Synaplan Integration for Nextcloud

AI-powered document summarization, translation, knowledge base, and research chat — directly in Nextcloud.

Features

• Summarize — Generate document summaries from the file context menu (bullet points, paragraph, or abstractive; adjustable length and output language). Results are rendered as formatted Markdown.
• Translate — Translate files to multiple languages via the file context menu, with the result rendered as Markdown.
• Add to Knowledge — Upload files to the Synaplan AI knowledge base for RAG-powered search and chat, with group management and a staged upload progress view.
• Research Chat — AI assistant (full-page view and a floating in-page launcher) with knowledge-group selection, model picker, streaming answers, and Markdown rendering. The /pic and /vid commands generate images and videos when the corresponding models are configured. Requests run through Synaplan's multi-task (DAG) routing on the connected instance, so a single complex prompt can be decomposed server-side into several steps (e.g. search knowledge → summarize → generate) instead of one flat answer.

Language handling

• Set a default answer language in the admin settings.
• Optionally follow each user's Nextcloud interface language automatically, falling back to the default when a language isn't supported.
• The resolved language applies to chat answers, summaries, and translations — no more "always English".

Personalisation & live feedback

• Personal memories — when Synaplan's memory service (Qdrant) is available and enabled by the admin, the chat can enrich answers with the user's memories (toggle in the chat).
• Live status — the chat shows the active model, answer language, image/video availability, the selected knowledge base, and memory state, and mirrors Synaplan's routing pipeline as staged progress (sorting → searching → generating) while the answer is prepared.
• Real streaming — answers stream token-by-token rather than appearing all at once.

Supported File Types

Binary formats (PDF, Office, OpenDocument) are processed via Synaplan's built-in Tika text extraction.

Requirements

• Nextcloud 33–35
• PHP 8.2+
• A running Synaplan instance with a valid API key

Installation

From the Nextcloud App Store (recommended)

1. Go to your Nextcloud instance → Apps
2. Search for Synaplan Integration
3. Click Download and enable

From a Release Tarball

# Download the latest release
wget https://github.com/metadist/synaplan-nextcloud/releases/latest/download/synaplan_integration.tar.gz

# Extract into Nextcloud's custom_apps directory
tar -xzf synaplan_integration.tar.gz -C /path/to/nextcloud/custom_apps/

# Enable the app
php /path/to/nextcloud/occ app:enable synaplan_integration

From Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/metadist/synaplan-nextcloud.git
cd synaplan-nextcloud

composer install
npm install
npm run build

# Symlink into Nextcloud
ln -s "$(pwd)" /path/to/nextcloud/custom_apps/synaplan_integration

php /path/to/nextcloud/occ app:enable synaplan_integration

Configuration

1. Go to Admin Settings → Synaplan Integration
2. Enter your Synaplan instance URL (e.g., https://synaplan.example.com)
3. Enter your Synaplan API key
4. Click Test connection to verify

Language & AI behaviour (admin)

• Default answer language — the language the AI replies in by default.
• Use each user's Nextcloud interface language when supported — when enabled, answers follow the signed-in user's interface language and fall back to the default otherwise.
• Allow personal memories in chat — lets users enrich answers with their Synaplan memories (requires the memory service, Qdrant, to be available in Synaplan).

Development

composer install          # PHP dependencies
npm install               # JS dependencies

make ci-local             # Every CI job except e2e — run before each push
make lint                 # php-cs-fixer, ESLint, Prettier
make stan                 # PHPStan
make test                 # PHPUnit
make test-contract        # Every call to Synaplan against the pinned Synaplan's OpenAPI spec (Docker)
make typecheck            # vue-tsc
make test-unit-js         # Vitest
make test-e2e             # Playwright journeys (see End-to-end journeys)
make build                # Production frontend build
make help                 # Show all available commands

npm run dev               # Watch mode (auto-rebuild on changes)

Local Nextcloud next to Synaplan (WSL)

Start the Synaplan stack with Keycloak first (docker compose --profile oidc up -d in ../synaplan), then:

make dev-up        # copies docker-compose.dev.yml.example (gitignored) on the first run

The first run builds the frontend when js/ is missing (that directory is not in git). A later make dev-up leaves an existing build alone.

