eLabFTW

eLabFTW is an open source electronic lab notebook designed for research teams. Scientists record experimental procedures, attach data files and images, link to the reagents and protocols they used, and produce a timestamped, searchable record that survives beyond the shelf life of any individual researcher’s folder structure.

The notebook interface is structured around experiment entries, each of which can include a rich text description, attached files, tags, and links to related items in the built-in database. The database side of eLabFTW holds samples, reagents, protocols, and equipment as separate records with their own fields. When you run an experiment using a specific reagent or protocol, you link those records to the experiment, so the connection between resources and results is explicit and searchable rather than embedded in prose.

Trusted timestamping is the feature that separates eLabFTW from a well-structured shared document folder. Using RFC 3161 timestamp authorities, the system generates a cryptographic proof that a specific experiment record existed in its current form at a specific point in time. For patent applications, regulatory submissions, or grant audits, this provides legally defensible documentation of when results were obtained. The feature is free to enable using public timestamp authorities and requires no additional infrastructure.

Experiments can be exported as PDF or ZIP archives, which means the record is portable outside the application. Teams that move institutions or want an offline archive for a completed project are not locked into keeping the server running to access historical records.

eLabFTW runs as a Docker container and deploys cleanly on a lab server, a university-managed VM, or a personal machine. The PHP and MySQL stack is well understood by institutional IT teams that need to evaluate the deployment for compliance purposes.