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datalad

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Retrieves, versions, and publishes scientific datasets with DataLad and git-annex, and captures computational provenance with datalad run, rerun, and containers-run. Use when cloning or fetching data from OpenNeuro, DANDI, datasets.datalad.org, or any DataLad dataset; when a file in a dataset reads as a broken symlink or a small pointer instead of real data; when an analysis needs a machine-readable record of how each output was produced so it can be re-executed; or when publishing a dataset to siblings such as a GitHub repository plus a storage remote. Also use to decide between DataLad and plain Git for a data-carrying repository.

skills/datalad/SKILL.md

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Nov 9, 2026
License
MIT

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# DataLad

## Overview

DataLad is a data management layer over Git and git-annex. Git tracks the dataset
structure, small text files, and the history. git-annex tracks the *content* of large
files, storing each file as a key and keeping the bytes somewhere that is not necessarily
the local repository.

A normal clone retrieves Git history and the top-level file listing while leaving
annexed bytes unfetched. Installed subdatasets have their own histories; a clone does not
automatically populate them. Clone cost depends on Git history and file count, not just
the data volume. Retrieve annexed bytes selectively with `datalad get`.
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