Create a task

A task represents an individual unit of work to be done by a Contributor. There's a 1:1 mapping between a task and the data to be labeled. For example, there'd be 1 task for each image, video, or lidar sequence needing to be labeled.

You specify how the labeling should be done for a given task when making an API call specifying a set of task parameters to the endpoint you'd like to leverage.

Tasks have a type such as "Image Annotation", "Video Annotation", "Lidar Segmentation", or "Document Transcription".

For information on how to create specific task types, you can click on the links below:

Task Metadata

Tasks objects have a metadata parameter. You can use this parameter to attach key-value data to tasks.

Metadata is useful for storing additional, structured information on an object - especially information that can help you ingest the task response or keep track of what content this task corresponds to.

Metadata is not used by Scale (e.g., to affect how the task is done).

Common use-cases for metadata:

Internal identifiers
File paths
Scenario / Run / Case identifiers
Environment details (time of day, location)
Sensor information
Guideline / Taxonomy versions

Example Task Object

{
  "task_id": "576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc",
  "created_at": "2016-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
  "updated_at": "2016-06-23T09:10:02.798Z",
  "completed_at": "2016-06-23T09:10:02.798Z",  
  "type": "categorization",
  "status": "completed",
  "instruction": "Would you say this item is big or small?",
  "params": {
    "attachment_type": "text",
    "attachment": "car",
    "categories": [
      "big",
      "small"
    ]
  },
  "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
  "callback_completed": true,
  "response": {
    "category": "big"
  },
  "metadata": {},
  "audits": [
    {
      "audited_by": "[email protected]",
      "audited_at": "2016-06-24T15:32:03.585Z",
      "audit_time_secs": 120,
      "audit_result": "accepted",
      "audit_source": "customer"
    },
    {
      "audited_by": "[email protected]",
      "audited_at": "2016-06-23T10:01:02.352Z",
      "audit_time_secs": 511,
      "audit_result": "fixed",
      "audit_source": "scale"
    }
  ],
  "tags": ["experiment_1", "owner:david"],
  "unique_id": "product_experiment_dg3d9x83"
}

Retrieve a task

Efficiently retrieve detailed task information, including the ability to retrieve a specific task using a task ID. This resourceful functionality allows seamless integration and thorough analysis of tasks, enhancing your workflow's data-driven capabilities. Explore task details effortlessly through this essential endpoint.

Path Params

taskIdstringrequired

Request

GET/v1/task/{taskId}

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json"  # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
}

# Adding authentication to the GET request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

GET/v1/task/{taskId}

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID to retrieve
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID

# Retrieve the task details
task = client.get_task(task_id)

# Print the task details
print(task.as_dict())

Response

{
  "task_id": "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc",
  "created_at": "2021-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
  "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
  "type": "imageannotation",
  "status": "canceled",
  "instruction": "Label every object in this image",
  "params": {
    "attachment": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
    "geometries": {
      "box": {
        "objects_to_annotate": [
          "vehicle",
          "pedestrian"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "key": "value",
    "key2": "value2"
  }
}

Retrieve Multiple Tasks

This is a paginated endpoint that retrieves a list of your tasks.

The tasks will be returned in descending order based on created_at time. All time filters expect an ISO 8601-formatted string, like '2021-04-25' or '2021-04-25T03:14:15-07:00'

The pagination is based on the limit and next_token parameters, which determine the page size and the current page we are on. The value of next_token is a unique pagination token for each page (nerdy details if you were curious). Make the call again using the returned token to retrieve the next page.

Query Params

start_timestring

The minimum value of created_at for tasks to be returned

Request

GET/v1/tasks

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint with query parameters
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/tasks?status=completed&type=imageannotation&project=kitten_labeling&batch=kitten_labeling_2020-07&customer_review_status=accepted&limit=100&include_attachment_url=true"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json"  # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
}

# Adding authentication to the GET request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

GET/v1/tasks

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define optional filters (adjust as necessary)
filters = {
    "project_name": "your_project_name",  # Replace with your project name
    "status": "completed",  # Filter by task status (optional)
    "created_after": "2023-01-01T00:00:00Z",  # Filter by start time (optional)
    "created_before": "2023-12-31T23:59:59Z",  # Filter by end time (optional)
}

