Nextflow documentation is migrating

Nextflow documentation is being migrated to docs.seqera.io/nextflow. This site will remain available throughout the migration.

Nextflow plugin registry

The Nextflow plugin registry is a central repository for Nextflow plugins. It hosts an index of plugin metadata that supports plugin discovery, accessibility, and version tracking.

Nextflow 25.10 and later can use the plugin registry as a drop-in replacement for the legacy plugin index hosted on GitHub. See Migrating to the Nextflow plugin registry for more information about migrating to the Nextflow plugin registry.

Note

The Nextflow plugin registry is currently available as a public preview. Plugin developers can access the registry by contacting info@nextflow.io to obtain access to the registry.

See Publishing a plugin for instructions on how to publish plugins to the registry, including the README.md requirement.

Using a custom or local registry

If your environment can’t reach the public registry directly, you can point Nextflow to a custom plugin registry endpoint:

export NXF_PLUGINS_REGISTRY_URL="https://plugins.myorg.internal/api"

This is useful for restricted or air-gapped environments where plugin metadata and plugin archives are mirrored behind an internal URL.

To reduce or eliminate runtime downloads, pre-populate the local plugin cache and point Nextflow at that directory:

export NXF_PLUGINS_DIR="/shared/nextflow/plugins"

In fully offline environments, enable offline mode only after the required plugin versions have already been staged in NXF_PLUGINS_DIR:

export NXF_OFFLINE=true

In offline mode, Nextflow does not contact remote project or plugin endpoints, and plugin versions must be specified explicitly.

For practical air-gapped setups:

  1. Mirror the plugin registry behind an approved internal URL.

  2. Set NXF_PLUGINS_REGISTRY_URL to that internal registry.

  3. Pre-stage approved plugin versions in NXF_PLUGINS_DIR for the execution environment.

  4. Use NXF_OFFLINE=true only when workflows and required plugins are already available locally.

If you continue to use the public registry, allow outbound access to registry.nextflow.io. If you use a custom registry URL instead, only that internal endpoint needs to be reachable for plugin metadata and downloads.

Claiming a plugin

Ownership of a plugin is required to publish plugins to the Nextflow plugin registry.

To claim ownership of a plugin:

  1. Open the Nextflow plugin registry in a browser.

  2. Log in to Seqera with your GitHub or Google account, or by providing an email address.

    Note

    If you are logging in for the first time, Seqera will send an authentication link to your email address to complete the login process.

  3. Go to the My plugins page and select Claim a plugin.

  4. Enter your unique plugin name or select the plugin you wish to claim in the Plugin name field.

  5. Enter your organization name in the Provider field.

    Note

    Your organization must match the provider specified when publishing your plugin.

  6. Select Submit Request.

The plugin will show as PENDING REVIEW under Pending Ownership Requests until an admin approves the claim. Admin approval is required only once.

Creating an access token

An API access token is required to publish plugins to the Nextflow plugin registry.

To create an API access token:

  1. Open the Nextflow plugin registry in a browser.

  2. Log in to Seqera with your GitHub or Google account, or by providing an email address.

    Note

    If you are logging in for the first time, Seqera will send an authentication link to your email address to complete the login process.

  3. Go to the Access tokens page.

  4. Under Create New Access Token, enter a descriptive name for the Token name and select the token duration from the Expiry drop down.

  5. Select Generate token.

  6. Copy and past token somewhere safe, you won’t be able to see it again.

Once you have your token, see Publishing a plugin for instructions on how to use it.