [-b [s3|gs]://<bucket-name>/<bucket-folder>] [--no-cache] [--no-ssl-verify] [--time-out TIME_OUT]
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number for Cromwell service. The default port is 8000.

    -m METHOD_STR, --method METHOD_STR

    Any of the three forms of workflow WDL file below is accepted:

    • Workflow name from Dockstore, with name specified as “<organization>:<collection>:<name>:<version>” (e.g. broadinstitute:cumulus:cumulus:1.5.0). If <version> part is not specified, the default version defined on Dockstore would be used.

    • An HTTP or HTTPS URL of a WDL file.

    • A local path to a WDL file.

    -d DEPENDENCY_STR, --dependency DEPENDENCY_STR

    ZIP file containing workflow source files that are used to resolve local imports. This zip bundle will be unpacked in a sandbox accessible to the workflow.

    -i INPUT, --input INPUT

    Path to a local JSON file specifying workflow inputs.

    -o <updated_json>, --upload <updated_json>

    Upload files/directories to the workspace cloud bucket and output updated input JSON (with local path replaced by cloud bucket urls) to <updated_json>.

    -b [s3|gs]://<bucket-name>/<bucket-folder>, --bucket [s3|gs]://<bucket-name>/<bucket-folder>

    Cloud bucket folder for uploading local input data. Start with s3:// if an AWS S3 bucket is used, gs:// for a Google bucket. Must be specified when -o option is used.

    --no-cache

    Disable call-caching, i.e. do not read from cache.

    --no-ssl-verify

    Disable SSL verification for web requests. Not recommended for general usage, but can be useful for intra-networks which don’t support SSL verification.

    --time-out TIME_OUT

    Keep on checking the job’s status until time_out (in hours) is reached. Notice that if this option is set, Altocumulus won’t terminate until reaching TIME_OUT hour(s).

    --profile PROFILE

    AWS profile. Only works if dealing with AWS, and if not set, use the default profile.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    • Case 1: The ID of the submitted workflow job, which is a series of heximal numbers generated by Cromwell

    • Case 2: If --time-out option is set, The job ID, along with its final status when terminating, will be returned as a JSON-format string on screen.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell run -s my-server.com \
                      -m broadinstitute:cumulus:cumulus \
                      -i inputs.json \
                      -o inputs_updated.json \
                      -b s3://my-bucket/analysis-01/uploads \
                      --no-ssl-verify
    

alto cromwell check_status

Check the current status for a workflow on a Cromwell server.

Type:

alto cromwell check_status -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell check_status [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] --id JOB_ID
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number of Cromwell service on the server. The default port is 8000.

    --id JOB_ID

    Workflow ID returned in alto cromwell run command.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    The current status of the job in query: Submitted, Running, Succeeded, Aborting, Aborted, or Failed.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell check_status -s my-server.com --id 710ec6d3-882c-469c-8092-a0b9d5f8dd90
    

alto cromwell abort

Abort a running workflow job on a Cromwell server.

Type:

alto cromwell abort -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell abort [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] --id JOB_ID
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number for Cromwell service. The default port is 8000.

    --id JOB_ID

    Workflow ID returned in alto cromwell run command.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    If the aborting request is sent to the server successfully, a message saying that the job is in status Aborting will be printed on screen.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell abort -s my-server.com --id 710ec6d3-882c-469c-8092-a0b9d5f8dd90
    

alto cromwell get_metadata

Get workflow and call-level metadata for a submitted job.

Type:

alto cromwell get_metadata -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell get_metadata [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] --id JOB_ID
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number for Cromwell service. The default port is 8000.

    --id JOB_ID

    Workflow ID returned in alto cromwell run command.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    A local file named <job-id>.metadata.json will be created with the job’s metadata info in JSON format, where <job-id> is the job’s ID specified.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell get_metadata -s my-server.com --id 710ec6d3-882c-469c-8092-a0b9d5f8dd90
    

alto cromwell get_task_status

Get status of all WDL tasks of a job.

