lx-annotate 0.6.4

This webapp provides a frontend interface for pseudonymizing and annotating data and applying AI predictions.

LX-Annotate

LX-Annotate is a Django + Vue application for annotating AI-generated outputs, with a media ingestion pipeline for videos and PDFs. This project was created by a team at Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Bavaria.

Highlights

• Django backend with REST APIs and optional OIDC authentication
• Vue 3 SPA frontend integrated with Django via django-vite
• File watcher for automated video and PDF processing
• Reproducible environments via devenv/Nix and Docker

Repository Layout

• lx_annotate/ Django app and settings
• frontend/ Vue 3 application
• scripts/ operational tooling and file watcher scripts
• data/ runtime data (raw videos, PDFs, model cache)
• conf_template/ sample configuration templates
• container/ Dockerfiles and container docs

Requirements

• Python 3.12
• Node.js 18+ (frontend)
• PostgreSQL (main app)
• Optional: uv, direnv, devenv, Nix, Docker

Quick Start (Development)

1. direnv allow (if you use devenv)
2. uv sync (or install dependencies with pip)
3. cp conf_template/default.env .env and update values
4. export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=lx_annotate.settings.settings_dev
5. python manage.py load_base_db_data
6. python manage.py runserver

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000/.

Backend Test Execution

If native Python dependencies such as NumPy fail to import because the shell is missing Nix runtime libraries, run backend tests through the repo wrapper so devenv exports the expected environment first:

./scripts/run-backend-checks.sh

Equivalent Make target:

make test-real

Environment Variables and Secrets

Production secrets are typically injected by the host system. For local development, use either secretspec.toml defaults or a local .env file.

Do not commit secrets. secretspec.toml is tracked in git.

Example:

direnv allow
secretspec --provider dotenv --profile development python manage.py runserver

See https://secretspec.dev/ for details.

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run build

Hot-reload development:

cd frontend
npm run dev

In another terminal:

export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=lx_annotate.settings.settings_dev
python manage.py runserver

File Watcher

The file watcher ingests media placed in:

• data/import/video_import/
• data/import/report_import/

./scripts/start_filewatcher.sh dev
# or
python manage.py run_filewatcher

Ingress Modes

lx-annotate supports two first-class ingest boundaries:

• watcher: trusted local drop-folder ingestion for files written into the runtime import directories
• api: authenticated web/API upload ingestion for remote clients and hub-style integrations

These are parallel ingress modes, not competing ones. The contract for new development is:

• both ingress modes remain supported
• both ingress modes create UploadJob records
• both ingress modes converge on the shared ingest and managed-storage services after boundary-specific checks

The watcher remains the right boundary for local system dropoff and SAP-style handoff flows. The API remains the right boundary for authenticated remote uploads and future hub integrations.

Hub Contract Upgrade

When upgrading to the hub-aware ingest model in endoreg_db, treat these as deployment requirements for LuxNix and host environments:

• use center_key for machine-facing API payloads and automation (not mutable center display names)
• set ENDOREG_DEPLOYMENT_ROLE explicitly to one of: central_hub, site_node, standalone
• for central_hub, require authenticated API uploads with declared center_key; do not rely on default-center fallback for API ingest
• keep STORAGE_DIR inside LX_ANNOTATE_ENCRYPTED_DATA_DIR
• run package migrations during upgrade so upload-job and content-hash lifecycle changes are active

Deployment role matrix:

• standalone: local deployment, no hub transfer receiver behavior
• site_node: networked node behavior without central hub receiver policy
• central_hub: strict hub ingest policy, authenticated API uploads with explicit center_key, and production mTLS transfer contract

Hub Export

Outbound hub transfer is tracked as a separate sender workflow from ingest.

• only anonymized resources are eligible for outbound transfer
• the sender exports processed media only
• resources must be explicitly marked for upload before they are queued
• the export UI is planned as a new workflow page derived from the anonymization overview, not from the legacy annotation segment export screen

The sender-side workflow contract is documented in docs/guides/hub-export-workflow.md.

Configuration

• Development .env is read from the repository root or ~/.local/share/lx-annotate/.env.
• Settings are driven by environment variables (see secretspec.toml defaults).
• Sample configs live in conf_template/.

Nix Builds

The Nix package exposes stable runtime entrypoints that do not clone the repo, run uv sync, or install Python packages at service start:

nix build .#lx-annotate
./result/bin/lx-annotate-web

./result/bin/lx-annotate-manage check
./result/bin/lx-annotate-worker --hostname="maintenance@%h" --queues=maintenance,default
LX_ANNOTATE_FILEWATCHER_ARGS=--process-existing-once ./result/bin/lx-annotate-watch

The primary entrypoints are lx-annotate-web, lx-annotate-manage, lx-annotate-worker, and lx-annotate-watch. lx-annotate-server remains as a compatibility alias for the web command.

