Filinq — Anonymisation Backends

Filinq delegates entity recognition to OpenRegister's EntityRecognitionHandler. The handler supports four backend modes, each with different accuracy and infrastructure requirements.

Backend Options

Method	Description	Requires
regex	Built-in pattern matching (names, BSNs, IBANs, dates). Fast; no external dependencies. Lower recall on edge cases.	Nothing — always available
presidio	Microsoft Presidio NLP engine. Runs locally or via a custom endpoint configured in OpenRegister settings.	Self-hosted Presidio instance or custom URL
openanonymiser	GPU-accelerated model via the OpenAnonymiser ExApp. Highest recall.	OpenAnonymiser ExApp + GPU server + AppAPI
openanonymiser_light	CPU-optimised model via the OpenAnonymiser Light ExApp. Good recall without GPU hardware.	OpenAnonymiser Light ExApp + AppAPI

Install Workflow (ExApp backends)

1. Install AppAPI — required for all ExApp backends. Open /settings/apps/discover/app_api and click Download and enable.

2. Install an ExApp backend — pick one:

   • OpenAnonymiser Light (CPU): /settings/apps/discover/openanonymiser_light
   • OpenAnonymiser (GPU): /settings/apps/discover/openanonymiser

   After enabling, AppAPI will register the ExApp's daemon and start the container.

3. Configure the backend in OpenRegister — navigate to /settings/admin/openregister and select the backend from the Anonymisation backend dropdown.

4. Verify — reload the Filinq admin settings page. If the backend is detected, the warning banner disappears automatically.

Admin Warning Banner

When entity recognition is operating in regex-only mode and no non-regex backend is configured, Filinq shows an informational warning banner on:

• The Filinq admin settings page (top of section, persistent).
• The Filinq dashboard (top of page, admin users only).

The banner provides direct links to the App Store entries and to OpenRegister settings, and can be dismissed per admin. A dismissed admin can re-enable the banner from the Anonymisation section of the Filinq admin settings page by toggling Show anonymiser backend warning.

Note: Dismissal is informational only — regex-only mode continues to work. The banner is a discovery aid, not a blocker.

When anonymisation is refused

The banner turns red, and cannot be dismissed, when filinq refuses to anonymise: entity recognition is switched off in OpenRegister, the detector OpenRegister would run is unavailable, or filinq cannot read OpenRegister's detector state. Until you fix that in the OpenRegister settings, every anonymisation answers with an error and writes no file. When a detector other than regex is live, the settings page names it: Entity detector in use: presidio.

AppAPI not installed

If AppAPI itself is not installed on the instance, the banner additionally instructs the admin to install AppAPI first before installing an ExApp backend. The deep-link CTAs remain visible and navigate to the standard Nextcloud "AppAPI required" page.

Architecture Reference

This feature implements the responsibility split defined in ADR-017:

• Filinq owns the warning UX and deep links.
• OpenRegister owns backend selection UI and the actual health check.
• Filinq reads state via OCA\OpenRegister\Service\AnonymisationBackendService::getState().
• Filinq does NOT query IAppManager, AppAPI services, or HTTP health endpoints directly.