Workspace Data (workspace-level resources)
Terra has a dedicated Workspace Data table to hold resources used for an analysis regardless of the particular sample data. This table can hold variables like the genomic reference sequence file, or a Docker container.
Why use workspace data tables?
Using the Workspace Data table lets you configure once and point to the resources from the workflow configuration pane whenever you need them. Not only will you not need to look up reference file paths, but if you update the resource files, you only need to update in one place.
How to add a Workspace Data table
1. Download a template Workspace Data table here.
2. Using your favorite spreadsheet editor, fill in the top left column with "workspace:" and the first reference file key.
3. Fill in the cloud location of the first reference file in the second row of the first column.
4. Fill in the key and cloud locations fields (in the header and 2nd row, respectively) for the rest of your workspace-level reference files.
Example: Workspace Data TSV file in a spreadsheet
| workspace:ref_fasta | ref_fasta_index | ref_dict |
| gs://public-bucket/Homo_sapiens_assembly.38.fasta | gs://public-bucket/Homo_sapiens_assembly.38.fai | gs://public-bucket/Homo_sapiens_assembly.38.dict |
- Parts in red (i.e. "workspace:" must be typed exactly as shown.
- Customize the resource file key (header row) and full path (second row).
- Note that Terra will reorganize the files in alphabetical order.
Example: Workspace Data table in Terra
The screenshot below is what you'll see when you upload the spreadsheet above to a Workspace Data table. The first column (the "key" - circled column on the left) identifies what the file is. The other (circled on the right) includes a link to the cloud location of the file (for example, in a Google bucket):
Additional resources
See these articles for more detailed information on different aspects of data tables.