If you’re a molecular modeler or working in computational chemistry, you’ve probably encountered this scenario: your software offers 80% of what you need, but you’re stuck writing wrappers, scripts, or even your own tools to fill in the remainder. While the idea of customizing your environment is appealing, in practice, writing and maintaining those tools takes time away from your actual research.
What if you could just plug in the features you need? That’s the approach taken by SAMSON, an integrative platform for molecular modeling and simulation. SAMSON lets you extend its capabilities with modular components—called SAMSON Extensions—available directly from SAMSON Connect.
The Extension Marketplace lets you browse, install, and manage these add-ons to adapt the platform to your specific modeling needs—without writing any code or compiling anything.
What Are SAMSON Extensions?
SAMSON Extensions are plugins that add diverse functionality to SAMSON. These include:
- Apps – connectors to external tools or services, or entirely new modules
- Editors – interactive tools to select, modify, and create molecules
- Importers/Exporters – support for specific file formats (e.g., PDB, XYZ)
- Visual Models – advanced visual representations, like electrostatics or electron densities
- Interaction Models – force fields and methods used in simulations
- State Updaters – algorithms to drive simulations (e.g., molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo)
New extensions are downloaded the first time you launch SAMSON, and you can manage or add more from the SAMSON Connect Marketplace at any time.
How to Add or Remove Extensions
To manage extensions:
- Sign in to your account on SAMSON Connect.
- Browse the Marketplace to find extensions relevant to your work.
- Click to install (or remove) directly from the interface. It’s that simple.
Whether you’re investigating molecular dynamics, analyzing protein-ligand interactions, or visualizing complex molecular systems, the right combination of extensions can align SAMSON to your workflow, rather than forcing you to align your workflow to your software.
Flexible Distribution and Licensing
If you eventually build your own module, you can distribute your extension through SAMSON Connect, set academic and industrial pricing tiers, and even connect it with cloud services. SAMSON uses Stripe for subscriptions and allows you to offer different plans to your users, if needed.
This modular approach also supports collaboration: groups can build a shared environment tailored to their project, where each user installs a coherent set of extensions that deliver exactly what the team needs.
Learn more in the full documentation on Extending SAMSON.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON here.