album
Album is an open-source framework that turns scientific routines into executable building blocks and organizes them into a shareable, versioned library of research software.
- A solution is a single Python file that bundles a routine with its metadata, arguments,
environment and
install/run/testhooks. It can wrap tools written in Python, Java, R, C++, Fiji, napari, Blender and more. - A catalog is a git repository of solutions that you can search, share with collaborators, publish as a website and archive on Zenodo with a DOI per solution version.
Every solution gets its own micromamba environment, so tools with conflicting dependencies run side by side on one machine.
Installation
With micromamba
(recommended, also installs git):
micromamba create -n album album -c conda-forge
micromamba activate album
With pip (needs git on your system):
pip install album
Installation wizards for Windows, macOS and Linux and more options are described in the installation instructions.
Getting started
The default catalog with solution templates is added the first time you run album:
album index # list catalogs and their solutions
album info album:template-python # what the solution does and which arguments it takes
album install album:template-python # create its environment
album run album:template-python --name "your name"
Continue with the quick start, learn how to write your own solution, or browse the public catalogs on album.solutions.
The Album suite
| Package | What it adds | PyPI | conda-forge |
|---|---|---|---|
| album | the framework and the album command line |
 |
 |
| album-gui | graphical interface, album gui |
 |
 |
| album-docker | Docker images from solutions, album docker |
 |
 |
| album-package | standalone installers, album package |
 |
 |
| album-distributed | batch and distributed runs, album run-distributed |
 |
 |
| album-solution-api | the API every solution script uses |  |
 |
| album-environments | environment handling with micromamba |  |
 |
| album-mcp | MCP server for LLM agents | from source | from source |
Find Album
- Documentation: docs.album.solutions
- Website and public catalogs: album.solutions
- Source code and issues: gitlab.com/album-app/album
- Developer documentation: wiki
- Docker images: albumsolutions/album
- Helmholtz Research Software Directory: helmholtz.software/software/album
- Helmholtz Imaging CONNECT: Album
Citation
Albrecht, J.P.*, Schmidt, D.*, Rieckert, L., Otto, M., and Harrington, K., 2026.
Album: executable building blocks for scientific imaging routines, from sharing
to LLM-assisted orchestration. arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.00601v2.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.00601v2
@misc{albrecht_album_2026,
title = {Album: executable building blocks for scientific imaging routines, from sharing to {LLM}-assisted orchestration},
author = {Albrecht, Jan Philipp and Schmidt, Deborah and Rieckert, Lucas and Otto, Maximilian and Harrington, Kyle},
year = {2026},
eprint = {2110.00601},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2110.00601},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.00601v2}
}
Developers
- Kyle Harrington, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association
- Jan Philipp Albrecht, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association
- Deborah Schmidt, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association
Everyone who contributed to album is listed in CITATION.cff.
2 maintainers
Metadata
2 maintainers
Release files for album 1.0.0
For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.
Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | Provenance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| album-1.0.0.tar.gz | 174.3 kB | Without provenance | Details |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| album-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details |
Total release size: 383.8 kB
Release files / album-1.0.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | album-1.0.0.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 174.3 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
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No |
| Uploaded via |
twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.14.8
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Release files / album-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
| Download URL | album-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl |
|---|---|
| Size | 209.5 kB |
| Tags | Python 3 |
|
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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No |
| Uploaded via |
twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.14.8
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Security for album 1.0.0
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