Miiify

Web annotations versioned like code, served like a database.

Setup and deployment: start with doc/installation.md.

Store annotations in Git, serve them from an optimized read-only store. Use familiar version control workflows without any database setup.

Key Features

• Git-based workflow: Familiar version control for annotations
• No database required: Just files and Git
• Optimized serving: Read-optimized store for fast, efficient HTTP API
• Stable IDs: Generated at serve-time from filesystem structure
• Horizontal scaling: Serve millions of annotations across multiple instances
• Separation of concerns: Storage/serving decoupled from search

Quick Start

1. Get Annotation Data

Option A: Clone from Git (recommended)

Use miiify-clone to get started with sample annotation data:

miiify-clone https://github.com/jptmoore/miiify-sample-data.git --git ./git_store

Using Docker? Click to see Docker commands

# Clone using Docker (using pre-built image from GHCR)
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/git_store:/home/miiify/git_store ghcr.io/nationalarchives/miiify:latest \
  /home/miiify/miiify-clone https://github.com/jptmoore/miiify-sample-data.git --git ./git_store

Option B: Create from filesystem

Create annotation files manually:

# Create directory structure
mkdir -p annotations/my-canvas

# Create an annotation
cat > annotations/my-canvas/highlight-1.json << 'EOF'
{
  "type": "Annotation",
  "motivation": "highlighting",
  "body": {
    "type": "TextualBody",
    "value": "Important passage",
    "purpose": "commenting"
  },
  "target": "https://example.com/iiif/canvas/1#xywh=100,100,200,50"
}
EOF

# Create another annotation
cat > annotations/my-canvas/comment-1.json << 'EOF'
{
  "type": "Annotation",
  "motivation": "commenting",
  "body": {
    "type": "TextualBody",
    "value": "This is a fascinating detail",
    "purpose": "commenting"
  },
  "target": "https://example.com/iiif/canvas/1#xywh=300,150,100,75"
}
EOF

Then import them into Git storage:

miiify-import --input ./annotations --git ./git_store

Using Docker? Click to see Docker commands

# Import using Docker (using pre-built image from GHCR)
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/annotations:/home/miiify/annotations \
  -v $(pwd)/git_store:/home/miiify/git_store ghcr.io/nationalarchives/miiify:latest \
  /home/miiify/miiify-import --input ./annotations --git ./git_store

2. Compile to Pack Store

Compile Git storage to optimized pack storage for serving (required for both options):

miiify-compile --git ./git_store --pack ./pack_store

Using Docker? Click to see Docker commands

# Compile using Docker (using pre-built image from GHCR)
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/git_store:/home/miiify/git_store \
  -v $(pwd)/pack_store:/home/miiify/pack_store ghcr.io/nationalarchives/miiify:latest \
  /home/miiify/miiify-compile --git ./git_store --pack ./pack_store

3. Run Server

# Start the HTTP API server
miiify-serve --repository ./pack_store --port 10000

Using Docker? Click to see Docker commands

# Serve using Docker (using pre-built image from GHCR)
docker run --rm -p 10000:10000 \
  -v $(pwd)/pack_store:/home/miiify/pack_store ghcr.io/nationalarchives/miiify:latest \
  --repository ./pack_store --port 10000 --base-url http://localhost:10000

# Or use Docker Compose
docker compose up -d

4. Access Annotations

# Get annotation
curl http://localhost:10000/my-canvas/highlight-1

# List all annotations (AnnotationCollection)
curl http://localhost:10000/my-canvas/

# Get specific page (AnnotationPage)
curl http://localhost:10000/my-canvas/?page=0

ID Management

Miiify injects stable, URL-based annotation id fields at serve time. IDs are derived from filesystem structure and deployment configuration—never stored in your JSON files.

How it works:

• IDs follow the pattern: <base-url>/<container>/<slug>
• Container = directory name (e.g., my-canvas)
• Slug = filename without .json extension (e.g., highlight-1)
• Base URL is configurable via --base-url flag

Example:

# Your file: annotations/my-canvas/highlight-1.json
# Served with ID: "http://localhost:10000/my-canvas/highlight-1"

Deployment flexibility:

# Development
miiify-serve --base-url http://localhost:10000

# Production
miiify-serve --base-url https://annotations.example.org

Same JSON files, different IDs based on deployment. No database updates, no file edits—just change the flag.

Search

Miiify implements a separation of concerns: it provides storage and serving infrastructure, while search functionality is delegated to solutions such as annosearch. This architectural decision enables annotations to be organized by canvas but indexed at IIIF Collection level. Storage and search strategies evolve independently.

HTTP API

See doc/api.md for the full HTTP API reference.

Scaling

See doc/scaling.md for horizontal scaling strategies from single projects to institution-wide deployments serving millions of annotations.

Commands

See doc/commands.md for the full command reference.