nextflow-io / nextflow-io/nextflow

Allow feature flags only in pipeline code

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#5,205 3 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@bentsherman is already working on this.

Since Jun 25, 2026.

lang/config
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Description

Feature flags can be set in the main pipeline script or in the config, but it doesn't make sense for them to be in the config because they are inherent to the pipeline code.

For example, a pipeline is either using the output DSL or it isn't, there is no point in being able to set nextflow.preview.output in the config. Same applies to all other feature flags.

There is one exception, which is nextflow.enable.configProcessNamesValidation. This feature flag was added to suppress warnings that occur when setting module config for processes/workflows that are conditionally executed. Now that we have provided alternatives to setting ext and publishDir with process selectors, this feature flag can be deprecated.

Related: #5194

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