seqforge 2026.7.1

Compile arbitrary FASTQ + messy metadata into a validated, machine-independent sequencing library manifest and a runnable Snakemake config.

seqforge

Compile (arbitrary FASTQ files) + (unstructured human/DB metadata) into a validated, machine-independent dataset manifest, then into a runnable Snakemake config — for headless reprocessing of large collections of public sequencing datasets into a genomic-AI training corpus.

seqforge is a compiler, not a chatbot. Deterministic code owns every decision. The LLM has exactly two jobs: parse prose into span-verified assertions, and arbitrate ambiguity the deterministic layer has already flagged. Everything else is a verifier.

probe(files)                           -> Observation   deterministic, no LLM, no network, bytes only
harvest(prose, instructions)           -> Assertion     LLM, each claim span-verified
resolve(Observations, KB, hypothesis?) -> candidates, Conflicts, Questions, Blockers
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  => manifest.yaml     what the data IS.   One per dataset. Immutable, content-addressed.

plan(Assertions, flags, policy)        -> ProcessingSection   flag > instruction > policy
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  => processing.yaml   what to DO with it. Many per dataset.

compose(manifest, processing)          -> config.yaml + units.tsv + module selection

Same dataset + a different recipe = a different pipeline, and the dataset's hash does not move.

The files can be local or remote: seqforge io probe-remote <url> fingerprints a library straight from a URL via one bounded HTTP Range read — same identification, no download.

Status: the pilot compiles end to end. The deterministic spine is implemented and green (pixi run check), and seqforge run takes the worm pilot PRJNA1027859 from its raw FASTQs and paper to a validated manifest + a runnable Snakefile in one headless pass. The ground-truth alignment runs (kb e2e) are still on synthetic yeast/worm fixtures with injected counts — it has not yet executed a pipeline on real reads at scale.

Docs: https://liuhlab.github.io/seqforge/ · design + rationale + scope delta: docs/design.md (its §9 is the running list of what is not yet built) · rules: CLAUDE.md

Install

pip install seqforge

This gives you the compiler and the seqforge CLI. The two lab-only stages — compose against a real genome and kb e2e — additionally need the lab's liulab-genome and liulab-data packages, which are not on PyPI. Install them from git when you need those features:

pip install "liulab-genome @ git+https://github.com/liuhlab/liulab-genome.git" \
            "liulab-data   @ git+https://github.com/liuhlab/liulab-data.git"

(Inside the lab, pixi install already pulls both — see below.)

Develop

Everything runs through pixi (not pip/conda/venv):

pixi install                     # build environments
pixi run test                    # pytest
pixi run lint                    # ruff check .
pixi run typecheck               # mypy --strict on models/, probe/, resolve/, manifest/,
                                 #   compose/, workflows/, harvest/, evals/
pixi run check                   # lint + fmt-check + typecheck + test
pixi run -- pre-commit install   # once per clone — ruff, mypy, shellcheck (not the suite)

Most of the non-negotiable rules in CLAUDE.md are enforced by tests, so pixi run check is the mechanism rather than a formality — and CI runs it on every push and PR. The pre-commit hooks are deliberately limited to the fast ones, so run check yourself when you change behaviour.

Consumer of the liulab stack

seqforge references genomes by a liulab-genome UCSC assembly id + registered GTF name, and aligner environments by their literal liulab-runtime name (align-rna, ...). It never defines genome-file machinery or aligner environments itself — and there is a test that says so.