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 / test hooks. 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.

Metadata

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)

Source distribution for album 1.0.0
File	Size	Uploaded	Provenance
album-1.0.0.tar.gz	174.3 kB	Oct 20, 2026	Without provenance	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for album 1.0.0
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
album-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl 209.5 kB Oct 20, 2026 Without provenance	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
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`f25e2649d84e15407be8eb792f25a87d83fef520fb8c35f743dadcab5a97ae7f`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`dde02ed857859a4ba83d69efadcf0d4840336f4a7ccd6197d171fc2ce0509ec3`
Upload date	Oct 20, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.14.8`

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	`4b08e97d25d05ee7ec41422792e1d4fd4a87bc9a0dcfd1ddb6fe59e126780ce6`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`a2b9dd7b2d898132a7840afdd125d0f1a44356bb16bb97385b6ea765f21392f9`
Upload date	Oct 20, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.14.8`

Security for album 1.0.0

Report project as malware

Provenance

Provenance describes where a file came from. On PyPI, provenance is shared via attestations, which provide a verifiable record of the build or publishing details. View details, limitations and caveats.

No provenance found

None of the files in this release were uploaded with provenance metadata.

A note on package security

PyPI is a repository for distributing packages, not a service for auditing them. While third-party security researchers and our staff do their best to detect and remove malicious packages, PyPI cannot guarantee the quality, security or suitability of any given package.

To learn more about protecting yourself from malicious actors, visit our package security documentation.