Insights
Field notes from the SENAITE core team
Installation guides, instrument integration walk-throughs, monitoring case studies, product announcements. The writing here comes from the same people who write the code.
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Introducing SENAITY: anomaly QA for SENAITE LIMS
SENAITY catches bad lab results before they leave your lab. ML-based anomaly detection, on-premise Docker, free hosted demo or Lab plan from EUR 490 per month.
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SENAITE LIMS vs commercial LIMS: what to know before choosing
Open source versus proprietary: cost, vendor lock-in, customisation, compliance, and the cases where each option is the right answer.
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What is SENAITE LIMS? A complete guide for laboratories
SENAITE is a free, open-source LIMS for sample management, instrument integration, and reporting. A practical guide for labs evaluating their next system.
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More from the team
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August 19, 2026Reports after Dexterity: upload your lab logo, print on any paper
Two report ergonomics changes shipped with the Dexterity migration in senaite.impress. You upload your lab logo through the browser now, and you configure custom paper sizes without a developer.
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August 15, 2026Reading SENAITE data with the JSON API in 30 seconds
One curl, one UID, a full sample record back. The shortest useful tour of the SENAITE JSON API for developers and integrators.
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August 12, 2026Spotlight, rebuilt: a real command palette for SENAITE
Spotlight is now a proper command palette. Search across catalogs, scope with s:water, filter by workflow state with is:received, and open dedicated result pages. Client contacts are safely walled off.
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August 8, 2026The four-eyes principle at scale: multi-level verification in SENAITE
SENAITE lets you configure up to four verification levels, globally or per analysis. Here is how the multi-stage sign-off works and where it earns its keep.
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August 5, 2026Listings 2.0: saved filters, label chips, and a searchable column popover
senaite.app.listing gained saved filter presets, click-to-filter label chips, removable filter chips in the toolbar, and a redesigned column config that scales to thirty columns. What changed and why it matters.
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August 1, 2026Uncertainties in SENAITE: what your results actually mean
Every measurement has a margin. SENAITE stores it, prints it, and uses it to decide whether a result is really out of spec.
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July 29, 2026SENAITE.storage grows up: retention rules, Retrieve, and printable stickers
A tour of what shipped in senaite.storage this half. Configurable retention with per-service rules, an ISO-aligned Retrieve transition with mandatory reason, and Code128 stickers for facilities and containers.
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July 25, 2026SENAITE calculations: from formula to result
How SENAITE turns a formula into a value. The bracket-keyword syntax, Interim Fields, chained calculations, and the pitfalls that catch new labs.
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July 21, 2026End of the line: dispose and dispatch as optional workflows
SENAITE 2.x gets a Sample Dispose workflow and turns Sample Dispatch into a togglable one. Both share a new locking mechanism so downstream analyses can never be silently edited on an archived sample.
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July 21, 2026SENAITE and lab compliance: ISO 17025, 21 CFR Part 11, and what the software actually gives you
Where SENAITE actually meets ISO 17025 and 21 CFR Part 11, and where it does not. An honest split of what the audit trail, role model, and workflow give you today, and what a Part 11 lab has to build on top.
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July 21, 2026SENAITE under the hood: Plone, Zope, ZODB, and why it matters
SENAITE is a domain layer on three long-lived open-source technologies. Here is what Zope, ZODB, and Plone each do, and how that shapes the API, backups, and the way you extend the system.
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July 11, 2026Anatomy of a SENAITE Analysis Service
The Analysis Service is the smallest unit of measurement in SENAITE. Understanding its parts is the fastest way to feel at home in the setup.
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June 3, 2026SENAITE speaks HL7: senaite.astm 2.0
senaite.astm 2.0 ships an HL7 v2 over MLLP server alongside ASTM, feeds both into SENAITE through a single push consumer, and adds capture-only mode, PHI scrubbing, /stats, and production hardening.
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April 15, 2026Why your SENAITE LIMS needs proactive monitoring
A real case: a single corrupted ZODB record blocked nightly garbage collection for months. The lab never knew. This is what HealthWatch is for.
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December 30, 2024Install SENAITE LIMS on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 server
A production-leaning install of SENAITE on Ubuntu 24.04. System dependencies, buildout, a Plone admin account, and a systemd service that survives reboots.
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September 15, 2024Provision SENAITE LIMS with demo data
A freshly installed SENAITE is empty. One command and one click populate it with realistic sample types, methods, analysis services, and clients.
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August 25, 2024Run SENAITE LIMS in under 5 minutes with Docker
Pull the public SENAITE image, start the container, and have a working LIMS on localhost in less time than a coffee break.
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