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CLI vs the web

NEMAR has two surfaces: the web app (ww2.nemar.org) and the CLI. They share the same backend, the same accounts, and the same datasets. The difference is workflow style, not capability.

What the web is best for

Section titled “What the web is best for”
  • Signing up. Web sign-in and sign-up are planned for July 2026; until then, create your account and authenticate with the CLI (nemar auth signup / nemar auth login).
  • Browsing and exploring. Discover, dataset detail pages, READMEs, and the citation dashboard live there.
  • One-off uploads. Drop a folder, walk through validation, request publication. No tooling to install.
  • Collaborator management. Inviting and removing collaborators happens on the dataset’s collaborators page.
  • Admin review. The publication-request queue is web-only.

What the CLI is best for

Section titled “What the CLI is best for”
  • Scripted publishes. CI pipelines that publish a dataset version when a tag is pushed.
  • Large / parallel uploads. The CLI uses git-annex parallel transfers for very large datasets that would be tedious to drop in a browser.
  • Server-side workflows. Running on a compute node or a shared lab server where the web UI isn’t convenient.
  • Inspection and version checks. Comparing local vs remote, viewing manifests, and so on.
  • Bulk operations. Managing many datasets where shell scripting wins.

You don’t have to pick one

Section titled “You don’t have to pick one”

Most researchers use the web for sign-in, discovery, and publication review, and reach for the CLI when they need to script something. Same account, same datasets, same permissions; switching back and forth is fine.

Accounts and permissions

Section titled “Accounts and permissions”

The CLI and the web share state through the same backend. Signing in on the CLI issues a long-lived API token tied to your account; signing in on the web issues a cookie-backed session. Both honor the same admin role, dataset ownership, and collaborator permissions.

Terminal window
# Quick start with the CLI (see the full guide under CLI > Getting Started)
nemar auth login          # authenticate with your API key
nemar dataset list --mine # show your datasets
nemar dataset upload ./my-dataset

See Installation for the full CLI setup.