Export workflow

Synapse Export Workflow

Core knowledge for exporting annotation data, ground truth datasets, and task data from Synapse. Covers three export targets, multiple output formats, and both plugin-based and script-based execution.

Interactive-First Principle

This workflow is designed to be fully interactive. When the user invokes the export with missing parameters, use AskUserQuestion to guide them through each step. Never fail or show usage text for missing arguments — always ask conversationally.

Prerequisites Validation

Before starting any export workflow, ensure the synapse CLI is available and validate the environment.

Finding synapse CLI

# 1. Try the current shell first (venv may already be activated)
synapse --version

# 2. If not found, search for a venv directory in cwd
ls -d *venv* .venv 2>/dev/null
# Activate the first match, e.g.: source .venv/bin/activate

If no venv is found and synapse is not on PATH, guide the user to activate their environment or install: uv pip install "synapse-sdk>=2026.1.39"

Assert version

python3 -c "
from importlib.metadata import version
v = version('synapse-sdk')
parts = [int(x) for x in v.split('.')[:3]]
assert parts >= [2026, 1, 39], f'synapse-sdk {v} is too old, need >= 2026.1.39'
print(f'synapse-sdk {v} OK')
"

Validate environment

synapse doctor

Required: Authentication and token checks must pass.

If auth fails: synapse login to re-authenticate.

Key Concepts

Export Targets

Synapse exports data from one of three targets — each represents a different stage of the annotation pipeline:

Target	Description	Required Filter	Use Case
assignment	Annotation work by labelers/reviewers	project ID	Export labeled results, QA reviews
ground_truth	Curated reference datasets for ML	ground_truth_dataset_version ID	Export training/validation data
task	Tasks with data unit links and annotations	project ID	Export task metadata + annotations

Target Data Structure

Each export target yields items with this structure:

{
    'data': { ... },    # Annotation data (DM Schema v1 format)
    'files': { ... },   # File metadata (URLs, dimensions, etc.)
    'id': 123,          # Record ID (assignment/ground_truth_event/task)
}

Annotation data follows the DM Schema v1 format:

{
    "assignmentId": "job-123",
    "annotations": {
        "image_1": [
            {"id": "abc123", "type": "bbox", "data": [100, 200, 50, 80], "classification": "car", ...},
            {"id": "def456", "type": "polygon", "data": [[10,20],[30,40],...], "classification": "road", ...}
        ]
    },
    "annotationsData": {
        "image_1": [
            {"id": "abc123", "type": "bbox", ...},
            {"id": "def456", "type": "polygon", ...}
        ]
    },
    "relations": {},
    "annotationGroups": {},
    "extra": {}
}

Key annotation types in annotations:

• bbox (bounding box): data: [x, y, width, height]
• polygon: data: [[x1,y1], [x2,y2], ...]
• polyline: data: [[x1,y1], [x2,y2], ...]
• keypoint: data: [[x1,y1], [x2,y2], ...] with skeleton
• classification: label-only, no spatial data

Export Formats

Common output formats the skill should support:

Format	Extension	Description
Synapse JSON	.json	Raw DM Schema — lossless, full fidelity
COCO	.json	MS COCO format — bbox, segmentation, keypoints
YOLO	.txt	YOLO darknet — one .txt per image with class x_center y_center width height
Pascal VOC	.xml	VOC XML format — bounding boxes
CSV	.csv	Tabular — flatten annotations to rows
Custom	varies	User-defined transformation

The SDK includes converters for some formats:

from synapse_sdk.utils.converters.coco.from_dm import DMtoCOCOConverter
# converter = DMtoCOCOConverter()
# coco_data = converter.convert(dm_v1_data, output_dir, original_file_dir)

Storage

Export output is written to a storage destination. This can be:

• The agent's mounted storage (accessible from Ray worker)
• A remote storage (S3, GCS, MinIO) via get_pathlib()
• Local filesystem on the Ray worker (temporary)

Project & Ground Truth Discovery

Listing projects:

# No SDK method for listing projects directly — use the backend API
import requests
resp = requests.get(
    f"{os.environ['SYNAPSE_HOST']}/api/annotation/projects/",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Token {os.environ['SYNAPSE_ACCESS_TOKEN']}"},
)
projects = resp.json()['results']
for p in projects:
    print(f"  ID {p['id']}: {p['name']}")

Listing ground truth datasets:

from synapse_sdk.clients.backend import BackendClient
client = BackendClient(
    base_url=os.environ['SYNAPSE_HOST'],
    access_token=os.environ['SYNAPSE_ACCESS_TOKEN'],
)
# List GT versions for a dataset
versions = client.list_ground_truth_versions(params={'ground_truth_dataset': <dataset_id>})

