benchling-integration

Benchling Integration — R&D Platform SDK

Overview

Benchling is a cloud platform for life sciences R&D. The Python SDK provides programmatic access to registry entities (DNA, proteins), inventory, electronic lab notebooks, and workflows. All operations require a Benchling tenant URL and API key or OAuth credentials.

When to Use

• Creating, updating, or querying biological sequences (DNA, RNA, proteins) in Benchling registry
• Automating inventory operations (containers, boxes, locations, sample transfers)
• Creating or querying electronic lab notebook (ELN) entries programmatically
• Building workflow automations (task creation, status updates, bulk operations)
• Bulk importing entities from FASTA files or spreadsheets into Benchling
• Exporting Benchling data to CSV or external databases for analysis
• Syncing Benchling with external systems via event-driven integrations
• For local sequence analysis (BLAST, alignment), use biopython instead
• For chemical compound databases, use pubchem-compound-search instead

Prerequisites

pip install benchling-sdk

Authentication setup: Obtain an API key from Benchling Profile Settings. Store securely in environment variables — never commit to version control.

import os
from benchling_sdk.benchling import Benchling
from benchling_sdk.auth.api_key_auth import ApiKeyAuth

benchling = Benchling(
    url="https://your-tenant.benchling.com",
    auth_method=ApiKeyAuth(os.environ["BENCHLING_API_KEY"])
)

OAuth (for multi-user apps):

from benchling_sdk.auth.client_credentials_oauth2 import ClientCredentialsOAuth2

benchling = Benchling(
    url="https://your-tenant.benchling.com",
    auth_method=ClientCredentialsOAuth2(
        client_id=os.environ["BENCHLING_CLIENT_ID"],
        client_secret=os.environ["BENCHLING_CLIENT_SECRET"]
    )
)

API rate limits: Benchling enforces per-tenant rate limits. The SDK automatically retries on 429 responses with exponential backoff (up to 5 retries by default). For bulk operations, add time.sleep(0.5) between batches.

Quick Start

from benchling_sdk.benchling import Benchling
from benchling_sdk.auth.api_key_auth import ApiKeyAuth
from benchling_sdk.models import DnaSequenceCreate
import os

benchling = Benchling(
    url="https://your-tenant.benchling.com",
    auth_method=ApiKeyAuth(os.environ["BENCHLING_API_KEY"])
)

# Create a DNA sequence
seq = benchling.dna_sequences.create(
    DnaSequenceCreate(name="GFP-insert", bases="ATGGTGAGCAAGGGC", is_circular=False, folder_id="fld_abc123")
)
print(f"Created: {seq.name} ({seq.id})")

Core API

1. Registry — Entity CRUD

Registry entities include DNA sequences, RNA sequences, AA sequences, custom entities, and mixtures. All entity types follow the same create/read/update/archive pattern.

from benchling_sdk.models import DnaSequenceCreate, DnaSequenceUpdate

# Create
sequence = benchling.dna_sequences.create(
    DnaSequenceCreate(
        name="My Plasmid",
        bases="ATCGATCG",
        is_circular=True,
        folder_id="fld_abc123",
        schema_id="ts_abc123",
        fields=benchling.models.fields({"gene_name": "GFP"})
    )
)
print(f"Created: {sequence.id}")

# Read
seq = benchling.dna_sequences.get_by_id(sequence.id)
print(f"Name: {seq.name}, Length: {len(seq.bases)} bp")

# Update (partial — unspecified fields unchanged)
updated = benchling.dna_sequences.update(
    sequence_id=sequence.id,
    dna_sequence=DnaSequenceUpdate(
        name="Updated Plasmid",
        fields=benchling.models.fields({"gene_name": "mCherry"})
    )
)

# Archive
benchling.dna_sequences.archive(ids=[sequence.id], reason="RETIRED")

# Register entity in registry (with auto-generated ID)
registered = benchling.dna_sequences.create(
    DnaSequenceCreate(
        name="Production Plasmid",
        bases="ATCGATCG",
        is_circular=True,
        folder_id="fld_abc123",
        entity_registry_id="src_abc123",
        naming_strategy="NEW_IDS"  # or "IDS_FROM_NAMES"
    )
)
print(f"Registry ID: {registered.entity_registry_id}")

# Entity types available via SDK:
# benchling.dna_sequences, benchling.rna_sequences,
# benchling.aa_sequences, benchling.custom_entities, benchling.mixtures

2. Registry — Listing and Pagination

All list operations return paginated generators for memory efficiency.

