eLabFTW

eLabFTW is a web-based electronic lab notebook (ELN) and laboratory inventory manager designed for research teams and institutions. Published under the GNU Affero GPL, it is built to be run on a GNU/Linux server (containerised with Docker or any OCI runtime) and accessed from any modern browser. An instance can host many teams with fine-grained permissions and multiple user roles (Sysadmin, Team Admin, Users). The project emphasizes openness, data ownership and interoperability: it supports standardized export formats (PDF, ZIP, CSV, JSON, ELN/RO‑Crate) and participates in the ELN Consortium to promote machine-readable exchange between ELNs. At its core eLabFTW models two primary record types: Experiments and Resources. Experiments are the lab notebook entries where users document methods, results and attachments; Resources are team-scoped inventory items (plasmids, reagents, devices, cell lines, boxes, etc.) that can be linked into experiments. The rich-text/Markdown editor accepts embedded images, tables, mathematical and chemical notation (MathJax), and supports dynamic features such as checkable steps, automatic saving, versioning, changelogs and comments. Files of almost any type can be attached; recognized scientific formats (molecule files, FASTA/GenBank, PDB, CIF) use built-in viewers so sequences and structures preview in-browser. Templates, tags, categories and custom ID numbers make repetitive workflows easy to standardize, and a powerful search lets teams find entries by tag, linked resources or full text. Built-in trust and audit features address reproducibility and legal traceability. eLabFTW offers timestamping via a TimeStamping Authority and an alternative blockchain timestamping option (Bloxberg) to create immutable signed archives of entries. Entries can be locked or signed by users; a detailed audit log and immutable unique IDs (elabid) support traceability. The Scheduler integrates booking for bookable Resources with per-resource booking rules and permission controls. Data import/export options include PubChem compound import (CID or CAS), spreadsheet import for resources, and a documented API (v2) with community clients and examples (Python and JavaScript) to automate workflows and integrate with other systems. Addons extend functionality — examples include a chemical fingerprinter and editor (Ketcher) for substructure search and OpenCloning for DNA cloning workflows — and are deployed as additional containers that eLabFTW can connect to. eLabFTW is designed to be lightweight and secure. Minimum system requirements are modest (minimum 512 MB RAM, 1 GB recommended, ~300 MB disk), and the official deployment model uses Docker Compose with a MySQL database. The documentation provides detailed guides for HTTPS (Let’s Encrypt, custom or self-signed certificates), reverse proxies (nginx, Apache, HAProxy, Traefik), backing up and restoring Docker installations, migrating uploads to S3, running on VPS or NAS devices, and upgrading existing installs. For centralized authentication and enterprise environments, eLabFTW supports LDAP and SAML2/IdP integration. The codebase undergoes automated vulnerability scanning, security audits and a bug-bounty program; the project is available in 21+ languages and follows web accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1, RGAA v4). The project is community-driven: free support is available via GitHub issues and chat channels, contributions (translations, code, documentation) are encouraged, and commercial hosting/support is offered by third-party providers for teams that prefer managed instances. Typical use cases include academic research groups replacing paper notebooks for FAIR data practices, core facilities managing bookings and inventory, and small companies wanting a self-hosted, auditable ELN with no vendor lock-in. Integrations and an open API allow eLabFTW to be part of larger lab stacks (LIMS, data analysis pipelines, cloning/design tools) while keeping data under the control of the hosting organization.