lc export¶

Export project artifacts in interoperable formats. Currently the only exporter is wrroc (Workflow Run RO-Crate); the group is shaped to host future formats without breaking the CLI surface.

Synopsis¶

lc export wrroc [OPTIONS]

lc export wrroc¶

Walk the project's per-output .lightcone-manifest.json sidecars and emit a Workflow Run RO-Crate bundle — a JSON-LD package readable by WorkflowHub, Zenodo's RO-Crate plugin, and any RO-Crate-aware archive. The on-disk manifest format is unchanged; the bundle is the publication view, generated on demand.

Options¶

Option	Default	Effect
`--output`, `-o PATH`	`./wrroc`	Bundle directory, or `.zip` path when `--zip` is set.
`--universe`, `-u NAME`	every universe with materialized outputs	Restrict to specific universes. Repeatable.
`--author "NAME <email>"`	git `user.name` / `user.email`, then `LIGHTCONE_AUTHOR` env	Override the author recorded in the bundle.
`--license URL`	`https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/`	License URL or SPDX identifier for the bundle. Required by the WRROC profile.
`--zip` / `--no-zip`	`--no-zip`	Package the bundle as a single `.zip` after building.
`--metadata-only`	off	Skip data files; bundle manifests + `astra.yaml` + universe files only.

What gets bundled¶

astra.yaml → ComputationalWorkflow (programmingLanguage: snakemake).
Each materialized output → Dataset with version = data_version.
Each recipe execution → CreateAction with object (inputs, both upstream datasets via stable @id and external files), result (the produced dataset), and instrument (the recipe SoftwareApplication).
Each container → SoftwareApplication referenced via softwareRequirements.
Each decision → FormalParameter + per-run PropertyValue.
Author → Person.

Provenance metadata (code_version, data_version, git_sha, lc_version, host) lands as PropertyValue entries on the relevant entities.

Examples¶

lc export wrroc                                # ./wrroc/ directory
lc export wrroc -o run.zip --zip               # zip bundle for upload
lc export wrroc --metadata-only                # provenance graph only, no data files
lc export wrroc -u baseline -u alt_method      # restrict to specific universes
lc export wrroc --author "Ada Lovelace <ada@example.org>"
lc export wrroc --license https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

Output¶

✓ Wrote WRROC directory: ./wrroc
  Captured 7 runs across universes: baseline, alt_method

If no materialized outputs are found, the bundle still writes — but only contains the workflow definition, and a warning is printed:

✓ Wrote WRROC directory: ./wrroc
Warning: no materialized outputs were found — the bundle contains only
  the workflow definition.
  This usually means recipes haven't been run yet (try lc run) or the
  .lightcone-manifest.json sidecars are missing.
  Workflow-only bundles will not pass strict Provenance Run Crate
  validation; that profile requires at least one materialized run.

Failure modes¶

Error	Cause
`No astra.yaml at <path>; cannot export.`	The cwd is not inside an ASTRA project.
`<path> is non-empty; refuse to clobber.`	The target directory already has contents. Pass a fresh path or remove the existing one.
`<path> is an existing directory; cannot overwrite with a zip.`	`--zip` was requested but the output path resolves to a directory. Use a file path like `bundle.zip`.

Manifests that exist but are unreadable (e.g. cross-user symlinks under results/ with permission denied) are warned about and skipped — they do not abort the export.

Validation¶

The bundle conforms to the Provenance Run Crate 0.5 profile. To validate locally:

pip install git+https://github.com/crs4/rocrate-validator.git
rocrate-validator -y validate ./wrroc/

When to run¶

Before submitting a paper or depositing artifacts in Zenodo / WorkflowHub.
After a clean run (lc verify clean) on the final commit you intend to publish.
For external collaborators who don't have lc installed but need to inspect provenance.

lc verify — confirm the manifest chain is intact before exporting.
lc status — see which outputs will be captured by the export.
api/manifest — the on-disk format the export reads from.