• Nextcloud: http://localhost:8081 — admin / admin; the test people ada, bob and carol (password <name>-dev-pass). Ada has the folders the journeys use; Incoming-DE (edit) and Specs (read) are shared with Bob.
• Organisation login: the Keycloak button on the login page. Keycloak's ada (ada-dev-pass) signs in as the local ada. NC_OIDC=0 make dev-reset dev-up installs without it.
• Version: nextcloud:35-apache by default; NC_IMAGE=nextcloud:33-apache make dev-reset dev-up for the floor (a major version change needs fresh volumes).
• MariaDB on a private network, system cron (nextcloud-cron), mail to Synaplan's MailHog (http://localhost:8025).
• The app is mounted from this repo and preconfigured for the local stack: it calls Synaplan at http://backend and sends browsers to http://localhost:5173.
• Three modes: shared key, provision (create an account per user), and link (each person connects their existing Synaplan account). Synaplan must have Linked platforms enabled (PLATFORM_LINKS.ENABLED) for link.
• Ready check: ../synaplan/_devextras/testing/cloud-apps/env-check.sh --cloud nextcloud --oidc.

make dev-down stops the stack and keeps the volumes; make dev-reset deletes them. make dev-occ CMD="user:list", make dev-logs and make dev-shell help while it runs.

End-to-end journeys (Playwright)

The journeys in tests/e2e click through a real Nextcloud next to the Synaplan test stack: connect an account, Summarize, Translate, Chat about this file, Make searchable by AI, save a generated image, disconnect on either side, and accounts created by the administrator. CI runs them on Nextcloud 33 and 35.

npx playwright install chromium   # once
make e2e-up       # Synaplan test stack on :8001 (pinned image, files from ../synaplan), Nextcloud on :8091
make test-e2e     # the journeys, in order, with one browser
make e2e-down     # stop both stacks and delete their data

• NC_IMAGE=nextcloud:33-apache make e2e-up starts the floor; E2E_NC_PORT moves Nextcloud, SYNAPLAN_DIR points at another synaplan checkout.
• The setup resets the test people, so make test-e2e runs again on the same stacks.
• tests/e2e/synaplan-test-stack.yml is a Compose overlay for the Synaplan test container (app_test), not for the Nextcloud plugin:
• It adds redis_test (REDIS_DSN) for the one-time link codes of "Connect your Synaplan account".
• It sets STRIPE_SECRET_KEY: '' on app_test because Synaplan's backend/.env.test ships a fake Stripe test key (sk_test_fakeKey...) for billing unit tests, which makes Synaplan's PremiumFeatureGate require a paid plan before minting API keys (403 API_PLAN_REQUIRED). Clearing STRIPE_SECRET_KEY switches the Synaplan test container into self-hosted / open-source mode (billing off) so the provisioning journey (05-provision.spec.ts) can create accounts and mint per-user API keys. The Nextcloud app itself has no Stripe integration or keys.
• It sets CLOUD_FILES_ENABLED: 'true' on app_test so the cloud file status and sidebar routes are active during E2E runs.
• A host port of the Synaplan test stack already taken (3308, 11434, …): put a compose file that drops it in E2E_SYNAPLAN_FILES.

Release

Releases come from CI (.github/workflows/release.yml):

1. A pull request sets the version in appinfo/info.xml and package.json and dates its CHANGELOG.md section (## 1.7.0 – 2026-10-20). The workflow's dry run checks that the three agree, packages, and signs with a throwaway key.
2. After the merge, and once All Checks Passed is green on main, tag the merge commit: git tag v1.7.0 && git push origin v1.7.0.
3. The workflow refuses a tag that is not on main or whose CI run failed, and an info.xml the App Store schema rejects (scripts/check-info-xml.sh). It packages, signs, verifies the signature against the certificate the App Store holds for the app, attaches the tarball and its signature to a GitHub release and publishes the release to the App Store.

v1.7.0-rc.1 stops at a draft GitHub release, for a test install before the release. Running the workflow again for a tag reuses the files its release already holds, so the App Store's signature keeps matching. The workflow needs two repository secrets: APP_STORE_SIGNING_KEY (the app's private key) and APP_STORE_TOKEN (an App Store API token of an owner or co-maintainer).

By hand, with the key in ~/.nextcloud/certificates/:

make package              # Build unsigned tarball
make sign                 # Build + sign (requires certificate)
make appstore             # Build, sign, and show upload instructions

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE.