Spot a slab
Typing is how most collectors verify — about 30 seconds, and it's the check a cloned code can't fake.
- Fill the window with the label — label, not slab, slab resting on the table. The code has to be big in the picture; a whole slab in frame is what failed. Phone parallel, about 6–12 inches away.
- Tilt slowly — slab supported on the table, moving a few degrees so the reflection slides off the code. Glare is the enemy; angle defeats it, brightness doesn't.
- Shade the light — turn so overhead light is shaded or behind you.
- Dark, matte background — rest the slab on a dark, clean surface; place it, don't drag it.
Torch is a dark-room tool. On a slab it usually whites out the label — tilt or shade first. It starts OFF.
Type the cert here — the photo stays in view:
The printed label text itself is not OCR'd inside Slab Spotter — label OCR runs in the house lane (Lister / intake desk), and its read is imported below.
The photo is decoded right here first, at full resolution — a QR code or barcode in it fills the
cert above. If no code reads, you type the cert with the photo in view (no scrolling away).
For the printed label text, run the house OCR lane (tools/spot-read.py) and import
the read below — OCR runs in the house lane, not in the Spotter.
Recent spots (this device only)
Devices & Meta surfaces
Verdicts from the house surfaces sweep (2026-10-22; full record in SURFACES.md). SUPPORTED rows name their evidence; FUTURE rows print their trigger.