No-Mutation Principle
Core Philosophy
Section titled “Core Philosophy”Papra follows a fundamental principle: documents are never mutated after upload. When you input a document, you can always retrieve it exactly as it was uploaded.
The Design Choice
Section titled “The Design Choice”An archiving platform should guarantee users they can retrieve their documents in their original form. This means:
- No conversion to different formats
- No metadata injection into the file itself
- No overlay of OCR-ed content on scanned PDFs
- No processing that modifies the original file
The simple mental model is: “If I input X, I’ll retrieve X”
Why This Matters
Section titled “Why This Matters”Trust and Reliability
Section titled “Trust and Reliability”When archiving important documents, users need absolute confidence that their files remain untouched. Whether it’s a legal document, a medical record, or a personal photo, the original should be sacrosanct.
Simplicity
Section titled “Simplicity”This approach eliminates the mental overhead of wondering “what happened to my file?” Users don’t need to understand concepts like:
- Original vs. processed versions
- Format conversions
- OCR overlays
- Metadata injection
Flexibility for the Future
Section titled “Flexibility for the Future”While Papra currently doesn’t mutate documents, the architecture leaves room for future enhancements. If needed, a “processed” version concept could be added alongside originals, giving users the choice without forcing a particular model.