etetoolkit

Manipulate phylogenetic trees with Newick, NHX, PhyloXML, and NeXML formats.

16|7|Updated Nov 20, 2025
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/jackspace/ClaudeSkillz --skill etetoolkit
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: etetoolkit
Source: https://github.com/jackspace/ClaudeSkillz/tree/main/skills/scientific-pkg-etetoolkit
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/jackspace/ClaudeSkillz --skill etetoolkit

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill requires ete3, and includes references (resource) and scripts (resource) components.

What problem does it solve?

ETE Toolkit provides a robust suite for manipulating, analyzing, and visualizing phylogenetic trees, with NCBI taxonomy integration and advanced tree operations.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Tree I/O: Read/write Newick, NHX, PhyloXML, NeXML
  • Traversal & topology: prune, root, collapse nodes, resolve polytomies
  • Phylogenetic analyses: orthology/paralogy, gene-tree reconciliation
  • Taxonomy integration: NCBI taxonomy lookup and annotation
  • Visualization: publication-ready tree rendering

Quick Start

Load a tree, prune taxa, root at midpoint, and render a PDF visualization.

Frequently Asked Questions about etetoolkit

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I load and manipulate phylogenetic trees in different formats?

Phylogenetic trees can be loaded from Newick, NHX, PhyloXML, and NeXML formats, then manipulated through traversal, pruning, rooting, and node collapsing operations. ETE Toolkit supports all these formats and operations natively, enabling rapid tree preprocessing for analysis.

Can I integrate NCBI taxonomy data with my phylogenetic trees?

Yes, NCBI Taxonomy integration allows you to annotate and lookup taxonomic information directly within tree nodes. This enables taxonomy-aware analysis and validation of evolutionary relationships alongside your tree structure.

How do I compute distances and detect evolutionary events in trees?

ETE Toolkit computes pairwise distances between nodes, RF distance metrics, and detects evolutionary events like orthologs and paralogs through gene-tree reconciliation. These analyses reveal evolutionary relationships and divergence patterns.

What visualization formats does tree rendering support?

Publication-quality tree visualizations render to PNG, PDF, and SVG formats. This allows seamless integration into documents and publications with customizable layout and styling.

Does ETE Toolkit handle orthology and paralogy inference?

Yes, orthology and paralogy inference is supported through gene-tree reconciliation methods. These analyses identify orthologs and paralogs to understand functional relationships across species.

When should I use phylogenetic tree analysis instead of sequence alignment alone?

Tree analysis reveals evolutionary topology, divergence times, and functional relationships beyond sequence similarity. Use trees when you need orthology detection, evolutionary event dating, or comparative genomics across multiple species.