Reflex: Graphical workflow engine for data reduction

Reflex provides an easy and flexible way to reduce VLT/VLTI science data using the ESO pipelines. It allows graphically specifying the sequence in which the data reduction steps are executed, including conditional stops, loops and conditional branches. It eases inspection of the intermediate and final data products and allows repetition of selected processing steps to optimize the data reduction. The data organization necessary to reduce the data is built into the system and is fully automatic; advanced users can plug their own modules and steps into the data reduction sequence. Reflex supports the development of data reduction workflows based on the ESO Common Pipeline Library. Reflex is based on the concept of a scientific workflow, whereby the data reduction cascade is rendered graphically and data seamlessly flow from one processing step to the next. It is distributed with a number of complete test datasets so users can immediately start experimenting and familiarize themselves with the system.