# Docker/Singularity Containers

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Authors: Brian Schilder, Alan Murphy, Hiranyamaya (Hiru) Dash, Nathan Skene

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Vignette updated: May-05-2026

# Installation

rworkflows is now available via ghcr.io as a containerised environment with Rstudio and all necessary dependencies pre-installed.

## Method 1: via Docker

First, install Docker if you have not already.

Create an image of the Docker container in command line:

    docker pull ghcr.io/neurogenomics/rworkflows

Once the image has been created, you can launch it with:

    docker run \
      -d \
      -e ROOT=true \
      -e PASSWORD="<your_password>" \
      -v ~/Desktop:/Desktop \
      -v /Volumes:/Volumes \
      -p 8900:8787 \
      ghcr.io/neurogenomics/rworkflows

### NOTES

- Make sure to replace `<your_password>` above with whatever you want your password to be.
- Change the paths supplied to the `-v` flags for your particular use case.
- The `-d` ensures the container will run in “detached” mode, which means it will persist even after you’ve closed your command line session.
- The username will be “rstudio” by default.
- Optionally, you can also install the Docker Desktop to easily manage your containers.

## Method 2: via Singularity

If you are using a system that does not allow Docker (as is the case for many institutional computing clusters), you can instead install Docker images via Singularity.

    singularity pull docker://ghcr.io/neurogenomics/rworkflows

For troubleshooting, see the Singularity documentation.

# Usage

Finally, launch the containerised Rstudio by entering the following URL in any web browser: http://localhost:8900/

Login using the credentials set during the Installation steps.

# Session Info

    utils::sessionInfo()

    ## R version 4.6.0 (2026-04-24)
    ## Platform: aarch64-apple-darwin23
    ## Running under: macOS Tahoe 26.4.1
    ##
    ## Matrix products: default
    ## BLAS:   /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.6/Resources/lib/libRblas.0.dylib
    ## LAPACK: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.6/Resources/lib/libRlapack.dylib;  LAPACK version 3.12.1
    ##
    ## locale:
    ## [1] C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8
    ##
    ## time zone: Europe/London
    ## tzcode source: internal
    ##
    ## attached base packages:
    ## [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
    ##
    ## other attached packages:
    ## [1] data.table_1.18.2.1 rworkflows_1.0.12
    ##
    ## loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
    ##  [1] gtable_0.3.6        jsonlite_2.0.0      renv_1.2.2
    ##  [4] dplyr_1.2.1         compiler_4.6.0      BiocManager_1.30.27
    ##  [7] tidyselect_1.2.1    jquerylib_0.1.4     rvcheck_0.2.1
    ## [10] scales_1.4.0        yaml_2.3.12         fastmap_1.2.0
    ## [13] here_1.0.2          ggplot2_4.0.3       R6_2.6.1
    ## [16] generics_0.1.4      curl_7.1.0          knitr_1.51
    ## [19] yulab.utils_0.2.4   tibble_3.3.1        desc_1.4.3
    ## [22] dlstats_0.1.7       rprojroot_2.1.1     bslib_0.10.0
    ## [25] pillar_1.11.1       RColorBrewer_1.1-3  rlang_1.2.0
    ## [28] cachem_1.1.0        badger_0.2.5        xfun_0.57
    ## [31] fs_2.1.0            sass_0.4.10         S7_0.2.2
    ## [34] otel_0.2.0          cli_3.6.6           magrittr_2.0.5
    ## [37] digest_0.6.39       grid_4.6.0          rstudioapi_0.18.0
    ## [40] rappdirs_0.3.4      lifecycle_1.0.5     vctrs_0.7.3
    ## [43] evaluate_1.0.5      glue_1.8.1          farver_2.1.2
    ## [46] rmarkdown_2.31      tools_4.6.0         pkgconfig_2.0.3
    ## [49] htmltools_0.5.9