diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index b2930b1b8..0af63b808 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ install:
   - docker build -t abricate:1.0.0 abricate/1.0.0
   - docker build -t ariba:2.14.4 ariba/2.14.4
   - docker build -t ivar:1.2.2_artic20200528 ivar/1.2.2_artic20200528
+  - docker build -t metaphlan:3.0.3 metaphlan/3.0.3       
 script:
   - bash tests/mash-test.sh
   - bash tests/mashtree-test.sh
@@ -23,3 +24,4 @@ script:
   - bash tests/abricate.sh
   - bash tests/ariba.sh
   - bash tests/ivar.sh
+  - bash tests/metaphlan.sh
diff --git a/Program_Licenses.md b/Program_Licenses.md
index 6ac159530..282a8988e 100644
--- a/Program_Licenses.md
+++ b/Program_Licenses.md
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ The licenses of the open-source software that is contained in these Docker image
 | Mash | non-standard license (see link) | https://github.com/marbl/Mash/blob/master/LICENSE.txt |
 | mashtree | GNU GPLv3 | https://github.com/lskatz/mashtree/blob/master/LICENSE |
 | Medaka | Mozilla Public License 2.0 | https://github.com/nanoporetech/medaka/blob/master/LICENSE.md |
+| Metaphlan | MIT | https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/blob/3.0/license.txt |
 | minimap2 | MIT | https://github.com/lh3/minimap2/blob/master/LICENSE.txt |
 | mlst | GNU GPLv2 | https://github.com/tseemann/mlst/blob/master/LICENSE |
 | Mugsy | Artistic License 2.0 | Archived in: <br/> https://sourceforge.net/projects/mugsy/files/mugsy_x86-64-v1r2.3.tgz |
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6608d1a4f..09b0155e1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ For many people Docker is not an option, but Singularity is. Most Docker contain
 | [Mash](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mash/) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/mash.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mash)  | <ul><li>2.1</li><li>2.2</li></ul> | https://github.com/marbl/Mash |
 | [mashtree](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mashtree) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/mashtree.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mashtree) | <ul><li>0.52.0</li><li>0.57.0</li><li>1.0.4</li><li>1.2.0</li></ul> | https://github.com/lskatz/mashtree |
 | [medaka](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/medaka) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/medaka.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/medaka) | <ul><li>0.8.1</li><li>1.0.1</li></ul> | https://github.com/nanoporetech/medaka |
+| [metaphlan](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/metaphlan) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/metaphlan.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/metaphlan) | <ul><li>3.0.3-no-db (no database)</li><li> 3.0.3 (~3GB db) | https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/tree/3.0 |
 | [minimap2](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/minimap2) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/minimap2.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/minimap2) | <ul><li>2.17</li></ul> | https://github.com/lh3/minimap2 |
 | [mlst](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mlst) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/mlst.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mlst) | <ul><li>2.16.2</li><li>2.17.6</li><li>2.19.0</li></ul> | https://github.com/tseemann/mlst |
 | [Mugsy](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mugsy) <br/> [![docker pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/staphb/mugsy.svg?style=popout)](https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/mugsy) | <ul><li>1r2.3</li></ul> | http://mugsy.sourceforge.net/ |
diff --git a/metaphlan/3.0.3-no-db/Dockerfile b/metaphlan/3.0.3-no-db/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..17b181d0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metaphlan/3.0.3-no-db/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+FROM ubuntu:bionic AS builder_metaphlan
+
+# multstage build
+# labels associated with final docker image are further down
+# label the intermediate image so we can delete later 
+LABEL stage=builder_metaphlan_nodb
+
+# install python (>3.6) and other dependencies
+# R necessary if user wants to run unifrac function in metaphlan
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y software-properties-common && \
+	add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa && \
+	apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+        gcc \
+	wget \
+	python3.7 \
+	python3.7-dev \
+	python3-distutils \
+	python3-setuptools \
+        python3-pip \
+	unzip \
+	r-base=3.4.4-1ubuntu1 && \ 
+	python3.7 -m pip install pip --force-reinstall && \
+	python3.7 -m pip install numpy Cython six --force-reinstall && \
+	ln -s /usr/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python 
+
+# bowtie 2 dependency 
+RUN mkdir /usr/bin/bowtie2 && \
+	cd /usr/bin/bowtie2 && \  
