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CellRepo User Manual

This is the CellRepo user manual and knowledge base for scientists, lab teams, and organisations working with biological assets.

CellRepo helps you track how strains, constructs, and experiments evolve over time, so that context, history, and ownership are not lost as projects grow.

This documentation explains:

  • what CellRepo is designed to support
  • how its ideas map to real lab workflows
  • how to use the platform step by step

CellRepo is designed for biologists first.
You do not need to know Git, software version control, or engineering tools.

What CellRepo is for

Most biological research is iterative.

Strains are modified.
Constructs evolve.
Protocols change.
People join and leave projects.

Over time, it becomes difficult to answer simple questions like:

  • What exactly is this asset right now?
  • How did it reach this state?
  • Who worked on it, and when?
  • Why was this change made?

CellRepo is designed to make those answers easy to recover by recording what changed, when, and why, as the work happens.

Think of it as a structured, searchable lab notebook with history built in.

How this documentation is organised

You don’t need to read everything in order.
Jump to the section that matches what you want to do.

🚀 Getting started

Step-by-step setup and first actions.

Learn how to: - decide whether you’re working solo or in a team - create a project - create a repository - understand commit templates - make your first commit

If you’re new, start here.

🧠 Concepts

Clear explanations of the key ideas behind CellRepo.

This section explains: - projects - repositories - commits - commit templates - labs and roles - visibility and access

Use this as a reference whenever something feels unclear.

🔬 Workflows

Practical, real-world examples.

Follow these guides to: - track a new strain - update an existing asset - collaborate with another lab - export records or reports

These pages show how CellRepo fits into everyday lab work.

Where to start

If this is your first time using CellRepo, we recommend this path:

  1. Before you begin
  2. Sign up
  3. Log in
  4. After logging in
  5. Create your first project → repository → commit

Each page is short and focused.
You can move at your own pace.
We’ve also included short videos in several sections to follow along visually.

The core idea in one sentence

Record meaningful checkpoints, not every tiny action.

Commits capture: - what changed - why it changed - when it happened

That’s enough to make your work reproducible and traceable.

Getting help

If something is unclear, or you’re unsure how to structure things for your lab, you don’t need to guess.

Reach us at
support@cellrepo.com

We’re happy to help.