| name | cutadapt |
| description | Use when you need to remove adapter sequences from high-throughput sequencing reads, trim low-quality bases, or filter reads by length. Supports single-end and paired-end FASTQ/FASTA input with error-tolerant adapter matching. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| user-invocable | true |
cutadapt
Quick Start
- Command:
cutadapt -a ADAPTER -o output.fastq input.fastq
- Local executable:
/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/cutadapt
- Version: 5.2
- Full reference: See references/help.md for complete options and documentation
When To Use This Tool
- Remove known adapter sequences with explicit 3', 5', or anywhere-end semantics.
- Paired-end trimming where read synchronization must be preserved exactly.
- Quality trimming and length filtering after or alongside adapter removal.
- Prefer
cutadapt over fastp when the adapter model itself needs precise control.
Common Patterns
cutadapt \
-a AGATCGGAAGAGCACACGTCTGAACTCCAGTCA \
-o sample.trimmed.fastq.gz \
sample.fastq.gz
cutadapt \
-a ADAPTER_R1 \
-A ADAPTER_R2 \
-o sample_R1.trimmed.fastq.gz \
-p sample_R2.trimmed.fastq.gz \
sample_R1.fastq.gz sample_R2.fastq.gz
cutadapt \
-a ADAPTER \
-q 20 \
-m 50 \
--json sample.cutadapt.json \
-o sample.trimmed.fastq.gz \
sample.fastq.gz
Recommended Workflow
- Determine whether the adapter is expected at the 3' end, 5' end, or either end.
- Encode that expectation with
-a, -g, or -b rather than using a vague fallback.
- Add quality and length filters after the adapter model is correct.
- Review the cutadapt report or JSON output before sending reads downstream.
Guardrails
- Without
-o, reads go to stdout; that is fine for piping, but dangerous if you expected a file.
- For paired-end data, always provide both inputs and both outputs so mate synchronization is preserved.
-b/--anywhere is powerful but easy to misuse; do not use it unless you really want 5' or 3' matching.
- Use
-j to parallelize larger jobs; default execution is single-core.