---
id: snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs
version: "1.1.4"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: aging
---

# snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs — A Snakemake storage plugin for Google Cloud Storage

License: permissive · Maintenance: aging · Downloads: 653.2K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package is a Snakemake storage plugin that integrates Google Cloud Storage into Snakemake workflows. It allows you to specify GCS paths directly in your Snakemake rules, with the plugin handling authentication, file transfer, and metadata operations transparently. The plugin depends on google-cloud-storage for GCS API access, google-crc32c for integrity checking, and Snakemake's plugin interface libraries.

When your workflow references a GCS path, the plugin intercepts that reference and manages the actual read/write operations. This eliminates the need to manually download files to local disk or manage credentials in your workflow code, making it useful for workflows that process data already stored in Google Cloud.

Use it for:

- Running Snakemake pipelines on data already stored in a Google Cloud project.
- Integrating GCS-based datasets into reproducible workflows without manual file staging.
- Building cloud-native Snakemake workflows that keep results in GCS for cost-effective storage.
- Testing Snakemake workflows against cloud storage using a fake GCS server.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Enables Snakemake workflows to read from and write to Google Cloud Storage as a storage backend.

Yes, if you use Snakemake and need to work with Google Cloud Storage. Low install friction, permissive MIT license, and no known vulnerabilities make it a safe choice. The aging maintenance status is a minor concern given the narrow plugin scope and active repository, but verify compatibility with your specific Snakemake version before production use.

## Install

pip install snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs
uv add snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs
poetry add snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs

## Installing snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs

Before you install: Low friction installation with a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance status is aging—last commit was 508 days ago—but the repository remains active and not archived.

License in practice: MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions, suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.

Quickstart:

pip install snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs

In your Snakemake workflow, reference GCS paths directly:
rule my_rule:
    input: "gs://my-bucket/input.txt"
    output: "gs://my-bucket/output.txt"
    shell: "cat {input} > {output}"

Requires Python >=3.11 and valid Google Cloud credentials configured in your environment.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the plugin works with all current Snakemake versions or has specific version constraints.
- Performance characteristics when handling large files or high-frequency GCS operations in production.
- Specific authentication setup requirements for Google Cloud credentials in Snakemake workflows.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: aging
- Downloads: 653.2K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

snakemake google cloud storage, gcs snakemake plugin, snakemake storage backend, snakemake gcs plugin, cloud storage workflow, snakemake cloud integration, snakemake-plugin, cloud-storage

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/snakemake-storage-plugin-gcs/)