Export Approaches

Approach 1: Script-Based Export (Recommended)

Write a custom Python export script and submit via synapse script submit. This gives full control over:

• Output format (COCO, YOLO, CSV, custom)
• Filtering and post-processing
• File organization
• Local or remote output

Script pattern:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Export annotations from project <PROJECT_ID>."""
import json
import os
from pathlib import Path
from synapse_sdk.clients.backend import BackendClient

client = BackendClient(
    base_url=os.environ['SYNAPSE_HOST'],
    access_token=os.environ['SYNAPSE_ACCESS_TOKEN'],
)

PROJECT_ID = <project_id>
OUTPUT_DIR = Path('/tmp/export_output')
OUTPUT_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

# Fetch all assignments for the project
# list_all=True returns (generator, count) tuple
results_gen, count = client.list_assignments(
    params={'project': PROJECT_ID},
    list_all=True,
)
print(f"Found {count} assignments to export")

# Export each assignment
for i, assignment in enumerate(results_gen):
    data = assignment['data']       # DM Schema v1 annotation data (from hitl_assignment.data)
    files = assignment.get('file')  # File metadata
    assignment_id = assignment['id']

    # === CONVERT TO DESIRED FORMAT HERE ===
    # Example: save as raw JSON
    output_path = OUTPUT_DIR / f'{assignment_id}.json'
    with open(output_path, 'w') as f:
        json.dump({'data': data, 'files': files, 'id': assignment_id}, f, indent=2)

    if (i + 1) % 100 == 0:
        print(f"Exported {i + 1}/{count}...")

print(f"\nDone! Exported {count} assignments to {OUTPUT_DIR}")

Adapt the conversion section to the desired output format (COCO, YOLO, etc.).

Approach 2: Plugin-Based Export

If an export plugin is installed on the agent, use the plugin framework:

synapse plugin run export --plugin <plugin-code> --mode job --params '{
    "name": "My Export",
    "target": "assignment",
    "filter": {"project": 123},
    "storage": 11,
    "path": "/exports/my_export",
    "save_original_file": true,
    "extra_params": {}
}'

Tell the user how to monitor and stop:

synapse plugin job get <job-id>
synapse plugin job logs <job-id> --follow
synapse script stop <job-id>

When to use plugin-based export:

• An export plugin is already installed and configured
• The plugin supports the desired output format
• The user wants the standard export pipeline (fetch → convert → save to storage)

Export Parameters (Plugin Mode)

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
name	string	Yes	—	Human-readable export name
description	string	No	null	Export description
target	string	Yes	—	assignment, ground_truth, or task
filter	dict	Yes	—	Target-specific filter (see below)
storage	int	Yes	—	Destination storage ID
path	string	Yes	—	Export path within storage
save_original_file	bool	No	true	Include original data files
extra_params	dict	No	null	Format-specific options

Filter by Target

Target	Required Fields	Optional Fields
assignment	project (int)	status, user, tags, date range
ground_truth	ground_truth_dataset_version (int)	category (train/validation/test)
task	project (int)	status, tags, date range

Export Plugin Architecture

Export plugins extend BaseExporter from synapse_sdk.plugins.categories.export.templates.plugin. Understanding the plugin structure helps when building custom exports or debugging existing ones.

Plugin Item Structure

The SDK provides each export item with these fields:

item = {
    'id': 12345,                    # assignment ID
    'file': {...},                   # file references (use get_original_file_name())
    'data': {...},                   # annotation data (DM Schema v1 payload)
    'task': {'id': 678, 'tags': [...]},  # task metadata
    'tags': [...],                   # assignment-level tags
    'data_unit': {
        'meta': {...},              # DataUnit.meta (filename, category, group, etc.)
        'files': {
            'video_1': {'path_original': '...'},  # per-spec file paths
        },
    },
}

Annotation Data Structure (Video)

For video-type data, annotations are keyed by spec name:

data['annotations']['video_1']  # list of annotation objects

Each annotation object has a classification dict:

{
    'classification': {
        'class': 'object_description',    # classification type
        'description_kr': '...',          # annotation content
    }
}

Plugin Output Conventions

• File naming: Built from the original file stem + a postfix suffix: {Path(get_original_file_name(result['files'])).stem}_{postfix}.json
• Directory structure: Output files go into category-based subdirectories (using data_unit_meta['category'] for the subfolder name)
• One assignment → multiple files: Plugins iterate over classification types and create a separate output file for each classification present in the annotation. Not every assignment has all types, so file count per assignment varies.

