Curate BOLD specimen data, offline.

BOLDcurator matches your taxa, countries, datasets and projects against a local snapshot of BOLD's public data package, grades every species with BAGS, and helps you pick clean, representative barcode records — no BOLD API key, no internet connection needed once you have a snapshot.

Download for your computer View source on GitHub

BOLDcurator's Species screen, showing a checklist of species with BAGS grades and specimen counts

Download

Pick your operating system. All builds are free and open source (MIT licence) — see the FAQ below if your OS warns you about an unsigned app on first run.

🪟 Windows

64-bit Windows 10 or 11. The installer adds a Start Menu entry and an uninstaller.

Download installer (.exe) or the portable .zip (no install)

🍎 macOS (Apple Silicon)

M1/M2/M3/M4 Macs, macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer. Unzip and move BOLDcurator to Applications.

Download .zip

🍎 macOS (Intel)

Older, Intel-based Macs (pre-2020), macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer. Unzip and move BOLDcurator to Applications.

Download .zip

🐧 Linux

64-bit x86_64. Unzip and run the boldcurator executable.

Download .zip

Or install with one command: any OS, no security warnings

Paste one line into a terminal. It installs BOLDcurator with uv, which fetches its own copy of Python, so you don't need Python installed first. It then adds a BOLDcurator (Python) shortcut to your Start menu, Applications folder or app menu, and your Desktop. There's nothing to unzip, no admin password, and no "unidentified developer" warning on a Mac. Run the same line again later to update.

macOS or Linux: open Terminal and paste

curl -LsSf https://bge-barcoding.github.io/BOLDcuratoR/install.sh | sh

Windows: open PowerShell from the Start menu and paste

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://bge-barcoding.github.io/BOLDcuratoR/install.ps1 | iex"

Prefer to run the steps yourself? (Or see what the script does)

The script runs these three commands and nothing else. You can read it first: install.sh · install.ps1.

1. Install uv (skip if you already have it). On macOS or Linux:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

…or on Windows (PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

2. Open a new terminal window, then install BOLDcurator and add its shortcut

uv tool install --python 3.11 "boldcurator[desktop]"
boldcurator install-shortcut

Update to the latest version

uv tool upgrade boldcurator

Uninstall

boldcurator remove-shortcut
uv tool uninstall boldcurator

Already manage your own Python (3.10 or newer)? pip install "boldcurator[desktop]" or pipx install "boldcurator[desktop]" works too, followed by boldcurator install-shortcut.

This install and the downloads above can live side by side. They share the same snapshot and saved sessions (the .boldcurator folder in your home directory), so you never download the snapshot twice. Their shortcuts are named differently, so neither replaces the other.

Prefer not to install anything? A hosted web version is also available — see "Is there a version I don't need to install?" in the FAQ. Every release is listed on the GitHub Releases page, including past versions and full changelogs.

Getting started

From opening the app for the first time to your first curated export.

Download and open the app Pick your OS above. On first launch, Windows/macOS may warn that the app is from an unrecognised developer — see the FAQ for how to proceed; it's a one-time prompt.
Get a BOLD snapshot The first-run screen offers a one-click "Download the latest public BOLD snapshot" button, or you can point it at a snapshot file you already have (a colleague's copy, a shared drive).
Search On the Search tab, type the taxa, countries, dataset codes or project codes you want, then click Search. "Check size" first if you're not sure how big the result will be.
Curate Work through the Species, BINs and BAGS grade tabs (grades E and C first — that's where the barcode and the identification disagree). Flag records, correct identifications, and confirm representative specimens.
Export Download curated records as TSV, FASTA or an annotated xlsx report from the Specimens, Species, BINs or Gap analysis tabs.

Video walkthrough — coming soon

What it does

A desktop rewrite of the original BOLDcuratoR Shiny app, built to work against a local copy of BOLD's data instead of BOLD's live API.

Works offline

No BOLD API key, no live network calls once you have a snapshot — everything runs against your own local copy of the public data package.

BAGS grading

Every species graded A–E per the BAGS system, with grades E and C (where the barcode and the name disagree) surfaced first.

BIN & gap analysis

See BIN concordance at a glance, and check which of the taxa you typed were actually found in the result.

Representative selection

Auto-selects a best specimen per BIN × country, which you can review and override before exporting.

Flags, notes & corrections

Flag records, add curator notes, and record corrected identifications — all carried through into every export.

Sessions

Save and resume a search, with auto-save every minute, so a large curation job never has to be finished in one sitting.

BOLDcurator's BAGS Grade C screen, showing a species split across two BINs with per-record flags and notes

BAGS Grade C — a species split across more than one BIN, worked one problem at a time.

FAQ

Do I need a BOLD API key or an internet connection?

No. BOLDcurator searches and curates against a local snapshot file on your own computer. The only time it needs a network connection is to download that snapshot in the first place (or a newer one later) — everything else, including every search, runs entirely offline.

Windows says "Windows protected your PC" / macOS says the app is from an "unidentified developer" — is it safe?

Yes — this is expected. BOLDcurator's builds aren't currently code-signed (a paid step the project hasn't taken on yet), so both operating systems show their standard warning for any unsigned app, not something specific to BOLDcurator. On Windows, click "More info" then "Run anyway". On macOS, open BOLDcurator once and dismiss the warning, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, click "Open Anyway" next to the message about BOLDcurator, and enter your password (on macOS 14 or earlier, right-clicking the app and choosing "Open" also works). You only need to do this once per machine. If macOS instead asks about lots of individual files (names ending in .so or .dylib), you have an older download — get the latest version above, which asks just once. To avoid the warning altogether, use the one-command install instead. It builds the app's shortcut on your own computer rather than downloading it, so there is nothing for Windows or macOS to warn about.

Downloading the snapshot fails with "CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED"

That was a bug in the macOS builds up to V3.3: the app couldn't find your Mac's trusted certificates, so it refused to talk to Zenodo. Later releases use your operating system's own certificates, so updating fixes it. To get going without updating, download the snapshot in your browser from its Zenodo page, double-click the downloaded .duckdb.gz file to unpack it, then choose "I already have a snapshot file" in the app and point it at the .duckdb file.

Where do my downloads (TSV, FASTA, xlsx) go?

Your computer's usual Downloads folder, the same as any other website download. If the app is running in its own native window rather than a browser tab, you may instead see a "Save As" dialog, defaulting to Downloads too.

Where is the BOLD snapshot stored, and how do I update it?

In a .boldcurator folder in your user/home directory, never inside the installed app itself. Use the "Snapshot file" panel on the app's Data tab to see which file is in use, download a newer public snapshot, or point at a different file — a new download lands alongside the one you're using, and the app tells you when a restart is needed to switch to it.

Where are my saved sessions, and what would I lose them?

Sessions are stored in one SQLite file, also under your .boldcurator folder, and auto-save every minute under whatever name you give the session (or "Auto-save" if you leave it blank). Deleting that file, or deleting a specific session from the Data tab, is the only way to lose one — closing the app does not.

Is there a version I don't need to install?

The original BOLDcuratoR is a hosted Shiny web app — try it in your browser with no download at all. It works against BOLD's live API rather than an offline snapshot, so it needs a BOLD API key and an internet connection for every search — the desktop app above is the offline alternative for large or repeated curation work.

I found a bug, or want a feature added — where do I report it?

Open an issue on the project's GitHub Issues page. Screenshots and the exact steps you took help a lot.