Admin Quickstart
After the first login, this checklist walks facility admins through the essential configuration steps.
Post-Install Checklist
Review bootstrap accounts
Log in with the administrator account created by the guided installer. If an
unattended install used the published default accounts
(admin@example.com / admin and user@example.com / user), change or
remove them immediately.
Set up site information
Navigate to Admin → Settings and configure:
- Site Name — your facility’s display name
- Primary/Secondary Colors — branding colors
- Contact Email — shown to researchers for support
- Logo and Favicon — optional branding assets
Create departments
Go to Admin → Departments and add your research departments. Departments organize researchers and can optionally enable department-level sequencing order sharing (configured in Settings → Extra Settings).
Configure sequencing technologies
Under Admin → Sequencing Technology, review and configure:
- Platforms — Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, PacBio, etc.
- Instruments — specific models per platform
- Library Kits — available library preparation kits
Enable or disable technologies as needed for your facility.
Customize the sequencing order form
Use Admin → Form Builder to customize the fields researchers see when creating sequencing orders. You can add, remove, or reorder fields and field groups.
A separate Study Form Builder is available for customizing study metadata forms.
Set up data storage
Storage settings live under Admin → Data Compute (Infrastructure) → Data
Storage (/admin/data-storage) — the Data Compute page itself is just a hub
that links out to storage and pipeline runtime. There, or via the config file,
set:
- Data Base Path — the directory where sequencing files are stored
- File Extensions — which file types to scan for (default:
.fastq.gz,.fq.gz,.fastq,.fq) - Scan Depth — how many directory levels to search (default: 2)
Configure pipelines (optional)
If you plan to run bioinformatics pipelines:
- Go to Admin → Pipeline Runtime
- Set the execution mode —
localorslurm - Configure Conda path and environment if using Conda
- Configure SLURM queue, cores, memory, and time limit if using SLURM
- Enable the pipeline features in Admin → Modules
Set up ENA credentials (optional)
If you plan to submit to the European Nucleotide Archive:
- Go to Admin → ENA Configuration
- Enter your Webin username and password
- Set your center name
- Start with Test Mode enabled to validate submissions against the test server
Processing Your First Sequencing Order
Once a researcher submits a sequencing order:
Review the sequencing order
The sequencing order appears on your Sequencing Orders page (you can see all sequencing orders as admin). Review the sample metadata and sequencing parameters.
Assign sequencing files
After sequencing, go to the Files page to browse the data directory. The system auto-detects FASTQ files and pairs R1/R2 reads. Assign files to the corresponding samples on the sequencing order.
Create a study
Go to Studies and create a new study. Assign the relevant samples from the sequencing order. The study groups samples for pipeline analysis and ENA submission.
Run a pipeline
From the study page, launch a pipeline. SeqDesk generates the samplesheet automatically from the assigned samples and files. Monitor progress in real time through the DAG visualization and weblog events.
Admin Navigation
The admin sidebar includes these sections:
| Section | Path | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Users | /admin/users | View all researchers, filter by department/role |
| Departments | /admin/departments | Manage research departments |
| Form Builder | /admin/form-builder | Customize sequencing order form fields |
| Study Form Builder | /admin/study-form-builder | Customize study metadata fields |
| Sequencing Run Form Builder | /admin/sequencing-run-form-builder | Customize per-sample fields on run assignment |
| Modules | /admin/modules | Enable/disable optional features |
| Sequencing Tech | /admin/sequencing-tech | Platforms, instruments, kits |
| MinKNOW Stream | /admin/minknow-stream | Configure live ONT/MinION stream ingest (the stream-monitor daemon) |
| Pipeline Runtime | /admin/pipeline-runtime | HPC/compute configuration |
| Data Compute | /admin/data-compute | Infrastructure hub — links to storage and pipeline runtime |
| Data Storage | /admin/data-storage | Data base path, file extensions, scan depth |
| Background Workers | /admin/background-workers | Start/stop the pipeline monitor and stream workers |
| Admin Accounts | /admin/admin-accounts | Manage admins, invite codes |
| ENA Configuration | /admin/ena | ENA credentials and test mode |
| Settings | /admin/settings | Site branding, contact info, extra settings |