Format Conversion Reference

DM Schema v1 → COCO

from synapse_sdk.utils.converters.coco.from_dm import DMtoCOCOConverter

converter = DMtoCOCOConverter()
# Input: DM v1 data dict
# Output: COCO JSON saved to output_dir
converter.convert(dm_v1_data, output_dir='/tmp/coco_output', original_file_dir='/tmp/images')

COCO output structure:

{
    "images": [{"id": 1, "file_name": "img.png", "width": 1920, "height": 1080}],
    "annotations": [{"id": 1, "image_id": 1, "category_id": 1, "bbox": [x,y,w,h], "area": 4000, ...}],
    "categories": [{"id": 1, "name": "car"}]
}

DM Schema v1 → YOLO

Manual conversion (no SDK converter yet):

def dm_to_yolo(annotations, image_width, image_height, class_map):
    """Convert DM annotations to YOLO format.

    Args:
        annotations: List of annotation dicts from DM Schema
        image_width: Image width in pixels
        image_height: Image height in pixels
        class_map: {class_name: class_id} mapping

    Returns:
        List of YOLO lines: "class_id x_center y_center width height"
    """
    lines = []
    for ann in annotations:
        if ann.get('type') != 'bbox':
            continue
        x, y, w, h = ann['data']
        class_id = class_map.get(ann['classification'], 0)
        # YOLO uses normalized center coordinates
        x_center = (x + w / 2) / image_width
        y_center = (y + h / 2) / image_height
        norm_w = w / image_width
        norm_h = h / image_height
        lines.append(f"{class_id} {x_center:.6f} {y_center:.6f} {norm_w:.6f} {norm_h:.6f}")
    return lines

DM Schema v1 → Pascal VOC

Manual conversion:

def dm_to_voc_xml(annotations, image_info, filename):
    """Convert DM annotations to Pascal VOC XML."""
    import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
    root = ET.Element('annotation')
    ET.SubElement(root, 'filename').text = filename
    size = ET.SubElement(root, 'size')
    ET.SubElement(size, 'width').text = str(image_info.get('width', 0))
    ET.SubElement(size, 'height').text = str(image_info.get('height', 0))
    ET.SubElement(size, 'depth').text = str(image_info.get('channels', 3))

    for ann in annotations:
        if ann.get('type') != 'bbox':
            continue
        x, y, w, h = ann['data']
        obj = ET.SubElement(root, 'object')
        ET.SubElement(obj, 'name').text = ann['classification']
        bbox = ET.SubElement(obj, 'bndbox')
        ET.SubElement(bbox, 'xmin').text = str(int(x))
        ET.SubElement(bbox, 'ymin').text = str(int(y))
        ET.SubElement(bbox, 'xmax').text = str(int(x + w))
        ET.SubElement(bbox, 'ymax').text = str(int(y + h))

    return ET.tostring(root, encoding='unicode')

SDK Methods Reference

Method	Purpose
client.list_assignments(params, list_all=True)	Fetch all assignments for a project
client.list_tasks(params, list_all=True)	Fetch all tasks for a project (expand: data_unit, assignment, workshop)
client.list_ground_truth_events(params, list_all=True)	Fetch GT events for a dataset version
client.get_project(id)	Get project details and configuration
client.get_ground_truth_version(id)	Get GT dataset version details
client.get_storage(id)	Get storage configuration
client.get_default_storage()	Get default storage
client.get_data_collection(id)	Get data collection specs

Directory Patterns

Standard Export Layout

export_output/
├── annotations/        # Converted annotation files (JSON/COCO/YOLO/VOC)
│   ├── 001.json
│   ├── 002.json
│   └── ...
├── images/             # Original files (if save_original_file=true)
│   ├── 001.png
│   ├── 002.png
│   └── ...
├── metadata/           # Export metadata
│   └── export_summary.json
└── classes.txt         # Class list (for YOLO/COCO)

COCO Layout

coco_export/
├── annotations/
│   ├── instances_train.json    # COCO annotations
│   └── instances_val.json
├── images/
│   ├── train/
│   └── val/
└── classes.json

YOLO Layout

yolo_export/
├── images/
│   ├── train/
│   │   ├── 001.png
│   │   └── ...
│   └── val/
├── labels/
│   ├── train/
│   │   ├── 001.txt
│   │   └── ...
│   └── val/
├── data.yaml           # YOLO dataset config
└── classes.txt

Database & Model Reference

These are critical details about the Synapse backend data model, discovered through production usage.

