.ai/context.json

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@
     },
     "mvp-ocr": {
       "type": "ocr_service",
-      "description": "Python-based OCR for document text extraction",
+      "description": "Python OCR service with pluggable engine abstraction (PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 primary, optional Google Vision cloud fallback, Tesseract backward compat)",
       "port": 8000
     },
     "mvp-loki": {

.ai/workflow-contract.json

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
     "parent_issue": "The original feature issue. Tracks overall status. Only the parent gets status label transitions.",
     "sub_issue_title_format": "{type}: {summary} (#{parent_index})",
     "sub_issue_body": "First line must be 'Relates to #{parent_index}'. Each sub-issue is a self-contained unit of work.",
-    "sub_issue_labels": "status/backlog + same type/* as parent. Sub-issues stay in backlog; parent issue tracks status.",
+    "sub_issue_labels": "status/in-progress + same type/* as parent. Sub-issues move to in-progress as they are worked on.",
     "sub_issue_milestone": "Same sprint milestone as parent.",
     "rules": [
       "ONE branch for the parent issue. Never create branches per sub-issue.",

backend/src/features/ocr/external/ocr-client.ts

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import type { JobResponse, OcrResponse, VinExtractionResponse } from '../domain/
 
 /** OCR service configuration */
 const OCR_SERVICE_URL = process.env.OCR_SERVICE_URL || 'http://mvp-ocr:8000';
-const OCR_TIMEOUT_MS = 30000; // 30 seconds for sync operations
+const OCR_TIMEOUT_MS = 120000; // 120 seconds for sync operations (PaddleOCR model loading on first call)
 
 /**
  * HTTP client for communicating with the OCR service.

docker-compose.prod.yml

@@ -38,13 +38,17 @@ services:
       STRIPE_ENTERPRISE_MONTHLY_PRICE_ID: prod_Toj8xGEui9jl6j
       STRIPE_ENTERPRISE_YEARLY_PRICE_ID: prod_Toj9A7A773xrdn
 
-  # OCR - Production log level
+  # OCR - Production log level + engine config
   mvp-ocr:
     environment:
       LOG_LEVEL: error
       REDIS_HOST: mvp-redis
       REDIS_PORT: 6379
       REDIS_DB: 1
+      OCR_PRIMARY_ENGINE: paddleocr
+      OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE: ${OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE:-none}
+      OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD: ${OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD:-0.6}
+      GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH: /run/secrets/google-vision-key.json
 
   # PostgreSQL - Remove dev ports, production log level
   mvp-postgres:

docker-compose.staging.yml

@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@ services:
   mvp-ocr:
     image: ${OCR_IMAGE:-git.motovaultpro.com/egullickson/ocr:latest}
     container_name: mvp-ocr-staging
+    environment:
+      LOG_LEVEL: debug
+      REDIS_HOST: mvp-redis
+      REDIS_PORT: 6379
+      REDIS_DB: 1
+      OCR_PRIMARY_ENGINE: paddleocr
+      OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE: ${OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE:-none}
+      OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD: ${OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD:-0.6}
+      GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH: /run/secrets/google-vision-key.json
 
   # ========================================
   # PostgreSQL (Staging - Separate Database)

docker-compose.yml

@@ -193,8 +193,16 @@ services:
       REDIS_HOST: mvp-redis
       REDIS_PORT: 6379
       REDIS_DB: 1
+      # OCR engine configuration (PaddleOCR primary, cloud fallback optional)
+      OCR_PRIMARY_ENGINE: paddleocr
+      OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE: ${OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE:-none}
+      OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD: ${OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD:-0.6}
+      GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH: /run/secrets/google-vision-key.json
     volumes:
       - /tmp/vin-debug:/tmp/vin-debug
+      # Optional: Uncomment to enable Google Vision cloud fallback.
+      # Requires: secrets/app/google-vision-key.json and OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE=google_vision
+      # - ./secrets/app/google-vision-key.json:/run/secrets/google-vision-key.json:ro
     networks:
       - backend
       - database

