Galaxy Hackathon in Brest, France: Innovation on the Edge of the Ocean

March 18th–20th, 2025 | Brest, France 🌊

From March 18th to 20th, developers, researchers, and ocean data experts gathered in Brest, France, for a vibrant and hands-on Hackathon as part of FAIR-EASE. Set against the scenic backdrop of the Atlantic coast, the event brought together a dedicated group of innovators to build workflows, deploy tools, and push the boundaries of interoperability and FAIR data practices.

_{📷 © FAIR-EASE Hackathon 2025}

Galaxy Challenge: From SAMBA to SAGA

A major highlight of the event was the Galaxy Challenge—focused on adapting the SAMBA workflow, developed by Ifremer, into a fully operational Galaxy-compatible pipeline called SAGA.

• 🌟 Marie kickstarted the effort with a “crazy prototype” Galaxy workflow (check it out) and opened a PR to tools-iuc to integrate key tools.

• 🧪 Rand wrapped the missing dbotu3 tool and began developing a microDecon wrapper to handle contamination in metabarcoding data.

  • dbotu3 Tool Link

• 🔧 Diana rebuilt and polished the workflow from scratch, using SAMBA’s logic and Marie’s base to create the SAGA workflow.

  • Galaxy History
  • Final Workflow

OGC API Meets Galaxy

The hackathon also tackled interoperability head-on with experiments in OGC API - Processes using the fair-ease-galaxy-ogcapi project. The team successfully queried Galaxy’s API to produce compliant process records via FastAPI Swagger—a promising step toward broader data service integration.

Hackathon Highlights: Tools, Metadata & Scheduling

The energy in the room led to fast-paced development and great progress thanks to Sanjay, Paul, and Björn:

• ✅ TerriaMap Interactive Tool added to Galaxy

  • Tool link
  • Repo
• ✅ RO-Crate validation support added in Galaxy testing
• ✅ Deployment of two new ocean biogeochemistry tools, with one updated

• ✅ Pulsar integration completed on UCA testbed

  • Integration PR
• ✅ Ongoing work on OGC API process generation using a generic JSON builder

• ✅ Strategic advancement of TPV meta-scheduling including:

  • Updated consumer scripts and broker functionality
  • Metrics collection via Telegraf + InfluxDB
  • Deployment coordination with EuroScienceGateway (ESG) WP3 Pulsar admins
  • Migration of the TotalPerspectiveVortex (TPV) Broker and consumer to the EU infrastructure
  • Long-term planning for stable EU deployment

Looking Ahead

As waves crashed outside, ideas flowed inside. The Hackathon in Brest laid the groundwork for exciting future developments. Next steps include:

• Advancing OGC API integration into Galaxy workflows
• Enriching RO-Crate metadata with spatial and temporal context
• Exploring the Hunga Tonga Challenge for Galaxy-based contributions

Useful Links & Repositories

• SAGA Workflow in Galaxy

  • History
  • Workflow

• RO-Crate Metadata Work

  • Testing PR
  • Enhanced Metadata Branch

• TPV Broker & Pulsar Infrastructure

  • TPV Broker Repo
  • Broker Playbook
  • Pulsar Util
  • EU Infra PRs
  • UCA Pulsar PR

Final Thoughts 💬

The FAIR-EASE Hackathon in Brest was more than just a technical sprint—it was a celebration of community-driven innovation. It showcased the power of collaborative software development in tackling real-world challenges in data analysis, interoperability, and FAIR principles.

We’re proud of what we built, and even more excited about what comes next. 🚀
Stay connected—this is just the beginning.