+	 wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/bowtie-bio/files/bowtie2/2.3.3.1/bowtie2-2.3.3.1-linux-x86_64.zip/download && \
+	unzip download && \
+	rm download 
+
+ENV PATH="$PATH:/usr/bin/bowtie2/bowtie2-2.3.3.1-linux-x86_64" \
+	LC_ALL=C
+
+# install metaphlan 3
+RUN python3.7 -m pip install metaphlan==3.0.3 && \
+	mkdir /data
+
+# don't install  metaphlan database, user will do. see README.md
+# RUN metaphlan --install
+
+# build onto first stage
+# this will make the final docker image ~0.5 GB smaller 
+# after the build completes, recommend deleting the intermediate image generated from builder stage
+# can do this with the flag label=stage=filter:
+# docker image ls --filter "label=stage=builder_metaphlan_nodb" 
+# docker image prune --filter "label=stage=builder_metaphlan_nodb"
+
+FROM ubuntu:bionic
+
+# labels for final image
+LABEL base.image="ubuntu:bionic"
+LABEL dockerfile.version="1"
+LABEL software="MetaPhlAn3.0"
+LABEL software.version="3.0.3-no-db"
+LABEL description="microbial composition of metagenomes"
+LABEL website="https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/tree/3.0"
+LABEL maintainer="Tara Gallagher"
+LABEL maintainer.email="tgallagher@utah.gov"
+
+# copy over necessary bin and packages 
+
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/bowtie2/ /usr/bin/bowtie2/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python3.7
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/python3.7 /usr/lib/python3.7
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/ /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/* /usr/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/R /usr/bin/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/Rscript /usr/bin/Rscript
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/R /usr/lib/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/local/lib/R /usr/local/lib/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /etc/R /etc/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/libR.so /usr/lib/libR.so
+
+ENV PATH="$PATH:/usr/bin/bowtie2/bowtie2-2.3.3.1-linux-x86_64" \
+	 LC_ALL=C
+
+WORKDIR /data
+
+# make dir for metaphlan database
+RUN mkdir /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases && \
+ln -s /usr/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python
diff --git a/metaphlan/3.0.3-no-db/README.md b/metaphlan/3.0.3-no-db/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa866d343
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metaphlan/3.0.3-no-db/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+# MetaPhlAn3 docker image (without database already built in image)
+
+Main tool: [MetaPhlAn/3.0](https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/tree/3.0)
+
+This docker image contains the  metaphlan3 program and its dependencies. It does not contain the metaphlan3 database, and the user will have to download the database to their machine, index the database, and mount to the Docker or Singularity container (see below).  
+
+# Example: Downloading the database
+```bash
+# have to download database on your machine to run this image
+# need to download the following files from metaphlan's dropbox or googledrive (see https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/wiki/MetaPhlAn-3.0#installation). recommend putting them in their own directory, i.e. named "metaphlan_database"
+# note, I ran into problems when downloading db from googledrive - the md5 didn't match, which resulted in empty bowtie2 build indices. dropbox downloads worked fine.
+	# file_list.txt
+	# mpa_latest
+	# mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.tar (or whichever version of database you prefer)
+	# mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901_marker_info.txt.bz2
+	# mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.md5
+
+ 
+# extract database  
+$ tar -xvf mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.tar  
+$ bunzip2 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.fna.bz2   
+$ ls  
+file_list.txt  
+mpa_latest  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.fna  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901_marker_info.txt.bz2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.md5  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.pkl  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.tar  
+````
+After downloading the database, need to index the files using bowtie2 in the Docker or Singularity image (see examples below). As long as you keep the indexed database stored in your local machine, the bowtie2-build step only needs to be performed once. Then, can run metaphlan in Docker or Singularity (see examples below). 
+
+## Example Usage: Docker
+
+### Download Docker image:  
+```bash
+$ docker pull staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3-no-db
+```
+### Indexing database & running metaphlan in Docker:
+```bash
+# next, use bowtie2 to build and index the database. can use the metaphlan docker for this!  
+# note this will take ~15 minutes
+# change directory to directory with database files
+$ cd ./metaphlan_database/  
+$ docker run -v $PWD:/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/ -u $(id -u):$(id -g) \
+	--rm=True \
+	staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3-no-db \ 
+	bowtie2-build /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.fna /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901
+# after bowtie2-build completes, should have indexed files in your metaphlan_databases directory  
+$ ls 
+file_list.txt
+mpa_latest  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.1.bt2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.2.bt2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.3.bt2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.4.bt2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.fna  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901_marker_info.txt.bz2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.md5  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.pkl  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.rev.1.bt2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.rev.2.bt2  
+mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.tar  
+
+# to run metaphlan  
+# for this example, stool metagenomes downloaded from SRA 
+# if you have SRA toolkit, can do:  
+$ fastq-dump --outdir ./data --skip-technical --readids --split-files --clip SRX2474191  
+$ ls  
+SRX2474191_1.fastq  
+
+# in this example, 2  directories to mount: /data contains the .fastq and /metaphlan_database contains the  indexed database  
+# check to make sure these 2 directories are in current working directory
+$ ls
+data  metaphlan_database
+
+# run docker:
+docker run  -v $PWD/metaphlan_database:/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/ \
+	-v $PWD/data:/data \
+	-u $(id -u):$(id -g) \
+	 --rm=True \
+	staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3-no-db metaphlan /data/SRX2474191_1.fastq --input_type fastq -o profiled_metagenome.txt
+
+
+# OUTPUT:  
+WARNING: The metagenome profile contains clades that represent multiple species merged into a single representant.
+An additional column listing the merged species is added to the MetaPhlAn output.  
+$ head data/profiled_metagenome.txt    
+#mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901  
+#/usr/local/bin/metaphlan /data/SRX2474191_1.fastq --input_type fastq -o profiled_metagenome.txt  
+#SampleID	Metaphlan_Analysis  
+#clade_name	NCBI_tax_id	relative_abundance	additional_species  
+k__Bacteria	2	100.0	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes	2|976	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes	2|1239	45.08223	
+k__Bacteria|p__Actinobacteria	2|201174	2.01431	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes|c__Bacteroidia	2|976|200643	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes|c__Clostridia	2|1239|186801	45.08223  
+
+```
+
+## Example usage: Singularity
+
+### Build Singularity image
+
+```bash
+# build singularity image
+$ singularity build ~/metaphlan-no-db-3.0.3.simg docker://staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3-no-db  
+# last couple lines of OUTPUT:
+INFO:    Creating SIF file...
+INFO:    Build complete: /home/tgallagher/metaphlan-no-db-3.0.3.simg
+```
+
+### Index database and run metaphlan in Singularity 
+
+```bash
+# next, use bowtie2 to build and index the database. can use the metaphlan singularity for this!
+# note this will take ~15 minutes
+# change directory to directory with database files
+$ cd ./metaphlan_database/ 
+$ singularity exec --no-home -B  $PWD:/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/ \
+	/home/tgallagher/metaphlan-no-db-3.0.3.simg \
+	bowtie2-build /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.fna \
+	/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901  
+
+$ ls -l | awk '{print $5,"\t", $9'} #look at database index files and sizes
+3526 	 file_list.txt
+26 	 mpa_latest
+629609227 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.1.bt2
+299330364 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.2.bt2
+10314872 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.3.bt2
+299330358 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.4.bt2
+1427036330 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.fna
+16175165 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901_marker_info.txt.bz2
+64 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.md5
+25998762 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.pkl
+629609227 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.rev.1.bt2
+299330364 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.rev.2.bt2
+384430080 	 mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901.tar
+
+# to run metaphlan  
+# for this example, stool metagenomes downloaded from SRA 
+# if you have SRA toolkit, can do:  
+$ fastq-dump --outdir ./data --skip-technical --readids --split-files --clip SRX2474191  
+$ ls  
+SRX2474191_1.fastq  
+
+# in this example, 2  directories to mount: /data contains the .fastq and /metaphlan_database contains the  indexed database  
+# check to make sure these 2 directories are in current working directory
+$ ls
+data  metaphlan_database
+
+# run singularity:
+
+$ singularity exec --no-home \
+	-B $PWD/metaphlan_database:/usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/metaphlan/metaphlan_databases/ \
+	-B $PWD/data:/data \
+	/home/tgallagher/metaphlan-no-db-3.0.3.simg \
+	metaphlan /data/SRX2474191_1.fastq \
+	 --input_type fastq -o /data/profiled_metagenome.txt
+
+# OUTPUT:
+WARNING: The metagenome profile contains clades that represent multiple species merged into a single representant.
