Installation¶

This guide covers installing ROBIN and its dependencies from source for this repository (ROBIN).

For running workflows (MinKNOW settings, BAM read limits, alignment, and CLI usage), see the repository README—especially BAM read limit and MinKNOW settings and Usage. This page focuses on installation.

ROBIN with Little John¶

Prerequisites¶

• Git and Git LFS
• Conda (Miniconda or Anaconda)
• Python 3.12 (supplied by the robin conda environment)

Recommended:

• 64 GB RAM or more for production runs
• CPU/GPU per Oxford Nanopore guidance for your sequencer

Docker is optional (some third-party or containerized toolchains may use it).

Step 1: Clone the repository¶

Clone including submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/LooseLab/ROBIN.git
cd ROBIN

If you already cloned without submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Step 2: Create the conda environment¶

Use the environment file at the repository root:

conda env create -f robin.yml
conda activate robin

Notes:

• pyproject.toml requires Python >=3.12; this environment matches that.
• Prefer a fresh environment for this codebase rather than reusing an older ROBIN env from past releases.

If the robin environment already exists¶

robin.yml sets name: robin. If conda env create -f robin.yml reports the environment already exists:

Option A — Update in place

conda env update -n robin -f robin.yml --prune
conda activate robin

Option B — Remove and recreate (clearest if the old env is stale or mixed)

conda deactivate
conda env remove -n robin
conda env create -f robin.yml
conda activate robin

Option C — New name

conda env create -f robin.yml -n robin_littlejohn
conda activate robin_littlejohn

On Linux, if you see CXXABI_1.3.15 / wrong libstdc++:

conda env update -n robin -f robin_linux_extras.yml

(See README Common issues for details.)

Step 3: Install ROBIN (editable)¶

From the repository root:

pip install -e .

This installs the robin CLI from your working tree.

Step 4: Download models and ClinVar¶

After installation, fetch bundled assets (SHA256-verified; set GITHUB_TOKEN if assets are on private GitHub):

robin utils update-models
robin utils update-clinvar

Private GitHub:

export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_personal_access_token
robin utils update-models

Force re-download models if needed:

robin utils update-models --overwrite

Step 5: Verify¶

robin --help
robin list-job-types

Troubleshooting¶

Next steps¶

• Quickstart
• README — Usage