# List with pagination
sequences = benchling.dna_sequences.list()
total = sequences.estimated_count()
print(f"Total sequences: {total}")

for page in sequences:
    for seq in page:
        print(f"  {seq.name} ({seq.id}): {len(seq.bases)} bp")

# Filter by schema
filtered = benchling.dna_sequences.list(schema_id="ts_abc123")
for page in filtered:
    for seq in page:
        print(f"  {seq.name}")

3. Inventory Management

Manage physical samples, containers, boxes, and locations.

from benchling_sdk.models import ContainerCreate, BoxCreate

# Create container (sample tube)
container = benchling.containers.create(
    ContainerCreate(
        name="Sample Tube 001",
        schema_id="cont_schema_abc123",
        parent_storage_id="box_abc123",
        fields=benchling.models.fields({"concentration": "100 ng/uL"})
    )
)
print(f"Container: {container.id}, Barcode: {container.barcode}")

# Create box
box = benchling.boxes.create(
    BoxCreate(
        name="Freezer Box A1",
        schema_id="box_schema_abc123",
        parent_storage_id="loc_abc123"
    )
)

# Transfer container to new location
benchling.containers.transfer(
    container_id=container.id,
    destination_id="box_xyz789"
)
print(f"Transferred {container.name} to new box")

4. Notebook Entries (ELN)

Create and manage electronic lab notebook entries.

from benchling_sdk.models import EntryCreate

# Create notebook entry
entry = benchling.entries.create(
    EntryCreate(
        name="Experiment 2026-02-17",
        folder_id="fld_abc123",
        schema_id="entry_schema_abc123",
        fields=benchling.models.fields({
            "objective": "Test gene expression levels",
            "protocol": "Standard qPCR"
        })
    )
)
print(f"Entry: {entry.id}")

# Link entity to entry
benchling.entry_links.create(
    entry_id=entry.id,
    entity_id="seq_xyz789"
)

5. Workflow Automation

Create and manage workflow tasks for lab process automation.

from benchling_sdk.models import WorkflowTaskCreate, WorkflowTaskUpdate

# Create workflow task
task = benchling.workflow_tasks.create(
    WorkflowTaskCreate(
        name="PCR Amplification",
        workflow_id="wf_abc123",
        assignee_id="user_abc123",
        fields=benchling.models.fields({"template": "seq_abc123"})
    )
)
print(f"Task: {task.id}, Status: {task.status}")

# Update task status
benchling.workflow_tasks.update(
    task_id=task.id,
    workflow_task=WorkflowTaskUpdate(status_id="status_complete_abc123")
)

# Wait for async operations
from benchling_sdk.helpers.tasks import wait_for_task

result = wait_for_task(
    benchling, task_id="task_abc123",
    interval_wait_seconds=2, max_wait_seconds=300
)
print(f"Async task completed: {result}")

6. Error Handling and Retry

from benchling_sdk.retry import RetryStrategy
from benchling_sdk.errors import BenchlingError

# Custom retry strategy
benchling = Benchling(
    url="https://your-tenant.benchling.com",
    auth_method=ApiKeyAuth(os.environ["BENCHLING_API_KEY"]),
    retry_strategy=RetryStrategy(max_retries=3)
)
# SDK auto-retries on 429 (rate limit), 502, 503, 504

# Error handling
try:
    seq = benchling.dna_sequences.get_by_id("seq_nonexistent")
except BenchlingError as e:
    print(f"API error: {e.status_code} — {e.message}")

Key Concepts

Entity Type Mapping

| Benchling Type | SDK Accessor | Use Case | |---------------|-------------|----------| | DNA Sequence | benchling.dna_sequences | Plasmids, primers, gene inserts | | RNA Sequence