Your research, organized in a local notebook.
ELN Community — a free, open-source electronic lab notebook for Windows
Organize experiments, specimens, measurements, files, and scientific notes in local SQLite notebooks, with templates, electronic signatures, and a project wiki.
ELN Commercial interface example: item content, attachments, notes, and values. Community uses native Windows styling.
Key Features
AI Integration
Connect AI assistants through MCP. Community MCP is available as source for a separate build, not in the installer.
Organize Work
Projects, folders, experiments — structured data capture
Protocols & Compliance
Electronic signatures, audit trail, 21 CFR Part 11
Data Analysis
Built-in charts, statistics, and correlations
Integrated Wiki
NewA Markdown knowledge base for each project: capture goals, ideas, literature, and analysis alongside experiments, and cross-link items via eln:// URLs.
From a working lab
From a working lab
What an AI sees of an experimental research group
PI-facing tooling around a structured lab notebook, and the queries it makes possible
A short case study in AI-assisted oversight of a distributed experimental group: what an LLM can answer about a working group's people, instruments, and accumulated record — and what has to be in place underneath for those answers to exist.
Read the story →
How It Works
Set Up
Install Community and create a local notebook. No database server is needed.
Organize
Create projects, folders, and experiments. Attach files and notes.
Analyze
Plot data, run regressions, correlate conditions with results.
Sign & Comply
Electronic signatures, audit trail, and integrity verification.
SQLite
Local notebooks
Apache-2.0
APS-owned source
Windows
Windows 10 or later
Local
Attachment storage
Commercial
Shared team deployment
Also from APS
APS Software Suite
The configurable control platform for cluster tools and multi-PLC vacuum deposition systems — design, run, orchestrate, and simulate the whole system, without writing code.
Explore the Suite →Ready to Modernize Your Lab?
Download free Community for local research records. For shared team deployment, contact APS about Commercial.