metagrapho API: Build Transkribus into your workflows and apps

The metagrapho API allows your programme code to extract text and layout information from handwritten and printed documents.

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What is the metagrapho API?

The metagrapho API makes it easy to integrate AI-based text recognition into your existing workflow or tool chain, or create completely new applications that can recognise handwritten and printed text. It provides easy access to all the AI models that you or your team have trained with Transkribus, taking your processing workflow and user experience to the next level.

By relying on our lightweight metagrapho API for handwriting recognition, you can focus on developing your own apps and software. You are the expert in your field, we provide you with an easy way of integrating HTR technology into your product or service.

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Process images at consistently high speed

For high-throughput applications, we offer dedicated processing capacity through our fast lanes. Each fast lane enables roughly 8,000 images to be processed per day and multiple fast lanes can be booked simultaneously.

Recognise layout and text

Leverage the AI-powered handwritten text recognition and layout analysis of the Transkribus platform.

Cost efficiency

The cost for using the metagrapho API is significantly lower, as API users receive a 50% discount on the amount of credits required for specific jobs. You can find out more about the Transkribus credits system on our Plans and Pricing page.

Let your team train the AI without a single line of code

Train specific text recognition models that are capable of recognising millions of handwritten, typewritten, or printed documents with Transkribus, and use the models with the metagrapho API. Or make use of over 100 free public models, created by the Transkribus community.

Integrate a powerful handwritten text-recognition platform into your own applications

Integrate the power of the Transkribus platform into your processing workflow or the apps you are offering to your users.

Leverage the power of Transkribus to get the most out of your historical documents.

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Frequently Asked Questions

With the metagrapho API, you can connect your own software and its user interface with the Transkribus platform. This way, you can enable handwritten and printed text recognition directly from your own environment.

HTR models are always trained through the Transkribus user interface. The models all have model IDs. The metagrapho API takes the source of the documents you want to process, where the results are supposed to be stored, and the ID of the recognition model as input parameters. This way, the models you have trained in Transkribus can be used with the metagrapho API.

This is not possible directly. metagrapho is a cost-efficient and quick solution that does not store your images on the Transkribus servers. Nevertheless, you are free to upload your recognition results to a Transkribus collection at a later time and set up a Transkribus Sites website.

Yes, the metagrapho API is ideally suited to this because we do not only offer page-based prices for it but also character-based billing. In contrast, Transkribus only offers a page-based pricing system.

Yes, you need access to a certain level of coding skills. If you want your non-coding team members to access the Transkribus servers through the API, you will need to build your own user interface for this. Alternatively, we offer a simple command-line interface which can be used with the most basic understanding of coding.

The processing of your documents happens on servers based in Austria, European Union and we fully comply with GDPR standards.