README.md

---
title: Handwriting OCR Backend
emoji: ✍️
colorFrom: blue
colorTo: indigo
sdk: docker
app_port: 7860
pinned: false
---

# Handwriting OCR Backend

FastAPI backend that turns handwritten images into text using
`microsoft/trocr-base-handwritten`. Multi-line pages are split into lines and
recognized line-by-line.

## Endpoints

| Method | Path      | Description                                  |
| ------ | --------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| GET    | `/`       | Service info                                 |
| GET    | `/health` | Liveness check + device                      |
| POST   | `/ocr`    | Upload an image, get recognized text (JSON)  |
| GET    | `/docs`   | Interactive Swagger UI (test uploads here)   |

### `POST /ocr`

Send `multipart/form-data` with a `file` field containing an image.

```json
{
  "text": "This is a handwritten\nexample\nWrite as good as you can.",
  "lines": ["This is a handwritten", "example", "Write as good as you can."],
  "line_count": 3,
  "model": "microsoft/trocr-base-handwritten",
  "device": "cpu",
  "latency_seconds": 3.8
}
```

> Tip: clear handwriting and good lighting give the best results. The page is
> segmented into lines automatically, so multi-line notes work too.

## Run locally with Docker

```bash
docker build -t handwriting-ocr-backend .
docker run -p 7860:7860 handwriting-ocr-backend
# then open http://localhost:7860/docs
```