# Retrieve the list of tasks with optional filters
tasks = client.get_tasks(**filters)

# Print the details of each task
for task in tasks:
    print(task.as_dict())

Response

{
  "docs": [
    {
      "task_id": "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc",
      "created_at": "2021-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
      "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
      "type": "imageannotation",
      "status": "canceled",
      "instruction": "Label every object in this image",
      "params": {
        "attachment": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
        "geometries": {
          "box": {
            "objects_to_annotate": [
              "vehicle",
              "pedestrian"
            ]
          }
        }
      },
      "metadata": {
        "key": "value",
        "key2": "value2"
      }
    }
  ],
  "total": 220,
  "limit": 100,
  "has_more": true,
  "next_token": "eyJ0YXNrX2lkIjoiNjBkYjgwZTFkYmRkNTMwMDExNDZlMzg5IiwiY3JlYXRlZF9hdCI6IjIwMjEtMDYtMjlUMjA6MjE6NTMuMjg5WiJ9"
}

Cancel Task

You may only cancel pending tasks, and the endpoint will return a 400 error code if you attempt to cancel a completed task

If the task to be cancled had a unique id, specifying clear_unique_id=true will remove the unique id. Canceling tasks is idempotent such that calling this endpoint multiple times will still return a 200 success response.

Path Params

taskIdstringrequired

Query Params

clear_unique_idstring

If true, will clear a task's unique_id, thus allowing the same unique id to be used in future tasks.

Request

POST/v1/task/{taskId}/cancel

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint with query parameters
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc/cancel?clear_unique_id=true"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json"  # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
}

# Adding authentication to the POST request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

POST/v1/task/{taskId}/cancel

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID to cancel
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID

# Cancel the task
client.cancel_task(task_id)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Task '{task_id}' has been canceled.")

Response

{
  "task_id": "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc",
  "created_at": "2021-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
  "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
  "type": "imageannotation",
  "status": "canceled",
  "instruction": "Label every object in this image",
  "params": {
    "attachment": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
    "geometries": {
      "box": {
        "objects_to_annotate": [
          "vehicle",
          "pedestrian"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "key": "value",
    "key2": "value2"
  }
}

Set Task Metadata

This endpoint sets the metadata field on a task.

You may set the metadata field on any existing task using valid key-value data.

Updating a task's metadata field is idempotent such that calling this endpoint multiple times will still return a 200 success response.

Path Params

taskIdstringrequired

Request

POST/v1/task/{taskId}/setMetadata

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc/setMetadata"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json",       # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
    "content-type": "application/json"  # Specify the content type of the request
}

# Define the payload for setting metadata
payload = {
    # Add your metadata here
    # For example: "metadata_key": "metadata_value"
}

# Adding authentication to the POST request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

POST/v1/task/{taskId}/setMetadata

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID and the metadata to set
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID
metadata = {
    "key1": "value1",
    "key2": "value2"
}

# Set the metadata for the task
client.set_task_metadata(task_id, metadata)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Metadata for task '{task_id}' has been set to {metadata}.")

Response

{
  "task_id": "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc",
  "created_at": "2021-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
  "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
  "type": "imageannotation",
  "status": "canceled",
  "instruction": "Label every object in this image",
  "params": {
    "attachment": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
    "geometries": {
      "box": {
        "objects_to_annotate": [
          "vehicle",
          "pedestrian"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "key": "value",
    "key2": "value2"
  }
}

Update unique_id

Easily enhance task management and data accuracy with the Scale Update Task Unique ID API endpoint. Seamlessly modify and optimize task identifiers, ensuring your task tracking and organization remain precise and efficient. This endpoint empowers you to maintain data integrity and adaptability, offering a streamlined way to manage unique IDs associated with tasks within your workflow. Explore this versatile endpoint to effortlessly tailor task identification according to your evolving needs.

Path Params

task_idstringrequired

ID of the Task to modify

Body Params

Request

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/unique_id

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc/unique_id"

# Define the payload to set the unique ID for the task
payload = {
    "unique_id": "56766ba764ee6c4761f6f9b6015657cc6"  # Unique ID to be set
}

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json",       # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
    "content-type": "application/json"  # Specify the content type of the request
}

# Adding authentication to the POST request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/unique_id

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID and the new unique ID
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID
new_unique_id = "new_unique_id_value"  # Replace with the new unique ID

# Update the unique_id for the task
client.update_task_unique_id(task_id, new_unique_id)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Unique ID for task '{task_id}' has been updated to '{new_unique_id}'.")

Response

{
  "task_id": "601ba74e98762345bcbcaaaa",
  "created_at": "2021-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
  "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
  "type": "imageannotation",
  "status": "completed",
  "instruction": "Label every object in this image",
  "params": {
    "attachment": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
    "geometries": {
      "box": {
        "objects_to_annotate": [
          "vehicle",
          "pedestrian"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "unique_id": "new_unique_id"
  "metadata": {}
}

Delete unique_id

Enables the secure removal of task identifiers, providing you with enhanced control over your data management processes. You can confidently eliminate obsolete or redundant task unique IDs from your system, maintaining data accuracy and improving workflow organization. Seamlessly integrate this functionality into your task management workflow to ensure your records remain up-to-date and clutter-free. Explore the convenience and flexibility of the Scale Delete Task Unique ID endpoint to optimize your data management practices.

