---

name: annotation-ui description: "Operate X-AnyLabeling GUI annotation setup, XLABEL editing, review, and safe preview workflows." disable-model-invocation: true metadata: disco-role: operating license: GPL 3.0

Annotation UI

Use this sub-skill when the task is to launch or operate X-AnyLabeling's GUI for image/video/text/multimodal annotation, understand or repair XLABEL JSON, review annotation quality, or preview existing XLABEL labels without opening the GUI.

Versioned operating assumptions

• Package family: x-anylabeling-cvhub 4.0.2 with import package anylabeling.
• CLI entry point: xanylabeling.
• Runtime: Python >=3.11; Python 3.12 is recommended.
• Optional extras exist for CPU/GPU variants, but this sub-skill covers model-free GUI annotation and safe local previews. ONNX Runtime CPU provider was verified for the prepared environment; CUDA, TensorRT, model downloads, and training are optional/unverified here.

Route here for

• GUI launch/configuration: xanylabeling, input filename/directory, output directory, work directory, label/flag configuration, autosave, imageData, Qt platform/image-allocation options.
• Importing image directories, single images, and single videos for manual annotation; operating the main canvas and review controls.
• Creating/editing/reviewing rectangle, rotation, polygon, quadrilateral, point, line, linestrip, circle, cuboid, brush polygon, and magic-wand polygon annotations.
• Understanding top-level XLABEL fields, shape fields, classifier flags, VQA/chatbot fields, video-classifier sidecars, checked status, groups, locks, attributes, descriptions, and search filters.
• Running the bundled preview script on existing image + XLABEL directories.

Route away

• Format conversion CLI/API details: load ../conversion-cli/SKILL.md.
• Built-in/custom AI model configuration, downloads, providers, and inference backends: load ../auto-labeling-models/SKILL.md.
• Training, packaging/builds, development setup, or localization workflows: load ../developer-workflows/SKILL.md.

Fast operating workflow

1. Plan storage before launch. Prefer an output directory for labels, not a single output file, when autosave is enabled:

   xanylabeling /data/images \
     --output /data/xlabel \
     --work-dir /data/xanylabeling-work \
     --labels /data/classes.txt \
     --validatelabel exact \
     --autosave \
     --nodata
   

   --output ending in .json is treated as a single file, but autosave will ignore that single-file target and save per-image <stem>.json files. A non-.json --output path is treated as a label directory.

2. Load data. Use the positional filename argument, the File menu, or shortcuts: image directory Ctrl+U, single image Ctrl+I, single video Ctrl+O. Directory imports recursively scan supported image extensions.

3. Create/edit shapes. Use the toolbar/context menu/shortcuts, then edit label, group id, difficult flag, description, KIE links, and configured attributes in the right panel. See references/annotation-workflows.md for tool-specific operations and review controls.

4. Review quality. Use checked status (Ctrl+Alt+K), next/previous unchecked (Ctrl+Shift+D / Ctrl+Shift+A), object loop/select tools, search filters, group display, label visibility, and lock state checks.

5. Inspect JSON shape. Use references/xlabel-schema.md before editing or generating XLABEL files. Validate label setup before turning on exact label validation.

6. Preview labels safely outside the GUI. The bundled script has no auto-install behavior and only uses cv2/numpy when already installed:

   python scripts/preview_xlabel_annotations.py \
     --images /data/images \
     --labels /data/xlabel \
     --output /data/previews \
     --classes /data/classes.txt \
     --shape-types rectangle polygon rotation point
   

   Add --save-video preview.mp4 to pack rendered preview frames into a local MP4 after frame images are written.

References

• references/annotation-workflows.md — launch/config flags, data import, canvas tools, classifiers, VQA/chatbot awareness, and review workflows.
• references/xlabel-schema.md — XLABEL top-level fields, shape semantics, classifier/VQA/chatbot/video-sidecar field semantics, and validation notes.
• references/troubleshooting.md — Qt/display/headless failures, WSL xcb, image allocation limits, invalid config, label validation, imageData bloat, corrupt/missing media, groups, locks, filters, multimedia warnings, and preview-script diagnosis.