Wave containers
Wave is Seqera's container provisioning service that enables on-demand container image management for Nextflow pipelines. Wave can provision containers dynamically during pipeline execution, removing the need to manually build and upload images to a container registry.
Deployment options
Wave can be integrated with Seqera Platform in two ways:
- Seqera Wave service: Use the hosted Wave service at
https://wave.seqera.io(default for Seqera Cloud) - Self-hosted Wave: Deploy Wave in your own infrastructure for full control over container builds and caching
Requirements
Network connectivity
| Source | Destination | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Seqera Platform | Wave server | API communication |
| Container registry | Wave server | Allow ingress for container operations |
| Compute environments | Wave server | Container image access during pipeline execution |
Container registry credentials
Container registry credentials must be configured in the Seqera UI to authenticate with your private or public registries. See container registry credentials for provider-specific instructions.
Configuration
Connect to Wave service
Configure Seqera Platform to use the Seqera-hosted Wave service or your self-hosted Wave deployment:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
TOWER_ENABLE_WAVE | Set to true to enable Wave integration |
WAVE_SERVER_URL | Wave server endpoint (default: https://wave.seqera.io) |
Verify connectivity
Test connectivity to your Wave server:
curl https://wave.seqera.io/service-info
Replace wave.seqera.io with your self-hosted Wave endpoint if applicable.
Features enabled by Wave
After Wave is enabled, the following features become available:
- Private container registries: Access containers from private repositories using credentials stored in Seqera
- Fusion file system: High-performance cloud-native file system for pipeline execution
- Container augmentation: Dynamically extend existing containers with additional layers
- Conda-based containers: Provision containers from Conda or Bioconda packages on demand
- Singularity support: Build and provision Singularity/Apptainer format containers
- Security scanning: Automatic vulnerability scanning of built container images
Wave features are available on the compute environment creation page after integration is configured.
Limitations
- Wave does not support container repositories with private CA SSL certificates
Self-hosted Wave deployment
For enterprises requiring full control over container builds, caching, and security scanning, Wave can be deployed in your own infrastructure.
Self-hosted Wave supports:
- Wave Lite: Container augmentation and inspection capabilities (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Full Wave: Complete build capabilities including Conda-based containers and security scanning (requires AWS EKS with EFS storage)
See the Wave documentation for installation and configuration guidance.
Additional resources
- Wave documentation
- Nextflow Wave integration
- Seqera Containers - Free community container registry