Using INCEpTION for research

[Belén Castillo]

Hello INCEpTION team,

I am a postgraduate Linguistics student currently working on a group research project with other students and specialised linguists. We are currently learning how to use INCEpTION to annotate and process the corpora texts we have compiled for our research. We have installed INCEpTION following the instructions as seen in the user guide, however we have noticed that when we open INCEpTION there's a warning disclaimer appearing that says that this version has an embedded database and is only for testing even though this is not the online demo version. Can this version be used for a research project or do we need to install a different one? Also, what would happen if we use this one for our reserach considering the warning disclaimer that appears?

Regards,

Belén.

[Richard Eckart de Castilho]

Hello Belén,

> On 1. Apr 2026, at 18:19, Belén Castillo <belencasti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I am a postgraduate Linguistics student currently working on a group research project with other students and specialised linguists. We are currently learning how to use INCEpTION to annotate and process the corpora texts we have compiled for our research. We have installed INCEpTION following the instructions as seen in the user guide, however we have noticed that when we open INCEpTION there's a warning disclaimer appearing that says that this version has an embedded database and is only for testing even though this is not the online demo version. Can this version be used for a research project or do we need to install a different one? Also, what would happen if we use this one for our reserach considering the warning disclaimer that appears?

People using INCEpTION on their personal devices will typically use the embedded database.
In such a scenario, the person works alone. INCEpTION installations on personal devices
are isolated from each other. The user should regularly export their projects to maintain
backups of their work. If the database gets corrupted e.g. due to a power failure or computer
crash, then should just delete their databased, start with a fresh INCEpTION from scratch and
re-import their backups. So the risk is fully with one person and their backup strategy.

Now if you are installing INCEpTION on a server to be used by a group of people, you should
also use a dedicated database (typically MariaDB). The separate database is more robust
than the embedded one. It is easier for an admin to log into to that database and manually
change things if necessary. It does also not save the admin from maintaining backups of the
database and the data files on the file system though. But typically admins of a shared
INCEpTION server will make their backups at that level (file system + database) and not
by using project exports (although individual users/managers on that INCEpTION instance
may still use project exports as an additional self-controlled backup layer).

So the warning is for you to be aware that the embedded database is not as robuste as
a dedicated database. And a reminder to make sure you have backups of your work/projects.

Maybe the warning is a bit overly specific with saying "only for testing". It should probably
rather say something like "There have been (few) known cases where users lost their embedded
database due to corruption from system failures. You are the one responsible for your backups,
so make sure you keep some!" :)

A dedicated DB may also get corrupted, but good system admins know they need to maintain
backups :) And it's the admin's responsibility then, not the INCEpTION user's.

Cheers,

-- Richard