diff --git a/snappy_wrappers/snappy_wrapper.py b/snappy_wrappers/snappy_wrapper.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9e6e9bdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/snappy_wrappers/snappy_wrapper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+"""Abstract wrapper classes as utilities for snappy specific wrappers."""
+
+import os
+import shutil
+import stat
+import tempfile
+import textwrap
+from abc import abstractmethod, ABCMeta
+
+from snakemake.shell import shell
+
+__author__ = "Eric Blanc"
+__email__ = "eric.blanc@bih-charite.de"
+
+
+class SnappyWrapper(metaclass=ABCMeta):
+    header = r"""
+        # Pipe everything to log file
+        if [[ -n "{snakemake.log.log}" ]]; then
+            if [[ "$(set +e; tty; set -e)" != "" ]]; then
+                rm -f "{snakemake.log.log}" && mkdir -p $(dirname {snakemake.log.log})
+                exec &> >(tee -a "{snakemake.log.log}" >&2)
+            else
+                rm -f "{snakemake.log.log}" && mkdir -p $(dirname {snakemake.log.log})
+                echo "No tty, logging disabled" >"{snakemake.log.log}"
+            fi
+        fi
+
+        # Compute md5 except when filename ends with .md5
+        compute_md5() {{
+            fn=$1
+            f=$(basename $fn)
+            d=$(dirname $fn)
+            pushd $d 1> /dev/null 2>&1
+            md5sum $f > $f.md5
+            popd 1> /dev/null 2>&1
+        }}
+
+        # Write out information about conda installation.
+        conda list >{snakemake.log.conda_list}
+        conda info >{snakemake.log.conda_info}
+        compute_md5 {snakemake.log.conda_list}
+        compute_md5 {snakemake.log.conda_info}
+
+        # Create temp directory
+        TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
+
+        set -x
+
+        # --------------------------------- Start command -----------------------------------------
+    """
+
+    footer = r"""
+        # --------------------------------- End command -------------------------------------------
+
+        set +x
+
+        for fn in {snakemake.output}
+        do
+            if ! [[ $fn =~ \.md5$ ]]
+            then
+                compute_md5 $fn
+            fi
+        done
+    """
+
+    md5_log = r"""
+        f=$(basename {log})
+        d=$(dirname {log})
+        pushd $d 1> /dev/null 2>&1
+        md5sum $f > $f.md5
+        popd 1> /dev/null 2>&1
+    """
+
+    output_links = r"""
+        for path in {snakemake.output.output_links}; do
+          dst=$path
+          src=work/${{dst#output/}}
+          ln -sr $src $dst
+        done
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, snakemake, with_output_links: bool = True) -> None:
+        self._snakemake = snakemake
+        self._with_output_links = with_output_links
+        self._check_snakemake_attributes()
+
+    def _check_snakemake_attributes(self):
+        if not getattr(self._snakemake, "log", None):
+            raise AttributeError("snakemake.log is not defined")
+        if not getattr(self._snakemake.log, "log", None):
+            raise AttributeError("snakemake.log.log is not defined")
+        if not getattr(self._snakemake.log, "conda_list", None):
+            raise AttributeError("snakemake.log.conda_list is not defined")
+        if not getattr(self._snakemake.log, "conda_info", None):
+            raise AttributeError("snakemake.log.conda_info is not defined")
+        if not getattr(self._snakemake.log, "script", None):
+            raise AttributeError("snakemake.log.script is not defined")
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def run(self, cmd: str) -> None:
+        pass
+
+    def _run(self, cmd: str, filename: str | None) -> None:
+        """
+        Creates a temp file for the script, executes it & computes the md5 sum of the log
+
+        The shell script is first created as a temporary file, and then copied over to
+        the log directory.
+        This allows R scripts to be saved in the log directory, rather than the uninformative
+        shell script starting R.
+
+        : param cmd: The command string (after snakemake input/output/params expansion)
+        : param filename: the path where to save the script
+        """
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="wt", delete_on_close=False) as f:
+            tempfilename = f.name
+
+            print(
+                textwrap.dedent(
+                    "\n".join(
+                        (
+                            SnappyWrapper.header.format(snakemake=self._snakemake),
+                            cmd,
+                            SnappyWrapper.footer.format(snakemake=self._snakemake),
+                        )
+                    )
+                ),
+                file=f,
+            )
+
+            f.flush()
+            f.close()
+
+            current_permissions = stat.S_IMODE(os.lstat(tempfilename).st_mode)
+            os.chmod(tempfilename, current_permissions | stat.S_IXUSR)
+
+            if filename is not None:
+                shutil.copy(tempfilename, filename)
+
+            shell(tempfilename)
+
+        shell(SnappyWrapper.md5_log.format(log=str(self._snakemake.log.log)))
+
+        if (
+            self._with_output_links
+            and getattr(self._snakemake.output, "output_links", None) is not None
+        ):
+            shell(SnappyWrapper.output_links.format(snakemake=self._snakemake))
+
+
+class ShellWrapper(SnappyWrapper):
+    def _run_bash(self, cmd: str) -> None:
+        self._run(cmd, self._snakemake.log.script)
+        shell(SnappyWrapper.md5_log.format(log=self._snakemake.log.script))
+
+    def run(self, cmd: str) -> None:
+        self._run_bash(cmd)
+
+
+class RWrapper(SnappyWrapper):
+    def _run_R(self, cmd: str) -> None:
+        with open(self._snakemake.log.script, "wt") as f:
+            print(cmd, file=f)
+        shell(SnappyWrapper.md5_log.format(log=self._snakemake.log.script))
+        self._run(f"Rscript --vanilla {self._snakemake.log.script}", None)
+
+    def run(self, cmd: str) -> None:
+        self._run_R(cmd)