One pain shared by many molecular modelers is the lack of specialized tools tailored to their specific research questions. Sometimes a software platform offers 80% of what’s needed, but the missing 20% can slow down or entirely block progress. SAMSON, the integrative molecular design platform, offers a way around this problem by letting users create and share their own custom functionality.
SAMSON’s modular architecture lets users extend the platform via SAMSON Extensions—packages that can include apps, editors, importers, exporters, visual models, interaction models, state updaters, and more. The best part? You can develop your own extensions to precisely match your workflow.
What is a SAMSON Extension?
A SAMSON Extension is a plug-in module that adds specific capabilities to SAMSON. These may include:
- Apps: Add functionality like external code wrappers, data analysis tools, or connectors to web services.
- Editors: Handle user interaction, e.g. molecule builders or selection tools.
- Importers/Exporters: Convert between internal and file-based formats like PDB, XYZ, etc.
- Visual Models: Customize visualizations (e.g., electron density isosurfaces).
- Interaction Models & State Updaters: Incorporate your own energy functions or simulation algorithms.
Getting Started With SAMSON SDK
To develop your own extensions, you’ll need the SAMSON SDK—a Software Development Kit that provides templates, APIs, and cross-platform deployment support. It dramatically lowers development burden by handling many things under the hood, such as:
- Scene management
- Rendering
- Data I/O and serialization
- Integrating with other existing extensions
Once you install the SDK, you can build custom features or integrate third-party libraries. This is especially helpful if you’re developing specific algorithms (e.g., new force fields or reaction simulations) that aren’t bundled with standard software suites.
From Lab Tool to Shared Resource
Once your SAMSON Extension is developed, it’s easy to share it via SAMSON Connect – Marketplace. Whether you want to keep your extension private for personal or institutional use, or make it publicly accessible, SAMSON provides customizable access and subscription options through Stripe integration.
You can keep your extension free, charge academic/industry users separately, or provide cloud-based services around it—all from the same distribution hub.
Why It Matters for Modelers
Let’s say you work on coarse-grained simulations and need a particular visualization or force field model. Writing your own extension not only enables reuse within your team, but also invites collaboration from others facing the same gaps. No need to wait for external tools to appear—you can build what you need now.
Extension development also enables interdisciplinary sharing. A chemist might create a minimization algorithm that turns out to be useful to a materials scientist. By building extensions, you join a modular community of contributors adapting SAMSON to diverse use cases.
If you’re comfortable with C++ and have a specific modeling need, exploring extension development could be the next logical step in making SAMSON your own customizable workbench.
To learn more, visit the official guide on extending SAMSON.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at www.samson-connect.net.