Ginkgo Cloud Lab (Claude Skill)

Submit and manage protocols on Ginkgo Bioworks Cloud Lab (cloud.ginkgo.bio), a web-based interface for autonomous lab execution on Reconfigurable Automation Carts (RACs).

   
Type Claude Skill
Supplier K-Dense Inc. (community OSS)
Availability GA — part of the actively maintained K-Dense scientific-agent-skills collection
Pricing Free / OSS — license not stated upstream
Capabilities Read/Write — Claude runs the skill’s Python locally (Bash), not as an MCP tool

How to install

  • Claude Code / Claude.ai — Skills CLI (recommended): 
    npx skills add K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills

    Installs the K-Dense collection; enable the ginkgo-cloud-lab skill when prompted. Works across Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex via the Agent Skills spec (requires Node ≥ 18).

  • Claude Code / Claude Desktop — manual clone: 
    git clone https://github.com/K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills
cp -r scientific-agent-skills/skills/ginkgo-cloud-lab ~/.claude/skills/

    Project-scoped alternative: copy into .claude/skills/ instead of ~/.claude/skills/. The skill declares its own Python dependencies in its SKILL.md; install them (the K-Dense skills generally use uv / pip) when prompted on first use.

What it does

Submit and manage protocols on Ginkgo Bioworks Cloud Lab (cloud.ginkgo.bio), a web-based interface for autonomous lab execution on Reconfigurable Automation Carts (RACs). Use when the user wants to run cell-free protein expression (validation or optimization), generate fluorescent pixel art, or interact with Ginkgo Cloud Lab services. Covers protocol selection, input preparation, pricing, and ordering workflows.

Primary use cases: the user wants to run cell-free protein expression (validation or optimization), generate fluorescent pixel art, or interact with Ginkgo Cloud Lab services.

Notes

Distributed as a SKILL.md (plus code examples) in the K-Dense collection — Claude executes it locally via Bash/Python rather than as an MCP server. Upstream license: not stated upstream. The skill name to enable after install is ginkgo-cloud-lab.

Sources

Installed this tool?

Share feedback — install path, OS, errors, workarounds. The form opens with this tool pre-selected and a link back to this page.