TPEN3 is now in early access! Learn what’s new and sign up today to start transcribing with the latest features.
Transcription for Paleographical and Editorial Notation
Sign Up Open an account to start recording annotations on images from all over the world and across time.
Privacy first: read the TPEN3 Privacy Statement for details on data use, local storage, and your rights. TPEN is intended for adult human users. We do not sell or rent any data and implement no tracking or analytics.
Pinned Posts
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TPEN 3.0 Early Access Now Open! (17th March 2026) TPEN Team
We are excited to announce that TPEN 3.0 Early Access is now open to everyone!
Recent Posts
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TPEN-Prompts: AI-Assisted Transcription (4th May 2026) Bryan Haberberger
A new split-screen tool that builds well-formatted LLM prompts carrying live TPEN project context.
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Release Notes: April 2026 (Early Access Month 1) (1st May 2026) Copilot
The first month of TPEN 3 Early Access was defined by two parallel themes: AI integration and interface polish. The headline addition is the debut of TPEN-Prompts, a new LLM-assisted transcription tool that shipped from scratch and received several rapid tuning iterations before the end of the month. Meanwhile, the core Simple Transcription interface saw meaningful improvements in image resolution handling, IIIF compatibility, and a handful of targeted bug fixes surfaced by real-user sessions. A new utility repository — Github-Manifests — also appeared, automating IIIF manifest generation for GitHub-hosted image collections.
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IIIF Manifests in TPEN 3 (10th January 2026) Patrick Cuba
Deep dive on how TPEN 3 uses IIIF Manifests to start projects, target images, and export reusable derivatives
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Understanding Your Data in TPEN 3 (10th December 2025) Patrick Cuba
A clear explanation of Projects, Layers, Pages, Columns, and Lines in TPEN 3, and how IIIF resources benefit from your transcription work
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What's New in TPEN 3 (24th November 2025) Patrick Cuba
Discover the major improvements and new features in TPEN 3 compared to TPEN 2.8, from enhanced collaboration to modern standards support
Open
The TPEN platform remains free and open for anyone to use.Connected
All content is Linked Open Data and the platform is designed for others to easily supplement.Standard
Respects existing and emerging standards for text, image, and annotation.Creative
Encourages users to share with the community and find new ways to work.Active
Established in 2010, the project is still active and growing.Transcribe Now
Open your account to get started: Sign Up
Helpful Patterns & API
For the most up-to-date and complete API documentation, see the TPEN-services API Reference.
Here are some common patterns and endpoints you can use:
Start a New Project from an Image
https://api.t-pen.org/project?new=https://example.com/image.jpg
Start a new transcription project from any public image URL. This link can be embedded in your own repository or website to enable direct transcription.
Get a Project’s IIIF Manifest
https://api.t-pen.org/manifest/{project_id}
Retrieve the IIIF Manifest for your project to load it in external viewers or tools.
Share a Project in Read-Only Mode
https://api.t-pen.org/project/{project_id}?view=html
Share your project with others in a read-only web viewer.
API Authentication & Tokens
See the API Reference for details on obtaining and using tokens for authenticated endpoints.
This tool is the evolution of the 21st century transcription platform at t‑pen.org.
Originally targeting Medieval manuscripts, users have fostered a community of carefully
transcribed images of scripts, engravings, and calligraphy from all over the world across time.