Getting started with DECTRIS CLOUD

A first step by step to dive into DECTRIS CLOUD, including how to upload your own scientific data and analyze them.

How to create an account

To get started with DECTRIS CLOUD, you need a personal account.

Open the DECTRIS CLOUD application and select Sign up.
Create your account using your email address.
Complete your profile information.

During onboarding, you may see an introduction flow, this can be skipped if you want to start immediately. Once logged in, you can access your dashboard, create projects, upload data, and explore analysis workflows.

Your 7-day FREE IMPACT trial

During your first 7 days, you also get access to an IMPACT license. This trial license allows you to:

Experiment with advanced DECTRIS CLOUD capabilities
Run cloud-based analysis jobs
Explore reproducible workflows and job history at its fullest
Create an account
Explore the interface
Create projects
Upload data
Become familiar with DECTRIS CLOUD concepts
Run analysis
Build Environments and Job Templates

The IMPACT trial is designed to let you experience the full workflow before deciding which capabilities you need long-term. Once the trial license expires, you are automatically granted a FREE exploration license, that every user has access to a free Exploration license intended as an entry point for all users. This license allows anyone to keep working with the cloud at any moment and always access your data and analysis results.

Data: Upload and share your scientific data in the cloud

All data in DECTRIS CLOUD lives inside Projects. Projects provide structured folders for raw data, processed data, metadata, and working files.

Data is uploaded into a project, not into standalone folders.
For datasets with many small files, uploading a compressed archive (ZIP) is recommended for better performance and reliability.
Projects can be shared with collaborators, enabling controlled access to data.

This ensures data stays organized and traceable throughout its lifecycle.

Analysis: Make use of cloud compute and reproducible workflows

Reproducible analysis in DECTRIS CLOUD is performed using Jobs. You can run analysis templates on your project data as soon as you have your projects set up. Find Public Templates under the Analysis tab inside the app and have fun!

Each job records Input data, Parameters, Software and template version, Logs, outputs, and resource usage. Jobs can be re-run with modified parameters, creating new executions without overwriting previous ones. All iterations are grouped via Job History.

This enables reproducible, iterative workflows where you can explore, refine, and share results with full transparency.

What are licenses?

Licenses in DECTRIS CLOUD primarily define which capabilities you can access. In addition, licenses include a defined amount of data storage and defined amount of cloud compute hours for running analysis tasks.

If your usage exceeds what is included, you can always purchase additional credits to cover extra storage or compute consumption. Licenses are flexible and designed to scale from exploration to advanced scientific workflows.

Activating a license

If you or your group has purchased a license, you can activate it directly in the app.

Open your Profile in DECTRIS CLOUD.
Go to My Licenses.
Select Activate License.
Enter the License ID (LCID) and Activation Code.
Confirm activation.

Purchasing and generating a license

Licenses can be purchased directly from within the app.

Open your Profile.
Go to My Licenses.
Select Generate License.
Choose the license type and capabilities you need.

This generates a License ID (LCID) and an Activation Code. You then activate the license using the generated LCID and Activation Code, just like any other license.