# guardian/grid

The Guardian’s image management system

Repository: https://github.com/guardian/grid
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/guardian-grid
Homepage: https://www.theguardian.com/info/developer-blog/2015/aug/12/open-sourcing-grid-image-service
Language: Scala
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: production
Last push: 2026-08-26T17:17:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4759, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1461, forks 120 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:47.453291+00:00)

## What it is
Grid is the Guardian's open-source image management system (digital asset management) built as a set of Scala/Play microservices with an AngularJS web UI. It provides fast image search via Elasticsearch, uploads, metadata editing, cropping, rights management, and publishing of optimised assets on AWS infrastructure.

## Use cases
- manage a newsroom's photo library
- search and organise large image collections
- upload, crop and publish optimised images for the web
- track image rights and usage history
- collaborate on media selection for editorial content

## When to choose
- you need a self-hosted digital asset management system for photojournalism or media production
- your organisation wants fast Elasticsearch-backed image search with rights and usage tracking
- you can run Scala microservices on AWS

## When to avoid
- you need a lightweight single-binary DAM or simple image gallery
- you cannot operate multiple microservices plus Elasticsearch and AWS dependencies
- you mainly need video or audio asset management rather than images

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: image-processing, search-engine, file-upload
- domain: media, photography, cms, web-development
- platform: cloud, self-hosted
- tags: digital-asset-management, scala, play-framework, elasticsearch, angularjs, aws, editorial-tools, microservices, web-server, docker

## Member repositories
- guardian/grid (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:47.453291+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:35:20.815911+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/guardian/grid (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:47.453291+00:00, sha 6f9df4afdda2)
  - homepage: https://www.theguardian.com/info/developer-blog/2015/aug/12/open-sourcing-grid-image-service (fetched 2026-08-29T11:43:55.602725+00:00, sha b3775318a904)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.