diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 1e7b5d6..2b69ffe 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2015,7 +2015,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "scidataflow"
-version = "0.8.2"
+version = "0.8.4"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "chrono",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 1714f2a..35287e9 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "scidataflow"
-version = "0.8.3"
+version = "0.8.4"
 edition = "2021"
 exclude = ["logo.png", "tests/test_data/**"]
 license = "MIT"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b62bbca..32cc1cd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -306,6 +306,23 @@ kept in the Data Manifest. You can set this manually with:
 $ sdf metadata --title "genomics_analysis" --description "A re-analysis of Joan's data."
 ```
 
+## SciDataFlow Assets
+
+Good scientific workflows should create shareable **Scientific Assets** that
+are *trivial* to download and build upon in your own scientific work.
+SciDataFlow makes this possible, since in essence each `data_manifest.yml` file
+is like a minimal recipe specification for also how to *retrieve* data.  The
+`sdf asset` command simply downloads a `data_manifest.yml` from
+SciDataFlow-Assets, another GitHub repository, or URL. After this is
+downloaded, all files can be retrieved in one line:
+
+    $ sdf asset nygc_gatk_1000G_highcov
+    $ sdf pull --all
+
+The idea of SciDataFlow-Assets is to have a open, user-curated collection of
+these recipes at https://github.com/scidataflow-assets. Please contribute
+an Asset when you release new data with a paper!
+
 ## SciDataFlow's Vision
 
 The larger vision of SciDataFlow is to change how data flows through scientific
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 187fbe8..17fefee 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ pub mod lib {
     pub mod macros;
     pub mod remote;
     pub mod utils;
+    pub mod assets;
     pub mod test_utilities;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 6eeb0a8..6fb159e 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
+use std::path::Path;
+
 use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
-use anyhow::Result;
+use anyhow::{Result, anyhow};
 #[allow(unused_imports)]
 use log::{info, trace, debug};
+use scidataflow::lib::assets::GitHubRepo;
+use scidataflow::lib::download::Downloads;
 use tokio::runtime::Builder;
 
 
@@ -10,6 +14,8 @@ use scidataflow::logging_setup::setup;
 
 pub mod logging_setup;
 
+const SDF_ASSET_URL: &str = "https://github.com/scidataflow-assets";
+
 const INFO: &str = "\
 SciDataFlow: Manage and Share Scientific Data
 usage: sdf [--help] <subcommand>
@@ -142,7 +148,17 @@ enum Commands {
         #[arg(required = true)]
         filenames: Vec<String>,
     },
-
+    /// Retrieve a SciDataFlow Asset
+    Asset {
+        /// A GitHub link
+        #[arg(long)]
+        github: Option<String>,
+        /// A URL to a data_manifest.yml file
+        #[arg(long)]
+        url: Option<String>,
+        /// A SciDataFlow Asset name
+        asset: Option<String>
+    },
     /// Link a directory to a remote storage solution.
     Link {
         /// Directory to link to remote storage.
@@ -310,6 +326,33 @@ async fn run() -> Result<()> {
             let mut proj = Project::new()?;
             proj.set_metadata(title, description)
         },
+        Some(Commands::Asset { github, url, asset }) => {
+            if Path::new("data_manifest.yml").exists() {
+                return Err(anyhow!("data_manifest.yml already exists in the current directory; delete it manually first to use sdf asset."));
+            }
+            let msg = "Set either --github, --url, or specify an SciDataFlow Asset name.";
+            let url = match (github, url, asset) {
+                (Some(gh), None, None) => {
+                    let gh = GitHubRepo::new(&gh).map_err(|e| {
+                        anyhow!("GitHubRepo initialization failed: {}", e)
+                    })?;
+                    gh.url("data_manifest.yml")
+                },
+                (None, None, Some(asset)) => {
+                    let url = format!("{}/{}", SDF_ASSET_URL, asset);
+                    let gh = GitHubRepo::new(&url).expect("Internal Error: invalid Asset URL; please report.");
+                    gh.url("data_manifest.yml")
+                },
+                (None, Some(url), None) => {
+                    url.to_string()
+                },
+                _ => return Err(anyhow!(msg))
+            };
+            let mut downloads = Downloads::new();
+            downloads.add(url.clone(), None, false)?;
+            downloads.retrieve(None, None, false).await?;
+            Ok(())
+        },
         None => {
             println!("{}\n", INFO);
             std::process::exit(1);