Welcome to elabftw’s documentation!

Website

https://www.elabftw.net

Live demo

https://demo.elabftw.net

Introduction

eLabFTW is a PHP application using MySQL to store data persistently. Once installed on a server, users can register an account and start using their electronic lab notebook.

Several teams can be hosted on the same install. Ideally, it is installed at the institution/company level. But individual teams can install it for themselves, too. Or you can run it locally on your computer.

It is distributed through Docker images, ensuring portability and added security. See the Docker documentation for more infos.

Check out the list of features.

See this page to install it on your server.

See this page if you don’t own a server already.

Installation

• Install on a GNU/Linux server
  • Prerequisites
    • Dependencies:
      • Absolutely required dependencies:
      • Strongly recommended dependencies:
      • Optional dependencies:
    • Notes:
  • Configure eLabFTW
    • With elabctl (recommended)
    • Without elabctl (advanced users)
  • Initialize your database
  • Register a Sysadmin account
  • Post install
  • Documentation for advanced setups
    • Using a TLS certificate from a different provider than Let’sEncrypt
    • Using Apache, nginx, HAProxy or traefik as a reverse proxy
• Install in the cloud
  • Introduction
  • A note about backups
  • Create your droplet
  • Install eLabFTW
• Install on a NAS
  • Prerequisites
  • Get the config file
  • Edit the config file
  • Starting the containers
  • Importing the database structure
  • Accessing elabftw
  • Post install
• Install on Mac OS X
  • Install with Docker
• Install on Windows
  • Import the database structure
  • Create your Sysadmin account

Usage

• User guide
  • General overview
    • The principles
    • Creating an account
  • Experiments
    • Templates
    • Edit mode
      • Tags
      • Date
      • Status
      • Title
      • Experiment (body)
      • Steps
      • Linked items
      • Attach a file
      • Ellipsis menu (the three dots on the top right)
    • View mode of experiment
      • Edit
      • Duplicate
      • Make a pdf
      • Make a zip archive
      • Lock
      • Timestamp
      • elabid
      • Comments
  • Database
  • Team
    • Scheduler
  • User panel
    • Preferences tab
    • Account tab
    • Templates tab
    • Api keys tab
  • How to have folders or projects grouping experiments?
    • Tags
    • Favorite tags
    • Using Projects
  • Miscellaneous
    • Signatures
• Admin guide
  • How to become Admin?
  • General overview
  • Validating accounts
  • Video
  • TEAM tab
  • GROUPS tab
  • USERS tab
  • STATUS tab
  • TYPES OF ITEMS tab
  • IMPORT tab
    • 1. Preparing the file
    • 2. Importing the file
    • Using the API to control how things are imported
  • EXPORT tab
  • TAG MANAGER tab
• Sysadmin guide
  • General overview
    • The Sysadmin
    • Account creation
  • Setting up email
  • Set up backup
  • Set up the teams ^(optional)
  • Configure authentication ^(optional)
  • Set up timestamping ^(optional)
  • Configure storage ^(optional)
  • Set up a cronjob to renew TLS certificates ^(optional)
  • Update often
• Metadata
  • Description
  • Getting started
  • How it works
    • value (required)
    • type (optional)
      • text
      • select
      • radio
      • date
      • checkbox
      • number
      • url
    • options (for type = select)
    • position
  • Usage example

Documentation

• How to backup
  • Introduction
  • How to backup a Docker installation
    • With elabctl
      • Configuration
      • Test
    • Without elabctl
  • Making it automatic using cron
    • With a cronjob
    • With a systemd timer
  • How to restore a backup
• How to update
  • STEP 0: Before the update
  • STEP 1: Specify which version you want
  • STEP 2: Launch a new container
    • With elabctl
    • Without elabctl
  • STEP 3: Run the database migration
  • If you are using it on a NAS
  • Complete upgrade guide from 2.0.7 to 3.0.0
    • Updating the database structure
    • Breaking update
  • Complete upgrade guide from 1.8.x to 2.0.0
    • Docker vs. non docker
    • Breaking update
    • PHP version
    • Web root
    • Minified files
    • PHP Dependencies
    • The cache directory
• Contributing
  • What can you do to help this project?
  • Reporting a security issue
  • Translating
  • Contributing to the code
    • Introduction
    • Note about repositories
    • Note about branches
    • Environment installation
    • Code organization
    • Working with JavaScript
    • Miscellaneous
    • Glossary
    • Build
    • Tests
    • API Documentation
  • Exceptions handling
    • Making a pull request
  • Making a gif
  • Adding a lang
  • Adding a new term for js i18n
  • Accessing Docker MySQL database with phpmyadmin
  • Using a trusted certificate for local dev
    • Step 1: use a real domain name
    • Step 2: get certs
    • Step 3: edit config to use certificates
    • Step 4: restart containers
  • How to test external auth
  • How to test ldap
  • Install a pre-commit hook
• Frequently asked questions
  • Is it totally free?
  • But how is it better than something I can buy?
  • What about patents and intellectual property?
  • Why use eLabFTW?
  • Is this system stable? Can I trust my data with it?
  • Who else is using it?
  • Is the data encrypted?
  • Is eLabFTW still maintained?
  • Will I be able to import my plasmids/antibodies/whatever in the database from a Excel file?
  • Can I try it before I install it?
  • What are the technical specifications?
    • Requirements for the server
    • Requirements for the clients (users)
  • What about data retention/traceability
  • Is it compliant to 21CFR Part 11?
  • What about compliance to standards?
  • How to change the team of a user?
  • Can I change the date format?
  • What App can I use for two-factor authentication (2FA) and what settings are used?
  • What is the meaning of ‘FTW’?
• Features
  • General
  • Experiments
  • Database
  • Security
  • Intellectual property
  • User experience
  • Planned features
• About Docker
  • Introduction
  • How does it work?
  • About the Docker image
  • Why can’t I run it outside Docker
• Upgrade a normal install to a Docker install
  • Description
  • Preparation
    • Install Docker
    • Install elabftw normally
    • Export current install
  • Installation
    • Editing the config file
    • Copy the uploaded files
    • About HTTPS (SSL/TLS)
    • Starting the containers
• API
  • What’s that?
  • Documentation
• Configure LDAP authentication
• Configure SAML2 authentication
  • Setup the Service Provider
  • Setup the IDentity Provider
  • Disable local login/register
  • How does it work?
  • Debugging
• Debug
  • Docker logs
  • PHP logs
  • Resetting a password directly from MySQL

Miscellaneous

• Thanks
• Changelog
  • Version 4.3.10
    • Bugfix:
  • Version 4.3.9
    • Bugfix:
  • Version 4.3.8
    • Bugfixes:
    • Enhancements:
  • Version 4.3.7
    • Bugfixes:
    • Enhancements:
  • Version 4.3.6
    • Bugfixes:
    • Enhancements:
  • Version 4.3.5
    • Bugfixes:
  • Version 4.3.4
    • Bugfixes:
    • Enhancements:
  • Version 4.3.3
    • Bugfixes:
    • Enhancements:
    • i18n:
  • Version 4.3.2
    • Bugfixes:
  • Version 4.3.1
    • Bugfixes:
  • Version 4.3.0
    • Breaking changes:
    • Important changes:
    • New features:
    • Bugfixes:
    • Enhancements:
    • Dev corner:
  • Version 4.2.4
  • Version 4.2.3
  • Version 4.2.2
  • Version 4.2.1
  • Version 4.2.0
  • Version 4.1.0
  • Version 4.0.11
  • Version 4.0.10
  • Version 4.0.9
  • Version 4.0.8
  • Version 4.0.7
  • Version 4.0.6
  • Version 4.0.5
  • Version 4.0.4
  • Version 4.0.3
  • Version 4.0.2
  • Version 4.0.1
  • Version 4.0.0
    • BREAKING CHANGES:
    • For both Docker and non-Docker users
    • For Docker users
    • For non-Docker users
    • Bugfixes:
    • New features:
    • Enhancements:
    • Security:
    • Dev stuff:
  • Version 3.6.7
  • Version 3.6.6
  • Version 3.6.5
  • Version 3.6.4
  • Version 3.6.3
  • Version 3.6.2
  • Version 3.6.1
  • Version 3.6.0
  • Version 3.5.6
  • Version 3.5.5
  • Version 3.5.4
  • Version 3.5.3
  • Version 3.5.2
  • Version 3.5.1
  • Version 3.5.0
  • Version 3.4.17
  • Version 3.4.16
  • Version 3.4.15
  • Version 3.4.14
  • Version 3.4.13
  • Version 3.4.12
  • Version 3.4.11
  • Version 3.4.10
  • Version 3.4.9
  • Version 3.4.8
  • Version 3.4.7
  • Version 3.4.6
  • Version 3.4.5
  • Version 3.4.4
  • Version 3.4.3
  • Version 3.4.2
  • Version 3.4.1
  • Version 3.4.0
  • Version 3.3.12
  • Version 3.3.11
  • Version 3.3.10
  • Version 3.3.9
  • Version 3.3.8
  • Version 3.3.7
  • Version 3.3.6
  • Version 3.3.5
  • Version 3.3.4
  • Version 3.3.3
  • Version 3.3.2
  • Version 3.3.1
  • Version 3.3.0
  • Version 3.2.2
  • Version 3.2.1
  • Version 3.2.0
  • Version 3.1.2
  • Version 3.1.1
  • Version 3.1.0
  • Version 3.0.3
  • Version 3.0.2
  • Version 3.0.1
  • Version 3.0.0
  • Version 2.0.7
  • Version 2.0.6
  • Version 2.0.5
  • Version 2.0.4
  • Version 2.0.3
  • Version 2.0.2
  • Version 2.0.1
  • Version 2.0.0
    • Why this update?
    • What changed?
  • Version 1.8.5
  • Version 1.8.4
  • Version 1.8.3
  • Version 1.8.2
  • Version 1.8.1
  • Version 1.8.0
  • Version 1.7.8
  • Version 1.7.7
  • Version 1.7.6
  • Version 1.7.5
  • Version 1.7.4
  • Version 1.7.3
  • Version 1.7.2
  • Version 1.7.1
  • Version 1.7.0
  • Version 1.6.2
  • Version 1.6.1
  • Version 1.6.0
  • Version 1.5.7
  • Version 1.5.6
  • Version 1.5.5
  • Version 1.5.4
  • Version 1.5.3
  • Version 1.5.2
  • Version 1.5.1
  • Version 1.5.0
  • Version 1.4.3
  • Version 1.4.2
  • Version 1.4.1
  • Version 1.4.0
  • Version 1.3.1
  • Version 1.3.0
  • Version 1.2.6
  • Version 1.2.5
  • Version 1.2.4
  • Version 1.2.3
  • Version 1.2.2
  • Version 1.2.1
  • Version 1.2.0-p3
  • Version 1.2.0-p2
  • Version 1.2.0-p1
  • Version 1.2.0
  • Version 1.1.8-p2
  • Version 1.1.8-p1
  • Version 1.1.8
  • Version 1.1.7
  • Version 1.1.6
  • Version 1.1.5-p2
  • Version 1.1.5-p1
  • Version 1.1.5
  • Version 1.1.4-p3
  • Version 1.1.4-p2
  • Version 1.1.4-p1
  • Version 1.1.4
  • Version 1.1.3
  • Version 1.1.2-p1
  • Version 1.1.2
  • Version 1.1.1
  • Version 1.1.0
  • Version 1.0.0
  • Version 1.0.0-beta
  • Version 1.0.0-alpha
  • Version 0.12.6
  • Version 0.12.5
  • Version 0.12.4
  • Version 0.12.0
  • Version 0.11.0
  • Version 0.10.2
  • Version 0.10.1
  • Version 0.10.0
  • Version 0.9.5
  • Version 0.9.4.2
  • Version 0.9.4.1
  • Version 0.9.4
  • Version 0.9.3
  • Version 0.9.2
  • Version 0.9.1
  • Version 0.9
  • Version 0.8.2
  • Version 0.8.1
  • Version 0.8
  • Version 0.7.3.2
  • Version 0.7
  • Version 0.6
  • Version 0.5.8 and 0.5.9
  • Version 0.5.7
  • Version 0.5.6
  • Version 0.5.5
  • Version 0.5.4
  • Version 0.5.3
  • Version 0.5.2
  • Version 0.5.1
  • Version 0.5
  • Version 0.4
  • Version 0.3
  • Version 0.2
  • Version 0.1