---
updatedAt: 2025-09-22T20:31:14.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.v7labs.com/llms.txt
---

# Import annotations with CLI commands

A CLI how-to guide. SDK power-users can [refer to our full SDK docs generated from our source code here](https://darwin-py-sdk.v7labs.com/)

Once you've added data to a dataset in V7, you can use CLI commands to import existing annotations to the images and videos it contains.

> 🚧 Ensure your images and videos have been successfully uploaded and processed
>
> Before you import annotations, make sure your target images and videos are marked as `New`, or have been previously annotated already.

> 📘 Supported formats
>
> The supported formats for importing annotations are Darwin, Pascal VOC, COCO, CSV Tags, CSV Video Tag, Labelbox, Super-Annotate, Dataloop and NIfTI

Enter the command below in the Command Prompt/Terminal. Replace **team name** with your team name in V7, **dataset name** with the name of your dataset, the **format string for the annotations** (in this example, we're using the **darwin** format) and **/path/to/files/** with the path to the folder containing the annotation files on your device.

```
darwin dataset import team-slug/dataset-slug darwin /path/to/files/
```

If you’re importing annotations to items that already have annotations defined within them, the existing annotations will be overwritten. This can result in data loss, so a warning will be displayed before proceeding:

```Text shell
Importing annotations...
Empty annotations will be skipped, if you want to delete annotations rerun with '--delete-for-empty'.
The following 4 dataset items already have annotations that will be overwritten by this import:
- dataset_item_1.jpg
- dataset_item_2.jpg
- dataset_item_3.jpg
- dataset_item_4.jpg
Do you want to proceed with the import? [y/N]
```

This warning can be bypassed by including the optional --overwrite argument in your import command:

```
darwin dataset import team-slug/dataset-slug darwin /path/to/files/ --overwrite
```

If you haven't added any classes to the dataset in V7, you'll receive the prompt below asking if they should be created:

```shell
2 classes are missing remotely
About to add the following classes
	Class 1, Type: Class type
	Class 2, Type: Class type
Do you want to continue [Y/N]
```

Enter **Y** to create any missing classes, and you're all set! When the import is complete, you should see all of your previous annotations added to your dataset.

## Annotator and Reviewer Metadata

Two optional arguments allow you to maintain annotator metadata when importing annotations

\--import-annotators\
\--import-reviewers

The annotator/review information should follow the format detailed on [the Darwin JSON Format page](https://docs.v7labs.com/reference/darwin-json) under "authorship".

```shell
darwin dataset import team-slug/dataset-slug darwin /path/to/files --import-annotators --import-reviewers
```