Django Models & Tables

Model	Table	Key Fields
DataUnit (data_collection.DataUnit)	data_collection_dataunit	id, data_collection_id, meta (JSONField), files
Task (annotation.Task)	annotation_task	id, project_id (direct FK — no join needed), data_unit_id, data (JSONField), workshop_id
Workshop (hitl.Workshop)	hitl_workshop (NOT annotation_workshop)	id, project_id, name, status
Assignment (hitl.Assignment)	hitl_assignment	id, task_id, status_label, status_review, data (JSONField — this is the annotation data)
AssignmentData (hitl.AssignmentData)	hitl_assignmentdata	id, assignment_id, file, checksum, size — stores files, NOT annotation JSON
AssignmentFile (hitl.AssignmentFile)	hitl_assignmentfile	File attachments

Critical: Where Annotation Data Lives

• Assignment annotation data is in hitl_assignment.data (a JSONField), NOT in hitl_assignmentdata.
• AssignmentData is a misleading name — it stores binary file references (file path, checksum, size), not annotation JSON.
• The data field on hitl_assignment contains the full DM Schema v1 annotation payload.

Export Rule: Always Export Data Only

When exporting annotation files, write only the data field contents — do NOT wrap it in metadata (id, task_id, status, etc.). Each exported .json file should contain the raw DM Schema v1 annotation payload directly. This keeps exports clean and compatible with downstream tools and converters.

psycopg2 JSONB Gotcha

When fetching JSONB fields via Django's raw SQL cursor (connection.cursor()), psycopg2 returns the value as a Python string, not a parsed dict. Always parse it before writing:

data = json.loads(data_str) if isinstance(data_str, str) else data_str

DataUnit Meta Structure

DataUnit.meta is a JSONField. A typical example:

{
    "fps": 29.97,
    "group": "B82026Z",
    "ratio": "16:9",
    "width": 1920,
    "height": 1080,
    "bitrate": 15,
    "category": "1. 자연",
    "duration": "00:01:00",
    "filename": "B82026Z_2018_HD_6_0001.mp4",
    "created_at": "2025-11-30T04:21:03.775098",
    "dataset_key": "1. 자연/B82026Z_B82026Z_2018_HD_6_0001",
    "origin_file_stem": "B82026Z_2018_HD_6_0001",
    "origin_file_extension": ".mp4"
}

Identifying data units by filename: Use meta->>'filename' (minus extension) as the reliable identifier, NOT origin_file_stem. The origin_file_stem field is inconsistent — sometimes it contains the full name (e.g., B82026Z_2018_HD_6_0001), other times just a short fragment (e.g., 0003). To match reliably:

replace(meta->>'filename', meta->>'origin_file_extension', '') as file_stem

Using meta.category for output paths: When creating category-based directory structures, use the meta->>'category' value directly (e.g., "1. 자연", "2. 도시"). Do not remap or strip the number prefix — downstream tools and existing exports expect the exact DB value.

Warning: Django's JSONField __in lookup does NOT work for nested key filtering (e.g., meta__origin_file_stem__in=[...] returns 0 results). Use raw SQL instead.

Project Info

• Project model key for the name field is title, not name (i.e., project.get('title') via API, not project.get('name'))
• Task has a direct project_id foreign key — no need to join through workshop to filter by project

SDK API Behavior

Return Types

Method	list_all=False (default)	list_all=True
client.list_assignments()	dict with count, results	(generator, count) tuple
client.list_tasks()	dict with count, results	(generator, count) tuple
client.list_data_units()	dict with count, results	(generator, count) tuple

The generator yields individual item dicts. Example:

gen, count = client.list_data_units(params={...}, list_all=True)
for du in gen:
    print(du['id'], du.get('meta', {}).get('origin_file_stem'))

Pagination Limits

• Page size is capped at 100 for data units — the server ignores larger limit values
• list_data_units(page_size=500) still returns only 100 items per page
• The search parameter works on tasks but does NOT work on data units
• Task search does NOT match on data unit file names/metadata

Performance: Paginated API is Slow

For large datasets (100K+ data units), the paginated API is extremely slow:

• 134K data units at 100/page = 1,343 sequential API calls
• Each page takes ~4s from a local client, ~2-4s from Ray
• Full scan via API: 30-90 minutes

Always use the export plugin system (BaseExporter + synapse script submit) for large datasets — the SDK handles pagination internally.

synapse script submit Gotchas

• The command packages the working directory as a runtime env for Ray
• Never submit from /tmp — it may contain files with restricted permissions (e.g., snap-private-tmp/.gitignore) that cause Permission denied errors
• Always create a clean subdirectory or use the project directory

Large Dataset Strategies

For projects with 10,000+ data units, do NOT scan all data units via the API. Instead:

Approach 1: Export Plugin (Recommended)

Use the export plugin system. BaseExporter receives pre-fetched items via params['results'] — the SDK handles all pagination internally. Submit via synapse script submit.

See the Export Plugin Architecture section above for the item structure and output conventions.

Approach 2: Streaming with list_all=True (Small datasets only)

Only use for smaller datasets (< 10K items):

gen, count = client.list_data_units(params={...}, list_all=True)
for du in gen:
    # process item...