PID Resolver Frontend

A public Next.js frontend for resolving and exploring Persistent Identifiers (PIDs).

This frontend is intended to run using the public APIs of PID resolver backend. It allows any user to retrieve information about publicly accessible PIDs and resolve them to their associated URLs without logging in.

Features

The PID Resolver Frontend allows unauthenticated users to:

• Check whether a namespace exists.
• Check whether a mount/base URI exists.
• Search for a PID within a namespace.
• Search for a PID using a mounted base URI.
• View the complete details of a PID.
• Directly access a PID details page through its URL.
• Redirect to the URL associated with a PID.
• Display an error when a PID does not exist.
• Display an error when a mount or namespace does not exist.
• Display an error when a PID has no associated URL.

The frontend does not require authentication.

---

How It Works

A user first provides either:

1. A namespace ID, or
2. A mounted base URI

through the URL.

The application verifies the namespace or mount with the Go backend. If it exists, the user is shown a PID query page.

From that page, the user can:

• Enter a PID and click Show Details.
• Enter a PID and click Redirect.

The PID details include:

• PID
• Associated URL
• Metadata
• Date created
• Date updated
• Tags
• Deleted status

If the PID has no associated URL (url: null), attempting to redirect displays a 404 URL Not Found error.

---

Namespace Resolution

Namespace-based resolution uses the following URL structure:

/resolve/{namespaceId}

For example:

http://pid.bayern:3000/resolve/03b56314-59c4-40e0-8531-17c95961d6ee

where 03b56314-59c4-40e0-8531-17c95961d6ee is the namespace ID.

Opening this URL first verifies that the namespace exists. If valid, the application displays a PID query page.

A PID can also be accessed directly:

/resolve/{namespaceId}/{pid}

To directly resolve and redirect to the URL associated with a PID:

/resolve/{namespaceId}/{pid}/go

If the PID does not exist, a 404 error is displayed.

If the PID exists but its url field is null, a URL Not Found error is displayed.

---

Mount Resolution

The frontend also supports resolving PIDs through mounted base URIs.

For example, if the following base URI is mounted in the backend:

http://pid.bayern:3000/base/

then opening:

http://pid.bayern:3000/base/

opens the PID query page for that mount.

A PID can be accessed directly using:

/{baseURI}/{pid}

To directly resolve and redirect to the associated resource:

/{baseURI}/{pid}/go

---

Homepage

The homepage is available at:

http://pid.bayern:3000/

The homepage contains a quick PID resolution field.

Users can enter a path consisting of:

baseUri/PID

---

Deployment

This project includes a Dockerfile. The corresponding docker image is automatically built after every commit and published as a GitHub package.

It can be run with something like:

docker run -t -i -p 3000:3000 -e BACKEND_URL=http://pid.example.com/api/v2 ghcr.io/fau-cdi/pid_frontend:latest

The following environment variables can be configured:

• BACKEND_URL: A url to the backend, should include the "api/v2". Should not have a trailing slash.
• DOCUMENTATION_URL: A link to user-facing documentation. Defaults to the spec documentation.
• IMPRINT_URL: A link to an imprint.
• PRIVACY_POLICY_URL: A link to the privacy policy.
• ACCESSIBILITY_URL: A link to an accessibility notice.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Bidisha Borgohain and contributors.

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

---