Path Params

task_idstringrequired

ID of the Task to modify

Request

DELETE/v1/task/{task_id}/unique_id

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc/unique_id"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json"  # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
}

# Adding authentication to the DELETE request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.delete(url, headers=headers, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

DELETE/v1/task/{task_id}/unique_id

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID for which you want to clear the unique ID
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID

# Clear the unique_id for the task
client.clear_task_unique_id(task_id)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Unique ID for task '{task_id}' has been cleared.")

Response

{
  "task_id": "601ba74e98762345bcbcaaaa",
  "created_at": "2021-06-23T09:09:34.752Z",
  "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
  "type": "imageannotation",
  "status": "completed",
  "instruction": "Label every object in this image",
  "params": {
    "attachment": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
    "geometries": {
      "box": {
        "objects_to_annotate": [
          "vehicle",
          "pedestrian"
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "metadata": {}
}

Add Task Tag

With this endpoint, you can include a list of tags to be added to a task. If a tag is already associated with the task, it will be ignored to avoid duplication. Please note that setting an empty or null string as a tag is not allowed. Ensure to provide valid non-empty strings in the tags list to update the task's tags successfully.

Path Params

task_idstringrequired

ID of the Task to modify

Body Params

RAW_BODYarray of strings

List of tags to add to the task

Request

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/tags

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/576ba74eec471ff9b01557cc/tags"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json",       # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
    "content-type": "application/json"  # Specify the content type of the request
}

# Define the payload to set the tags for the task
payload = [
    "tag1",
    "tag2",
    "tag3"
]

# Adding authentication to the PUT request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.put(url, headers=headers, json=payload, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/tags

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID and the tags to add
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID
tags_to_add = ["tag1", "tag2"]  # Replace with the tags you want to add

# Add the tags to the task
client.add_task_tags(task_id, tags_to_add)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Tags {tags_to_add} have been added to task '{task_id}'.")

Set Task Tag

This endpoint allows you to set a completely new list of tags on a task. This will replace all currently existing tags on it if the target exists.

Path Params

task_idstringrequired

ID of the Task to modify

Body Params

RAW_BODYarray of strings

List of tags to add to the task

Request

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/tags

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key and task ID
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'
TASK_ID = 'task_id_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = f"https://api.scale.com/v1/task/{TASK_ID}/tags"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json",       # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
    "content-type": "application/json"  # Specify the content type of the request
}

# Define the payload to set the tags for the task
payload = [
    "tag1",
    "tag2",
    "tag3"
]

# Adding authentication to the POST request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=payload, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/tags

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID and the tags to add
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID
tags_to_add = ["tag1", "tag2"]  # Replace with the tags you want to add

# Add the tags to the task
client.set_task_tags(task_id, tags_to_add)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Tags {tags_to_add} have been added to task '{task_id}'.")

Delete Task Tag

Path Params

task_idstringrequired

ID of the Task to modify

Body Params

RAW_BODYarray of strings

List of tags to add to the task

Request

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/tags

import requests

# Replace with your actual API key and task ID
API_KEY = 'your_api_key_here'
TASK_ID = 'task_id_here'

# Define the URL for the API endpoint
url = f"https://api.scale.com/v1/task/{TASK_ID}/tags"

# Set up the headers for the request
headers = {
    "accept": "application/json",       # Specify that we want the response in JSON format
    "content-type": "application/json"  # Specify the content type of the request
}

# Adding authentication to the DELETE request
# The auth parameter requires a tuple with the API key and an empty string
response = requests.delete(url, headers=headers, auth=(API_KEY, ''))

# Print the response text to see the result
print(response.text)

POST/v1/task/{task_id}/tags

import scaleapi

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task ID and the tags to add
task_id = "601ba74eec471ff9b01557cc"  # Replace with your actual task ID
tags_to_add = ["tag1", "tag2"]  # Replace with the tags you want to add

# Add the tags to the task
client.delete_task_tags(task_id, tags_to_add)

# Print confirmation
print(f"Tags {tags_to_add} have been added to task '{task_id}'.")

Avoiding Duplicate Tasks

Creating duplicate tasks is an issue every team should be mindful to avoid.

Scale AI provides two different mechanisms to prevent duplicate tasks from being created in its task creation endpoints. This allows you to resubmit requests that may have failed in transit or otherwise need to be retried without the risk of creating duplicate tasks.

