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FHIR ANT

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources — Agile Networking Tool

FHIR ANT is a complete FHIR R4 server that runs on your Android phone. It's built with Dart using the fhir_r4 package and designed for mobile-first deployments, testing, and low-resource healthcare settings.

What It Does​

FHIR ANT turns your phone into a fully functional FHIR server. Other devices on the same network can connect to it using standard FHIR REST APIs — just like they would with any cloud-hosted FHIR server.

Use cases:

  • Testing & development — Spin up a FHIR server instantly without cloud infrastructure
  • Demonstrations — Show FHIR workflows at conferences, meetings, or training sessions
  • Low-resource settings — Provide FHIR capabilities where internet connectivity is limited or unavailable
  • Education — Learn FHIR by interacting with a real server on your own device
  • Personal health data — Store your own health records locally with full privacy

Architecture​

FHIR ANT is a monorepo with four packages:

fhirant/
└── packages/
    ├── fhirant/               # Flutter mobile app (Android)
    ├── fhirant_server/        # HTTP server (Shelf-based)
    ├── fhirant_db/            # Database (Drift/SQLite + SQLCipher)
    └── fhirant_logging/       # JSON logging service
  • fhirant_server handles routing, middleware, and all FHIR operations
  • fhirant_db extends fhir_r4_db with server-specific tables (users, export jobs, authorization codes, revoked tokens)
  • The server is pure Dart — it can also run as a CLI process on any platform
  • The database is encrypted with SQLCipher; the encryption key is stored in the device's secure keystore

Quick Start​

  1. Install the app on your Android device
  2. On first launch, walk through the onboarding screens
  3. Optionally load sample clinical data (MIMIC-IV subset)
  4. Tap Start to launch the server
  5. Note the URL shown on the Network Info card (e.g., http://192.168.1.42:8080)
  6. From any device on the same network, try:
# Get the server's capabilities
curl http://192.168.1.42:8080/metadata

# Search for patients
curl http://192.168.1.42:8080/Patient

# Create a patient
curl -X POST http://192.168.1.42:8080/Patient \
  -H "Content-Type: application/fhir+json" \
  -d '{"resourceType":"Patient","name":[{"family":"Smith","given":["John"]}]}'

Dev Mode​

By default, the app starts in Dev Mode — authentication is disabled, and all requests are accepted. This is ideal for testing and exploration. Toggle it off in the server control card to require JWT authentication.