+An additional column listing the merged species is added to the MetaPhlAn output.
+$ head data/profiled_metagenome.txt  
+#mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901
+#/usr/local/bin/metaphlan /data/SRX2474191_1.fastq --input_type fastq -o /data/profiled_metagenome.txt
+#SampleID	Metaphlan_Analysis
+#clade_name	NCBI_tax_id	relative_abundance	additional_species
+k__Bacteria	2	100.0	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes	2|976	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes	2|1239	45.08223	
+k__Bacteria|p__Actinobacteria	2|201174	2.01431	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes|c__Bacteroidia	2|976|200643	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes|c__Clostridia	2|1239|186801	45.08223
+
+```
+
diff --git a/metaphlan/3.0.3/Dockerfile b/metaphlan/3.0.3/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ac5596002
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metaphlan/3.0.3/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+FROM ubuntu:bionic AS builder_metaphlan
+
+# multstage build
+# labels associated with final docker image are further down
+# label the intermediate image so we can delete later 
+LABEL stage=builder_metaphlan
+
+# install python (>3.6) and other dependencies
+# R necessary if user wants to run unifrac function in metaphlan
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y software-properties-common && \
+	add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa && \
+	apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --no-install-suggests \
+        gcc \
+	wget \
+	python3.7 \
+	python3.7-dev \
+	python3-distutils \
+	python3-setuptools \
+        python3-pip \
+	unzip \
+	r-base=3.4.4-1ubuntu1 && \ 
+	python3.7 -m pip install pip --force-reinstall && \
+	python3.7 -m pip install numpy Cython six --force-reinstall && \
+	ln -s /usr/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python 
+
+# bowtie 2 dependency 
+RUN mkdir /usr/bin/bowtie2 && \
+	cd /usr/bin/bowtie2 && \  
+	 wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/bowtie-bio/files/bowtie2/2.3.3.1/bowtie2-2.3.3.1-linux-x86_64.zip/download && \
+	unzip download && \
+	rm download 
+
+ENV PATH="$PATH:/usr/bin/bowtie2/bowtie2-2.3.3.1-linux-x86_64" \
+	LC_ALL=C
+
+# install metaphlan 3
+RUN python3.7 -m pip install metaphlan==3.0.3
+
+# download metaphlan database
+RUN metaphlan --install && \ 
+	mkdir /data 
+
+# build onto first stage
+# this will make the final docker image ~0.5 GB smaller 
+# after the build completes, recommend deleting the intermediate image generated from builder stage
+# can do this with the flag label=stage=filter:
+# docker image ls --filter "label=stage=builder_metaphlan"
+# docker image prune --filter "label=stage=builder_metaphlan"
+
+FROM ubuntu:bionic
+
+# labels for final image
+LABEL base.image="ubuntu:bionic"
+LABEL dockerfile.version="1"
+LABEL software="MetaPhlAn3.0"
+LABEL software.version="3.0.3"
+LABEL description="microbial composition of metagenomes"
+LABEL website="https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/tree/3.0"
+LABEL maintainer="Tara Gallagher"
+LABEL maintainer.email="tgallagher@utah.gov"
+
+# copy over necessary bin and packages 
+
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/bowtie2/ /usr/bin/bowtie2/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python3.7
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/python3.7 /usr/lib/python3.7
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/ /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/* /usr/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/R /usr/bin/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/bin/Rscript /usr/bin/Rscript
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/R /usr/lib/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/local/lib/R /usr/local/lib/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /etc/R /etc/R
+COPY --from=builder_metaphlan /usr/lib/libR.so /usr/lib/libR.so
+
+ENV PATH="$PATH:/usr/bin/bowtie2/bowtie2-2.3.3.1-linux-x86_64" \ 
+	LC_ALL=C
+
+WORKDIR /data
+
+# link to python, soft link doesn't get copied from intermed stage
+RUN  ln -s /usr/bin/python3.7 /usr/bin/python 
diff --git a/metaphlan/3.0.3/README.md b/metaphlan/3.0.3/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..567bb83e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metaphlan/3.0.3/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# MetaPhlAn3 docker image  
+
+Main tool: [MetaPhlAn/3.0](https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/tree/3.0)  
+
+This docker image contains the metaphlan3 database along with the metaphlan3 program and its dependencies. Specifically, the database is a ~1.1M unique clade-specific marker genes from ~100,000 reference genomes (~99,500 bacterial and archaeal and ~500 eukaryotic). The database can be found on Metaphlan3's github (https://github.com/biobakery/MetaPhlAn/tree/3.0). To build this image, the database was downloaded on Oct 16 2020.  