Option 1: The `unique_id` field

The unique_id field is a field available on every task type Scale provides.

Once a unique_id has been submitted to Scale, any future task creation requests with the same unique_id will fail with a 409 error that also conveniently points to the conflicting task.

Values passed into the unique_id field are permanently associated with the task and will always be returned to you when retrieving tasks from our platform.

You are able to query for tasks directly based on the unique_id field at any point with our Task Retrieval endpoints.

Best Practices:

unique_id should be thought of as your own customizable id for a task. Ideally, this id can be easy to look up based on the data you have available on your side. A good unique_id might be the filename being submitted, or other types of metadata like a scene or run id that you use internally.
unique_id is set globally across all projects and task types. If you'd like to enforce uniqueness only within a project or task type, we recommend simply prepending or appending the project or task type to the unique id itself, problem solved!

Option 2: The `Idempotency-Key` header

To use this feature, provide a header Idempotency-Key: <key>. You, the client, are responsible for ensuring the uniqueness of your chosen keys. We recommend using V4 UUIDs.

The results of requests specifying an idempotency key are saved. If we later receive a matching request with the same idempotency key, the saved response will be returned, and no additional task will be created. Note that this behavior holds even when the response is an error. Keys are removed after 24 hours.

If an incoming request has the same idempotency key as a saved request, but the two requests do not match in parameters or the users associated with the two requests are different, we will return a 409 error.

In rare situations, we may return a 429 error if two matching requests with identical idempotency keys are made simultaneously. In this case, it is safe to retry.

When would I use this instead of the unique_id field?
Using the header-based approach is useful in retry logic that catches network or other transient failure modes when you would be immediately retrying the exact same request. Specifically, the feature that allows you to seamlessly get the same task response back if the payload didn't change makes for easier code integrations.

You are able to use both options simultaneously as well.

Workflow Support

Because Unique Ids are permanently tied to a task, this means if something unexpected happened, it can be hard to recover on your own. We have added two features to help support more robust workflows.

Canceling Tasks
When canceling tasks, there is a clear_unique_id query parameter you can specify on the request. See the Cancel Task endpoint for more details.

Errored Tasks
Sometimes after a task is submitted, it can run into an error, especially in regards to processing attachments.

Everywhere you can specify a unique id, you can also specify clear_unique_id_on_error: true. As the param name suggests, if the task reaches an error status, the unique id will automatically be unset, such that you could submit a new task with the same new unique id.

Request

import scaleapi
from scaleapi.tasks import TaskType
from scaleapi.exceptions import ScaleDuplicateResource

# Initialize the ScaleClient with your API key
client = scaleapi.ScaleClient("YOUR_API_KEY_HERE")

# Define the task payload
payload = {
    "project": "your_project_name",  # Replace with your project name
    "callback_url": "http://www.example.com/callback",
    "instruction": "Draw a box around each object.",
    "attachment_type": "image",
    "attachment": "http://i.imgur.com/v4cBreD.jpg",
    "unique_id": "unique_task_id_12345",  # Replace with a unique identifier for the task
    "geometries": {
        "box": {
            "objects_to_annotate": ["Object"],
            "min_height": 10,
            "min_width": 10,
        }
    },
}

# Attempt to create the task, handling duplicates
try:
    task = client.create_task(TaskType.ImageAnnotation, **payload)
    print(f"Task created successfully: {task.as_dict()}")
except ScaleDuplicateResource as err:
    print(f"Task creation failed: {err.message}")

Adding unique_id to your payload

{  
  	"unique_id": "s3://bucket/file.png",
    "instruction": "Do the thing",
  	"callback_url": "[email protected]",
  	...
}

Example 409 Error

{
    "status_code": 409,
    "error": 'The unique_id ("s3://bucket/file.png") is already used for a different task (602c399c6d092c00115aa3c9).'
}

Example Idempotent Key Header

curl "https://api.scale.com/v1/task/comparison" \
  -u "{{ApiKey}}:" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: UNIQUE_IDENTIFIER"
  -d callback_url="http://www.example.com/callback" \
  ...

Create a task

Task Metadata

Retrieve a task

Path Params

Retrieve Multiple Tasks

Query Params

Cancel Task

Path Params

Query Params

Set Task Metadata

Path Params

Update unique_id

Path Params

Body Params

Delete unique_id

Path Params

Add Task Tag

Path Params

Body Params

Set Task Tag

Path Params

Body Params

Delete Task Tag

Path Params

Body Params

Avoiding Duplicate Tasks

Option 1: The unique_id field

Best Practices:

Option 2: The Idempotency-Key header

Workflow Support

Option 1: The `unique_id` field

Option 2: The `Idempotency-Key` header