# Is this based on Cytoscape?

**URL:** <https://cylc.discourse.group/t/is-this-based-on-cytoscape/379>\
**Category:** Cylc Support\
**Created:** [September 16, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/is-this-based-on-cytoscape/379 "2021-09-16T17:59:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![yk1991](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ea666f/32.png) [@yk1991](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/yk1991)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/is-this-based-on-cytoscape/379/1 "2021-09-16T17:59:59Z")

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HI,  
Is Cycl based on cytoscape?

What use cases does it address?

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**Author:** ![kinow](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/kinow/32/145_2.png) [@kinow](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/kinow)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/is-this-based-on-cytoscape/379/2 "2021-09-16T22:03:21Z")

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Hi,

> Is Cycl based on cytoscape?

No, Cylc - like other workflow managers - produces graphs of a workflow with tasks, jobs, etc. But different than most workflow managers, Cylc allows for cyclic graphs whereas others use a directed acyclic graph.

Cytoscape could be used to iterate or visualize a graph produced by Cylc, for example. But internally in Cylc it’s just Python creating the graph structure.

> What use cases does it address?

Have a look at the [website](https://cylc.github.io/) and [how it works docs section](https://cylc.github.io/cylc-doc/stable/html/introduction.html). I think this excerpt from the landing page gives a brief summary.

> Cylc is a **general purpose workflow engine** that **orchestrates cycling workflows very efficiently**. It was designed for use in production weather, climate, and environmental forecasting systems, but it is not specialized to those domains and is agnostic to the applications it manages.

Cheers  
Bruno

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**Author:** ![hilary.j.oliver](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/cylc.discourse.group/hilary.j.oliver/32/4_2.png) [@hilary.j.oliver](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/hilary.j.oliver)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/is-this-based-on-cytoscape/379/3 "2021-09-20T02:32:27Z")

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> and [how it works docs section](https://cylc.github.io/cylc-doc/stable/html/introduction.html). I

Yikes, that old section desperately needs rewriting, more clearly and concisely(as flagged by the introductory warning paragraph, to be fair).

Until the massively updated Cylc 8 User Guide is released you can also take a look at these references: [Cylc | The Cylc Workflow Engine Production workflow orchestration for cycling systems](https://cylc.github.io/#publications)

Hilary