---
name: labarchive-integration
description: Toolkit for interacting with LabArchives Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) API. This skill should be used when working with LabArchives notebooks, including authentication setup, retrieving user and notebook information, backing up notebooks, managing entries and attachments, generating reports, or integrating LabArchives with other scientific tools (Protocols.io, GraphPad Prism, SnapGene, Geneious, Jupyter, REDCap). Use this skill for any task involving programmatic access to LabArchives data or automating LabArchives workflows.
---

# LabArchives Integration

## Overview

Provide comprehensive tools and workflows for interacting with the LabArchives Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) REST API. LabArchives is a widely-used electronic lab notebook platform for research documentation, data management, and collaboration in academic and industrial laboratories.

This skill enables programmatic access to LabArchives notebooks, including user authentication, notebook operations, entry management, report generation, and third-party integrations.

## Core Capabilities

### 1. Authentication and Configuration

Set up API access credentials and regional endpoints for LabArchives API integration.

**Prerequisites:**
- Enterprise LabArchives license with API access enabled
- API access key ID and password from LabArchives administrator
- User authentication credentials (email and external applications password)

**Configuration setup:**

Use the `scripts/setup_config.py` script to create a configuration file:

```bash
python3 scripts/setup_config.py
```

This creates a `config.yaml` file with the following structure:

```yaml
api_url: https://api.labarchives.com/api  # or regional endpoint
access_key_id: YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_ID
access_password: YOUR_ACCESS_PASSWORD
```

**Regional API endpoints:**
- US/International: `https://api.labarchives.com/api`
- Australia: `https://auapi.labarchives.com/api`
- UK: `https://ukapi.labarchives.com/api`

For detailed authentication instructions and troubleshooting, refer to `references/authentication_guide.md`.

### 2. User Information Retrieval

Obtain user ID (UID) and access information required for subsequent API operations.

**Workflow:**

1. Call the `users/user_access_info` API method with login credentials
2. Parse the XML/JSON response to extract the user ID (UID)
3. Use the UID to retrieve detailed user information via `users/user_info_via_id`

**Example using Python wrapper:**

```python
from labarchivespy.client import Client

# Initialize client
client = Client(api_url, access_key_id, access_password)

# Get user access info
login_params = {'login_or_email': user_email, 'password': auth_token}
response = client.make_call('users', 'user_access_info', params=login_params)

# Extract UID from response
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
uid = ET.fromstring(response.content)[0].text

# Get detailed user info
params = {'uid': uid}
user_info = client.make_call('users', 'user_info_via_id', params=params)
```

### 3. Notebook Operations

Manage notebook access, backup, and metadata retrieval.

**Key operations:**

- **List notebooks:** Retrieve all notebooks accessible to a user
- **Backup notebooks:** Download complete notebook data with optional attachment inclusion
- **Get notebook IDs:** Retrieve institution-defined notebook identifiers for integration with grants/project management systems
- **Get notebook members:** List all users with access to a specific notebook
- **Get notebook settings:** Retrieve configuration and permissions for notebooks

**Notebook backup example:**

Use the `scripts/notebook_operations.py` script:

```bash
# Backup with attachments (default, creates 7z archive)
python3 scripts/notebook_operations.py backup --uid USER_ID --nbid NOTEBOOK_ID

# Backup without attachments, JSON format
python3 scripts/notebook_operations.py backup --uid USER_ID --nbid NOTEBOOK_ID --json --no-attachments
```

**API endpoint format:**
```
https://<api_url>/notebooks/notebook_backup?uid=<UID>&nbid=<NOTEBOOK_ID>&json=true&no_attachments=false
```

For comprehensive API method documentation, refer to `references/api_reference.md`.

### 4. Entry and Attachment Management

Create, modify, and manage notebook entries and file attachments.

**Entry operations:**
- Create new entries in notebooks
- Add comments to existing entries
- Create entry parts/components
- Upload file attachments to entries

**Attachment workflow:**

Use the `scripts/entry_operations.py` script:

```bash
# Upload attachment to an entry
python3 scripts/entry_operations.py upload --uid USER_ID --nbid NOTEBOOK_ID --entry-id ENTRY_ID --file /path/to/file.pdf

# Create a new entry with text content
python3 scripts/entry_operations.py create --uid USER_ID --nbid NOTEBOOK_ID --title "Experiment Results" --content "Results from today's experiment..."
```

**Supported file types:**
- Documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT)
- Images (PNG, JPG, TIFF)
- Data files (CSV, XLSX, HDF5)
- Scientific formats (CIF, MOL, PDB)
- Archives (ZIP, 7Z)

### 5. Site Reports and Analytics

Generate institutional reports on notebook usage, activity, and compliance (Enterprise feature).