The repository flake also exposes the existing devenv environment as a Nix dev shell:

nix develop --no-pure-eval

This evaluates devenv.nix through the top-level flake.nix, so the same shell can be entered either with devenv/direnv or directly through nix develop.

Wheel Deployment

The CI pipeline can now build a production wheel with frontend staticfiles included via hatchling. Production runtime no longer needs Node.js or the full devenv shell.

The current deployment strategy is:

• CI builds frontend assets and packages the app as a wheel
• production installs that wheel into a Python virtualenv
• host packages provide FFmpeg, Tesseract, and shared libraries
• systemd runs Daphne and the file watcher as separate services
• the web app and watcher remain parallel supported ingress boundaries, both feeding the same upload-job-driven ingest core
• LuxNix deployments can also run a SAP IS-H import path/unit pair that converts dropped SAP zip exports into watcher-ready preanonymized files
• some legacy-to-runtime cutovers also run a one-shot data recovery service
• Nginx serves static/media files directly

Use make package to build release artifacts locally. That target rebuilds the frontend, verifies that staticfiles/.vite/manifest.json is valid and contains the required src/main.ts mapping, and only then runs python -m build for the wheel and sdist.

Runtime layout is intentionally split:

• runtime code and the Python virtualenv live under the service user home
• runtime data, media, staticfiles, and .env.systemd live under /var/lib/lx-annotate

This split is required for the next hardening step: encrypting the data path and restricting access to the endoreg-service-user while keeping application code and deployment mechanics separate from protected patient data.

The canonical host-owned runtime variable for this boundary is LX_ANNOTATE_ENCRYPTED_DATA_DIR. The app derives compatibility aliases and managed storage paths from that root.

Current runtime path roles:

• LX_ANNOTATE_ENCRYPTED_DATA_DIR: canonical protected runtime root
• LX_ANNOTATE_DATA_DIR: app-owned compatibility alias for the same root
• DATA_DIR: app-owned legacy compatibility alias for the same root
• STORAGE_DIR: managed storage subtree, usually ${LX_ANNOTATE_ENCRYPTED_DATA_DIR}/storage
• PROTECTED_MEDIA_ROOT and LX_ANNOTATE_STREAMABLE_VIDEO_*: app-owned storage paths derived under STORAGE_DIR

The same app contract owns DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE, DJANGO_ENV, STATIC_URL, MEDIA_URL, NGINX_PROTECTED_MEDIA_URL, and SERVE_WITH_NGINX. Host environment files should provide only host paths, network settings, service endpoints, and secret file references.

New deployment code should anchor path derivation on LX_ANNOTATE_ENCRYPTED_DATA_DIR and leave the derived path variables out of host-owned environment files.

For application-layer envelope encryption, lx_annotate uses lx_annotate.storage.encrypted.EncryptedStorage as the default Django storage backend. Runtime deployments must provide LX_ANNOTATE_MASTER_KEY or LX_ANNOTATE_MASTER_KEY_FILE; production deployments should use the file form through the host secret manager. The backend generates a per-file DEK, wraps it with the service-level KEK, writes ciphertext only under LX_ANNOTATE_ENCRYPTED_DATA_DIR, and encrypts/decrypts in chunks so large uploads do not have to fit into memory. The KEK is intentionally service-scoped rather than tied to a Keycloak session so background workers such as manage.py run_filewatcher can still process stored files.

Encryption itself should not be implemented by generating random keys inside the application process. The app only consumes the mounted/unlocked path. Key management and unlock policy belong in a dedicated LuxNix service or external secrets/KMS layer.

For the architecture and mode selection details, see docs/guides/deployment-strategy.md.

Deployment assets live in deployment_example/:

• deployment_example/bootstrap-host.sh
• deployment_example/deploy.sh
• deployment_example/lx-annotate.service
• deployment_example/.env.systemd.example

See docs/guides/wheel-deployment.md for the full host bootstrap and systemd flow.

For the current production-style service environment, including the repo-local-data to /var/lib/lx-annotate/data recovery flow and the SAP IS-H drop-to-watcher import path, see docs/guides/deployment-strategy.md.

Containers

Docker images now install Python packages into /app/.devenv/state/venv so the container path matches the repository's preferred virtualenv layout.

This does not mean Docker runs the full Nix/devenv shell. Inside the container, uv creates and manages the environment at that path, and the image PATH is configured to use /app/.devenv/state/venv/bin.

See container/README.md for development and production Docker usage.

Tests

pytest

cd frontend
npm run test:unit

License

MIT. See LICENSE.