Materials / Samples / Recipes

Cell lines / media / reagents / antibodies / strains: independent registry, reuse across experiments, with optional per-lot stock tracking.

Create a material (3 paths)

Sidebar [+ New] → Material / Sample: dialog with two tabs:
- Preset (recommended): 19 common materials (HEK293 / DMEM / FBS / Anti-CD86 / PBS / etc.) one-click create with common attributes pre-filled (source / concentration / storage, etc.)
- Custom: just name + type + notes. 6 types (cell line / medium / reagent / strain / antibody / other). Expand More details to add vendor, catalog number, lot, expiry, stock concentration, solvent, working concentration and quantity; all optional
Tell Vara: "Create an HEK293 cell line", AI pops an action card to confirm
Link from a sub-experiment: step detail bottom [+ Link material] dialog, pick an existing material

Edit a material (example materials too)

Use Edit in a material card's ⋯ menu or next to "Details" on the detail page to change the name, status (active / archived / depleted), vendor, catalog number, lot, expiry and other details, plus your own custom fields. A cell line's passage is changed with "Correct passage", and a medium's recipe in the recipe editor on the detail page. You can also tell Vara "new bottle of Y-27632, lot S104906" and confirm the card it shows. Once you edit a material that came with the example experiment, it counts as your own, so deleting the example data later keeps it.

Stock: lots, expiry, amount left and expiry reminders

Light stock tracking works per lot: a material can have several lots, each with a lot number, expiry date, starting amount, amount left, storage location and status (unopened / in use / used up / discarded). It is free for every account.

Start tracking stock: in the Inventory section of a material's page, Vara prefills the first lot from the lot, expiry and quantity in its details, and you confirm the amount and unit against what you have before saving. All lots of a material use the same unit, which can't change once lots exist.
Receive / use / count / discard: receive adds a new lot; use records how much you took, and an amount larger than what is left is refused, so stock never goes negative; count sets the amount you counted and logs the difference; discard sets a lot to zero. Every change is logged, and History shows the last 20. A lot that reaches zero is marked used up.
Expiry and low-stock reminders: expired lots are shown in red and lots expiring within 30 days in amber. Set an alert threshold on a material and it counts as low when the total in stock falls below it. The home page shows a line such as "N lots expire within 30 days, M materials are below their threshold", which opens the Inventory view of the material library with filters for expiring within 30 days, expired and below threshold. Reminders stay in the web app; no email or push notifications.
Expired lots can still be used: expiry is a reminder and does not block use. During a run, a linked material whose lots in stock have all expired, or that has none left, is flagged on its row, and the stock item in the sub-experiment's pre-run checklist turns into a reminder.
Link a specific lot: when you link a material to a sub-experiment you can pick a stock lot you bought (or a medium batch you prepared; one or the other). The lot and expiry saved when a run ends come from that lot first.
Deduct by amount after a run, only when you confirm: nothing is deducted automatically. When you finish a run in the web app, or save a run record that has a result, and any linked material tracks stock, a Deduct from stock card opens. Each row is prefilled with a lot (the one picked when the material was linked, otherwise the lot in stock that expires first) and an amount. The amount is only prefilled when it is written plainly: for a lot counted in mL, "500 μL" becomes 0.5. Concentrations, ratios, "as needed" or "50 μL per well" are left blank for you to fill in. You can change the lot or amount on any row or untick it, and nothing is taken out until you click Deduct; Not this time closes the card. If one row does not have enough left, only that row fails and the others still go through. Once a run has been deducted, the card no longer prefills amounts and asks you to confirm again before deducting more; the run record shows "Deducted from stock: ...". Runs recorded by Vara AI, a connected external AI or the Mac and iOS apps never deduct stock. You can also tell Vara "used 2 mL of DMSO" and confirm the card (Vara does the arithmetic, and the unit must match the lot), or record a use in the Inventory section. Use, count and discard from a connected external AI wait in Pending changes first.
Stock is web only for now and does not show in the Mac and iOS apps yet; shared lab stock is not available yet.

Medium multi-component recipe

A MEDIUM-type material's detail page has a [Recipe Components] section that replaces the generic calculator:

Edit unlimited reagent rows + amount (supports mL / % / L mixed units)
Mix N mL by recipe: enter the target volume, auto-compute each component
- Percentage items: target × the percentage (FBS 10% → 1 mL for a 10 mL target)
- mL items: scaled by original ratio into the remaining space (DMEM stock 500 mL → 8.9 mL for a 10 mL target)

Full example: DMEM high-glucose complete medium (DMEM 500 mL / FBS 10% / P-S 1%) for a 10 mL target → auto-computes DMEM 8.9 mL + FBS 1 mL + P-S 0.1 mL.

Operation log (passage / media change / prep)

The material detail's [Log operation] menu offers 3 actionTypes:

Prep medium (MEDIUM_PREP): batch label + volume + expiry
Passage (PASSAGE): split ratio (1:3 / 1:5) + notes, auto +1 currentPassage
Media change (MEDIA_CHANGE): volume mL + observations
Freeze / thaw / mycoplasma test (FREEZE / THAW / MYCO_TEST): a freeze records the number of vials and where they are stored; a test records the result (negative / positive / pending) and the method. These three keep the passage number and note the passage at that time

Every entry shows on the material detail timeline, ordered by performedAt descending.

Cell line passage numbers

Starting passage: thawed or gifted cells are already at P12 or P8. When creating a cell line you can enter a starting passage and keep counting from there. Leave it blank to start at 0.
Passage asks first: logging a passage first shows which cell line will move from P12 to P13; confirm and the current passage goes up by 1, with the entry showing P12 → P13. You can also choose "Log only, keep passage", which leaves the card unchanged and tags the entry "Library passage not changed". Media changes do not count.
Correct passage: if an existing card is wrong (say a cryo vial shows it is really P15), click "Correct passage" next to Basic info on the detail page and enter the new value, optionally with a reason. Every correction leaves a trail; the previous value is kept.
The "passage N" shown on a step's execution card reads the cell line's current passage; if the sub-experiment is linked to a specific passage (pick "Passage · P12" under Specific batch when linking), it shows that passage.
Passage when recorded: when a run ends, the passage of each cell line it used is saved in the run's material snapshot. Run records and "Last run" on the execution card show "Passage N when recorded", and later passages do not change it. Runs recorded before this feature do not have it.
Freezing and thawing keep the passage: passages count subcultures, so thawed cells are at the passage they were frozen at. If your lab counts a thaw as a passage, use "Correct passage" after thawing.

Material ↔ sub-experiment bi-directional link

Link from material detail [+ Link to sub-experiment], or from step detail [+ Link material]. Both sides see the link + can navigate. Each link can carry a usage note (e.g. "30 μL dome / 24-well plate").

Materials in step text: tap a name to see its card

On the sub-experiment page and the execution card, when step text mentions a material linked to that step, the name becomes a small tappable tag. Tapping it opens the same material card everywhere: it slides in from the right on a computer and up from the bottom on a phone. The card shows the name, type, lot / batch, vendor, catalog number and other basics, plus "Used in these sub-experiments", with a link to the material page at the bottom.

Only materials linked to the step count. Names are matched exactly (case-insensitive), with no AI guessing. English names must appear as a whole word, so PBS is not tagged inside PBST.
When the execution card says some reagents in the step are not in your materials, expand it and use Add to materials next to a reagent: the new-material dialog opens with the name filled in, and the new material is linked to the step right away.

Lot and amount saved when a run ends

When a run ends (finished or aborted), Vara saves the lot and amount of each linked material into the run record, plus its vendor, catalog number and expiry when filled in; an expiry before that day is marked as expired when recorded. The amount comes from, in order: the usage note on the link, a linked parameter whose name mentions the material, then the part of a substep's volume field that mentions it. If none of these exist it stays empty; nothing is guessed.

These values are marked As recorded and don't change when you edit your materials later. On the next run, expand "Last run" at the top of the execution area to see "Materials used in this run". This records which lot and how much was used and does not deduct stock by itself; after a run Vara offers an editable deduction that only applies when you confirm (see Stock above).