# 👨‍💻 Building Your First Method (Simplified Workflow)

Now that you understand what it means to implement a method, here's how to actually build one — step by step — using the simplified "runtime-based" approach.

We'll use the **Advanced WordCloud** method as a real-world example, you can download the full  [WordCloud Advanced json](/_static/methods_examples/Advanced%20WordCloud-1.0.0.json) json definition.

---

## 🛠 1. Choose the Execution Tool or Library

In this case we use [`wordcloud_cli`](https://github.com/amueller/word_cloud) (<https://github.com/amueller/word_cloud>), which can be cloned from the public repository and run from shell.

This tool accepts command-line options for all parameters, making it ideal for CCP.


---

## 📝 2. Define Your Goal

In this case: generate a word cloud image from a text file.  
We want the method to be flexible, so users can customize:

- Input text file
- Image size
- Number of words
- Font size range
- Optional stopwords or mask image

---

## 📁 3. Create a new empty method and define it

in the 🛠 [Method / Algorithm Importer](/02_ccp_interface/05_engine_edit) page, fill the form for the creation of the new method

![define the method](/_static/imgs/define_wc_01_description.png)

---

## 🐳 4. Select a Docker Image

For this example, we use a public image with Python:

![select a docker image](/_static/imgs/define_wc_02_ccpimage.png)

```json
{
    "inputs": {
        "ccpimage": {
            "id": "ccpimage",
            "title": "Runtime",
            "description": "The image of the runtime to use for method execution. This depends on the infrastructure specific protocol for interacting with registries.",
            "minOccurs": 1,
            "maxOccurs": 1,
            "schema": {
                "type": "string",
                "format": "url",
                "contentMediaType": "text/plain",
                "default": "python:3.9.19",
                "readOnly": false
            }
        }

    }
}
```

---

## 📁 3. Prepare Inputs and Parameters

In this case, we define input fields like:

- `file_url` (text file URL)
- `width`, `height`
- Optional: `blacklist_url`, `colormask_url`, `max_words`, `min_font_size`, `max_font_size`

![input file](/_static/imgs/define_wc_03_input_file.png)

![input number](/_static/imgs/define_wc_04_input_number.png)

and the other inputs

![other inputs](/_static/imgs/define_wc_05_input_others.png)

the generated json is:

```json
{
    "inputs": {
          "file_url": {
            "id": "file_url",
            "title": "File url",
            "description": "Url of the text file of words to build the word cloud",
            "minOccurs": 1,
            "maxOccurs": 1,
            "schema": {
                "type": "string",
                "format": "remotefile",
                "contentMediaType": "text/plain",
                "default": ""
            }
        },

        "width": {
            "id": "width",
            "title": "Image width",
            "description": "output image width",
            "minOccurs": 1,
            "maxOccurs": 1,
            "schema": {
                "type": "string",
                "format": "number",
                "contentMediaType": "text/plain",
                "default": "1024"
            }
        }
    }
}
```

---

## 🔧 5. Write the Deploy Script

This script prepares the environment. In this case:

```bash
pip install wordcloud
curl -L {{file_url}} -o /ccp_data/input.txt
[ -n "{{blacklist_url}}" ] && curl -L {{blacklist_url}} -o /ccp_data/blacklist.txt
[ -n "{{colormask_url}}" ] && curl -L {{colormask_url}} -o /ccp_data/colormask.png
```

It handles:

- Dependency installation
- Download of required and optional input files

![deploy script](/_static/imgs/define_wc_07_script_deploy.png)

---

## 🚀 6. Write the Execute Script

This script runs the method. It uses shell logic to build the command dynamically:

```bash
cmd="wordcloud_cli --text /ccp_data/input.txt --imagefile /ccp_data/wordcloud.png"
cmd="$cmd --width {{width}} --height {{height}}"
[ -n "{{max_words}}" ] && cmd="$cmd --max_words {{max_words}}"
[ -n "{{min_font_size}}" ] && cmd="$cmd --min_font_size {{min_font_size}}"
[ -n "{{max_font_size}}" ] && cmd="$cmd --max_font_size {{max_font_size}}"
[ -n "{{blacklist_url}}" ] && cmd="$cmd --stopwords /ccp_data/blacklist.txt"
[ -n "{{colormask_url}}" ] && cmd="$cmd --colormask /ccp_data/colormask.png"
eval $cmd
```

👉 This allows conditional inclusion of optional parameters.

![execute script](/_static/imgs/define_wc_08_script_exec.png)

---

## 📦 7. Save the Output

The script writes the image to:

```
/ccp_data/wordcloud.png
```

Any file saved to `/ccp_data/`, like the input.txt downloaded in the deploy script, becomes downloadable for the user.

---

## ✅ Summary

| Element            | Description |
|--------------------|-------------|
| Docker image       | `python:3.9.19` |
| Install tool       | `pip install wordcloud` |
| Inputs             | URLs and numbers (some optional) |
| Deploy script      | Prepares environment and downloads files |
| Execute script     | Builds and runs the CLI command |
| Output             | `/ccp_data/wordcloud.png` |

---


## 👀 Want to Build Your Own Method?

Before you start, make sure you understand the basic concepts of CCP methods.

👉 See: 🐣 [Concepts for Beginners](04_concepts_for_beginners)

---

## What About Advanced Users?

The method structure explained in this guide is meant to help you **get started quickly**, even if you're not a developer.

However, if you're building a methods that:

- Needs custom dependencies or environments
- Must run on secure/private code
- Should be reusable in production

...you should consider the **consolidation** workflow.

### Consolidated Methods

A consolidated method:

- Uses a **custom Docker image** with all dependencies pre-installed
- Embeds the algorithm code inside the image (no need to clone anything)
- Can work without internet access and is more stable over time
- Requires a bit more technical setup, but offers maximum control

👉 See the 🐳 [Consolidation Guide](/04_methods_development/08_consolidation) for full details.