Abstract We introduce algorithms for the computation of homology, cohomology, and related operations on cubical cell complexes, using the technique based on a chain contraction from the original chain complex to a reduced one that represents its homology. This work is based on previous results for simplicial complexes, and uses Serre’s diagonalization for cubical cells. An implementation in C++ of the introduced algorithms and some examples are available at http://www.pawelpilarczyk.com/chaincon/. The paper is self-contained as much as possible, and is written at a very elementary level, so that basic knowledge of algebraic topology should be sufficient to follow it. Keywords algorithm · software · homology · cohomology · computational homology · cup product · Alexander-Whitney coproduct · chain homotopy · chain contraction · cubical complex Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 55N35 · 52B99 · 55U15 · 55U30 · 55-04