+
+Please note the size of this docker image with the metaphlan3 database is ~3.6 GB. If downloading this image fails or takes too long, consider using the docker image version without the metaphlan 3 database:  
+  * docker image name and tag: `staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3-no-db` https://hub.docker.com/r/staphb/metaphlan/tags. Instructions for downloading databse are in the 3.0.3-no-db/README
+
+## Example Usage: running metaphlan in Docker  
+
+```bash
+ 
+# Download docker image:  
+$ docker pull staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3  
+
+# for this example, stool metagenomes downloaded from SRA  
+# if you have SRA toolkit, can do:
+$ fastq-dump --outdir . --skip-technical --readids --split-files --clip SRX2474191  
+$ ls  
+SRX2474191_1.fastq  
+
+# run metaphlan3 via docker, mount $PWD (make sure your current dir has data) to /data in the container  
+docker run --rm -u $(id -u):$(id -g) -v $PWD:/data staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3 \   
+	metaphlan SRX2474191_1.fastq --input_type fastq -o profiled_metagenome.txt  
+
+# OUTPUT:  
+WARNING: The metagenome profile contains clades that represent multiple species merged into a single representant.
+An additional column listing the merged species is added to the MetaPhlAn output.  
+$ head profiled_metagenome.txt  
+#mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901  
+#/usr/local/bin/metaphlan SRX2474191_1.fastq --input_type fastq -o profiled_metagenome.txt  
+#SampleID	Metaphlan_Analysis  
+#clade_name	NCBI_tax_id	relative_abundance	additional_species  
+k__Bacteria	2	100.0	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes	2|976	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes	2|1239	45.08223	
+k__Bacteria|p__Actinobacteria	2|201174	2.01431	 
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes|c__Bacteroidia	2|976|200643	52.90346  	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes|c__Clostridia	2|1239|186801	45.08223  
+
+```
+
+
+
+## Example usage: running metaphlan in Singularity
+
+```bash
+# build singularity image
+$ singularity build ~/metaphlan-3.0.3.simg docker://staphb/metaphlan:3.0.3  
+# last couple lines of OUTPUT:
+INFO:    Creating SIF file...
+INFO:    Build complete: /home/tgallagher/metaphlan-3.0.3.simg
+
+# to run metaphlan  
+# for this example, stool metagenomes downloaded from SRA 
+# if you have SRA toolkit, can do:  
+$ fastq-dump --outdir ./data --skip-technical --readids --split-files --clip SRX2474191  
+$ ls  
+SRX2474191_1.fastq  
+
+# run singularity, mount $PWD (make sure your current dir has data) to /data in the container
+$ singularity exec --no-home \
+	-B $PWD:/data \
+	/home/tgallagher/metaphlan-3.0.3.simg \
+	metaphlan /data/SRX2474191_1.fastq \
+	 --input_type fastq -o /data/profiled_metagenome.txt
+
+# OUTPUT:
+WARNING: The metagenome profile contains clades that represent multiple species merged into a single representant.
+An additional column listing the merged species is added to the MetaPhlAn output.
+$ head profiled_metagenome.txt  
+#mpa_v30_CHOCOPhlAn_201901
+#/usr/local/bin/metaphlan /data/SRX2474191_1.fastq --input_type fastq -o /data/profiled_metagenome.txt
+#SampleID	Metaphlan_Analysis
+#clade_name	NCBI_tax_id	relative_abundance	additional_species
+k__Bacteria	2	100.0	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes	2|976	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes	2|1239	45.08223	
+k__Bacteria|p__Actinobacteria	2|201174	2.01431	
+k__Bacteria|p__Bacteroidetes|c__Bacteroidia	2|976|200643	52.90346	
+k__Bacteria|p__Firmicutes|c__Clostridia	2|1239|186801	45.08223
+
+```
diff --git a/tests/metaphlan.sh b/tests/metaphlan.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..07ff8af95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/metaphlan.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# test for metaphlan container
+set -e
+
+docker run metaphlan:3.0.3 metaphlan --help