Type:

alto cromwell get_task_status -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell get_task_status [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] --id JOB_ID
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number for Cromwell service. The default port is 8000.

    --id JOB_ID

    Workflow ID returned in alto cromwell run command.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    A local file named <job-id>.task_status.json will be created with the job’s task status info in JSON format, where <job-id> is the job’s ID specified.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell get_task_status -s my-server.com --id 710ec6d3-882c-469c-8092-a0b9d5f8dd90
    

alto cromwell get_logs

Get the logs for a submitted job.

Type:

alto cromwell get_logs -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell get_logs [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] --id JOB_ID
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number for Cromwell service. The default port is 8000.

    --id JOB_ID

    Workflow ID returned in alto cromwell run command.

    --profile PROFILE

    AWS profile. Only works if dealing with AWS, and if not set, use the default profile.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    A local folder named by the job’s ID is created. Inside the folder, stdout and stderr logs of all the WDL tasks and subworkflows of this job are fetched in the same hierarchy as stored on the server’s execution folder.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell get_logs -s my-server.com --id 710ec6d3-882c-469c-8092-a0b9d5f8dd90
    

alto cromwell list_jobs

List jobs submitted to the server.

Type:

alto cromwell list_jobs -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto cromwell list_jobs [-h] -s SERVER [-p PORT] [-a] [-u USER] [--only-succeeded] [--only-running] [--only-failed] [-n NUM_SHOWN]
  • Options:

    -s SERVER, --server SERVER

    Server hostname or IP address.

    -p PORT, --port PORT

    Port number for Cromwell service. The default port is 8000.

    -a, --all

    List all the jobs on the server.

    -u USER, --user USER

    List jobs submitted by this user.

    --only-succeeded

    Only show jobs succeeded.

    --only-running

    Only show jobs that are running.

    --only-failed

    Only show jobs that have failed or have aborted.

    -n NUM_SHOWN

    Only show the <num_shown> most recent jobs.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

  • Outputs:

    A table of submitted jobs (possibly after filtering specified by options above) with Job ID, creator username, workflow name, status, as well as date and time on submission, start and end of the job. Moreover, jobs in Succeeded status are printed in Green color, those in Failed or Aborted status are in Red color, and those in all the rest statuses are in the default font color of the terminal. By default, list_jobs command shows only jobs submitted by the current user.

  • Examples:

    alto cromwell list_jobs -s my-server.com
    alto cromwell list_jobs -s my-server.com -a
    alto cromwell list_jobs -s my-server.com -u some-username --only-succeeded -n 10
    

Upload to cloud

alto upload

Upload files/directories to a Cloud (gcp or aws) bucket.

Type:

alto upload -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto upload [-h] (-b BUCKET | -w WORKSPACE) [--bucket-folder <folder>] [--dry-run] [-o <updated_json>] input [input ...]
  • Arguments:

    input

    Input JSONs or files (e.g. sample sheet).

  • Options:

    -b BUCKET, --bucket BUCKET

    Cloud bucket url including scheme (e.g. gs://my_bucket). If bucket starts with gs://, backend is Google Cloud; otherwise, bucket should start with s3:// and backend is Amazon AWS.

    -w WORKSPACE, --workspace WORKSPACE

    Terra workspace name (e.g. foo/bar).

    --bucket-folder <folder>

    Store inputs to <folder> under workspaces bucket

    --dry-run

    Causes upload to run in “dry run” mode, i.e., just outputting what would be uploaded without actually doing any uploading.

    -o <updated_json>

    Output updated input JSON file to <updated_json>

    --profile PROFILE

    AWS profile. Only works if dealing with AWS, and if not set, use the default profile.

    -h, --help

    Show this help message and exit

Logs

alto parse_monitoring_log

Output maximum CPU, memory, and disk from monitoring log file

Type:

alto parse_monitoring_log -h

to see the usage information:

Usage:
    alto parse_monitoring_log [-h] [--plot PLOT] path
  • Arguments:

    path

    Path to monitoring log file.

  • Options:

    --plot PLOT Optional filename to create a plot of utilization vs. time -h, --help show this help message and exit