Skip to content

Quick Start

Get up and running with Pumbaa in 5 minutes.

✅ Prerequisites

  • Pumbaa installed (Installation Guide)
  • Access to a Cromwell server
  • (Optional) A WDL workflow file

1⃣ Configure Cromwell Server

pumbaa config init

export CROMWELL_HOST=http://localhost:8000

pumbaa config set cromwell_host http://localhost:8000

2⃣ Verify Connection

Test the connection to your Cromwell server:

pumbaa workflow query --limit 5

Expected Result

You should see a list of recent workflows (or an empty list if none exist).

3⃣ Explore the Dashboard

Launch the interactive dashboard:

pumbaa dashboard

⌨ Dashboard Navigation

Key Action
Up / K Move up
Down / J Move down
Enter Open debug view
S Cycle status filter
/ Filter by name
L Filter by label
Ctrl+X Clear all filters
A Abort workflow
Shift+L Manage labels
R Refresh
Q Quit

4⃣ Submit a Workflow

pumbaa workflow submit \
  --workflow myworkflow.wdl \
  --inputs inputs.json
Example inputs.json 
{
  "myworkflow.input_file": "gs://bucket/data.txt",
  "myworkflow.sample_name": "sample-001"
}

5⃣ Monitor Workflow

pumbaa workflow query --status Running

pumbaa workflow metadata <workflow-id>

pumbaa workflow debug --id <workflow-id>

🔧 Common Tasks

  • Abort Workflow

    pumbaa workflow abort <id>

  • Bundle WDL

    pumbaa bundle --workflow main.wdl

🐛 Troubleshooting

Connection refused

Verify Cromwell is running: 

curl $CROMWELL_HOST/api/workflows/v1/query

No workflows found

Submit a test workflow first.

Dashboard not updating

Press R to manually refresh.

📚 Next Steps

❓ Getting Help

pumbaa --help
pumbaa <command> --help

GitHub Issues