**Available reports:**
- Detailed Usage Report: User activity metrics and engagement statistics
- Detailed Notebook Report: Notebook metadata, member lists, and settings
- PDF/Offline Notebook Generation Report: Export tracking for compliance
- Notebook Members Report: Access control and collaboration analytics
- Notebook Settings Report: Configuration and permission auditing

**Report generation:**

```python
# Generate detailed usage report
response = client.make_call('site_reports', 'detailed_usage_report',
                           params={'start_date': '2025-01-01', 'end_date': '2025-10-20'})
```

### 6. Third-Party Integrations

LabArchives integrates with numerous scientific software platforms. This skill provides guidance on leveraging these integrations programmatically.

**Supported integrations:**
- **Protocols.io:** Export protocols directly to LabArchives notebooks
- **GraphPad Prism:** Export analyses and figures (Version 8+)
- **SnapGene:** Direct molecular biology workflow integration
- **Geneious:** Bioinformatics analysis export
- **Jupyter:** Embed Jupyter notebooks as entries
- **REDCap:** Clinical data capture integration
- **Qeios:** Research publishing platform
- **SciSpace:** Literature management

**OAuth authentication:**
LabArchives now uses OAuth for all new integrations. Legacy integrations may use API key authentication.

For detailed integration setup instructions and use cases, refer to `references/integrations.md`.

## Common Workflows

### Complete notebook backup workflow

1. Authenticate and obtain user ID
2. List all accessible notebooks
3. Iterate through notebooks and backup each one
4. Store backups with timestamp metadata

```bash
# Complete backup script
python3 scripts/notebook_operations.py backup-all --email user@example.edu --password AUTH_TOKEN
```

### Automated data upload workflow

1. Authenticate with LabArchives API
2. Identify target notebook and entry
3. Upload experimental data files
4. Add metadata comments to entries
5. Generate activity report

### Integration workflow example (Jupyter → LabArchives)

1. Export Jupyter notebook to HTML or PDF
2. Use entry_operations.py to upload to LabArchives
3. Add comment with execution timestamp and environment info
4. Tag entry for easy retrieval

## Python Package Installation

Install the `labarchives-py` wrapper for simplified API access:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/mcmero/labarchives-py
cd labarchives-py
pip install .
```

Alternatively, use direct HTTP requests via Python's `requests` library for custom implementations.

## Best Practices

1. **Rate limiting:** Implement appropriate delays between API calls to avoid throttling
2. **Error handling:** Always wrap API calls in try-except blocks with appropriate logging
3. **Authentication security:** Store credentials in environment variables or secure config files (never in code)
4. **Backup verification:** After notebook backup, verify file integrity and completeness
5. **Incremental operations:** For large notebooks, use pagination and batch processing
6. **Regional endpoints:** Use the correct regional API endpoint for optimal performance

## Troubleshooting

**Common issues:**

- **401 Unauthorized:** Verify access key ID and password are correct; check API access is enabled for your account
- **404 Not Found:** Confirm notebook ID (nbid) exists and user has access permissions
- **403 Forbidden:** Check user permissions for the requested operation
- **Empty response:** Ensure required parameters (uid, nbid) are provided correctly
- **Attachment upload failures:** Verify file size limits and format compatibility

For additional support, contact LabArchives at support@labarchives.com.

## Resources

This skill includes bundled resources to support LabArchives API integration:

### scripts/

- `setup_config.py`: Interactive configuration file generator for API credentials
- `notebook_operations.py`: Utilities for listing, backing up, and managing notebooks
- `entry_operations.py`: Tools for creating entries and uploading attachments

### references/

- `api_reference.md`: Comprehensive API endpoint documentation with parameters and examples
- `authentication_guide.md`: Detailed authentication setup and configuration instructions
- `integrations.md`: Third-party integration setup guides and use cases