## Document Transcription System Overview

This project is a production application for transcribing and preserving historical family documents. It is intentionally designed for personal-scale use, with a simplicity-first architecture that is easy to operate and easy to extend.

## Start Here

Read [architecture_v1.md](architecture_v1.md) first.

The architecture page is the primary technical reference and defines:

- deployed topology and infrastructure limits
- module boundaries and dependency flow
- processing life cycle and data ownership
- test strategy, risk controls, and extension path

## What The Application Does

At a high level, users upload images or PDFs as content sources for handwritten, typed, or typeset documents, run asynchronous transcription jobs, review optional revisions, and search across accepted text.

### Core capabilities:

- document grouping with one or more content sources and metadata capture
- asynchronous transcription with visible job status
- immutable original transcription persisted with each job (plus provider/model/prompt metadata)
- transcription prompt management with one Markdown file per prompt for human refinement over time
- optional revisions for user-authored edits of original immutable transcription text
- full-text search over accepted transcripts
- export of transcript data

## Production Operating Model

The system runs with minimal operational overhead:

- PostgreSQL in a dedicated Docker container is considered extremely lightweight and simple for this system
- MongoDB in a dedicated Docker container is also considered extremely lightweight and simple for document-centric persistence
- a three-container deployment (app, PostgreSQL, MongoDB) is a simple and acceptable baseline
- no required queue or search-engine containers in the baseline setup

This operating model keeps deployment and maintenance simple while preserving clean boundaries for future scale.

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## Documentation Map

- System Overview (this document)
- [System Design Intent](intent.md)
- [Transcription Methodology](transcription_methodology.md)
- [System Architecture](architecture_v1.md)
- [System Requirements](requirements_v1.md)
- [Data model](schema_v1.md)
- [Error Handling Policy](error_handling_v1.md)
- [Implementation Plan](implementation_plan_v1.md)

## Glossary

- Document-oriented persistence: Storing data as flexible records instead of fixed relational rows.
- Prompt artifact: A single Markdown file that defines one transcription prompt and is edited independently.
- System of record: The authoritative persistent store for canonical data.