Create a solution, wrap existing tools

Copy the Python template that you ran on the previous page into a new folder my-solution:

album clone album:template-python:0.1.1 . my-solution

Open my-solution/solution.py. Give the solution its own identity - change group, name and version, put your name into solution_creators and remove the doi of the template - and change what it does:

def run():
    from album.runner.api import get_args
    args = get_args()
    print("Hello", args.name.upper())

Imports go inside the functions: Album reads the file before the environment of the solution exists. Then install and run your solution:

album install my-solution
album run my-solution --name Album

To wrap your own tool, add it to the environment of the solution and call it from run(). A solution can also reuse the environment of another solution; the solution development guide shows how.

A test lets everyone check that your solution works on their computer: pre_test() prepares the arguments, test() checks the result. Add both - the example solution has a test you can adapt - and run it:

album test my-solution

More in Testing your solution.

Because every solution has the same structure, an LLM such as Claude or ChatGPT can write one for you. Give it the prompt from the documentation, describe the routine you need, and save the answer as solution.py in a new folder. Then check the draft like your own solution: album install, album run and album test. The test tells you whether the draft does what you asked for.

With Album MCP, an agent works with your Album installation: it lists your catalogs, searches them, reads the arguments of solutions, installs them and runs them. Connect it to an MCP client such as Claude Desktop and ask, for example:

Which of my solutions can segment nuclei? Run the best one on ~/data/nuclei.tif.

The agent can only use solutions that exist in your catalogs, so every step is a solution you can inspect, test and re-run.