docs/CLAUDE.md

@@ -18,5 +18,5 @@
 | `AUDIT.md` | Audit documentation | Security audits, compliance |
 | `MVP-COLOR-SCHEME.md` | Color scheme reference | UI styling decisions |
 | `LOGGING.md` | Unified logging system | Log levels, correlation IDs, Grafana |
-| `ocr-pipeline-tech-stack.md` | OCR pipeline technology decisions | OCR architecture, Tesseract setup |
+| `ocr-pipeline-tech-stack.md` | OCR pipeline technology decisions | OCR architecture, PaddleOCR engine abstraction |
 | `TIER-GATING.md` | Subscription tier gating rules | Feature access by tier, vehicle limits |

docs/ocr-pipeline-tech-stack.md

@@ -118,35 +118,48 @@
         │       ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
         │       │                                                         │
         │       │   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
-        │       │   │  5a. Primary OCR: Tesseract 5.x                 │   │
+        │       │   │  5a. Engine Abstraction Layer                    │   │
         │       │   │                                                  │   │
-        │       │   │  • Engine: LSTM (--oem 1)                       │   │
-        │       │   │  • Page segmentation: Auto (--psm 3)            │   │
-        │       │   │  • Output: hOCR with word confidence            │   │
+        │       │   │  OcrEngine ABC -> PaddleOcrEngine (primary)      │   │
+        │       │   │                -> CloudEngine (optional fallback) │   │
+        │       │   │                -> TesseractEngine (backward compat)│  │
+        │       │   │                -> HybridEngine (primary+fallback) │   │
+        │       │   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
+        │       │                         │                               │
+        │       │                         ▼                               │
+        │       │   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
+        │       │   │  5b. Primary OCR: PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4             │   │
+        │       │   │                                                  │   │
+        │       │   │  • Scene text detection + angle classification   │   │
+        │       │   │  • CPU-only, models baked into Docker image      │   │
+        │       │   │  • Normalized output: text, confidence, word boxes│  │
         │       │   └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
         │       │                         │                               │
         │       │                         ▼                               │
         │       │                 ┌───────────────┐                       │
         │       │                 │  Confidence   │                       │
-        │       │                 │    > 80% ?    │                       │
+        │       │                 │   >= 60% ?    │                       │
         │       │                 └───────────────┘                       │
         │       │                    │         │                          │
-        │       │              YES ──┘         └── NO                     │
+        │       │              YES ──┘         └── NO (and cloud enabled) │
         │       │               │                   │                     │
         │       │               │                   ▼                     │
         │       │               │   ┌─────────────────────────────────┐   │
-        │       │               │   │  5b. Fallback: PaddleOCR        │   │
+        │       │               │   │  5c. Optional Cloud Fallback     │   │
+        │       │               │   │      (Google Vision API)         │   │
         │       │               │   │                                  │   │
-        │       │               │   │  • Better for degraded images   │   │
-        │       │               │   │  • Better table detection       │   │
-        │       │               │   │  • Slower but more accurate     │   │
+        │       │               │   │  • Disabled by default           │   │
+        │       │               │   │  • 5-second timeout guard        │   │
+        │       │               │   │  • Returns higher-confidence     │   │
+        │       │               │   │    result of primary vs fallback │   │
         │       │               │   └─────────────────────────────────┘   │
         │       │               │                   │                     │
         │       │               ▼                   ▼                     │
         │       │         ┌─────────────────────────────────┐             │
-        │       │         │  5c. Result Merging             │             │
-        │       │         │  • Merge by bounding box        │             │
+        │       │         │  5d. HybridEngine Result        │             │
+        │       │         │  • Compare confidences          │             │
         │       │         │  • Keep highest confidence      │             │
+        │       │         │  • Graceful fallback on error   │             │
         │       │         └─────────────────────────────────┘             │
         │       │                                                         │
         │       └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
@@ -257,10 +270,10 @@
 
 | Component              | Tool                  | Purpose                              |
 |------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------------------|
-| **Primary OCR**        | Tesseract 5.x         | Fast, reliable text extraction       |
-| **Python Binding**     | pytesseract           | Tesseract Python wrapper             |
-| **Fallback OCR**       | PaddleOCR             | Higher accuracy, better tables       |
-| **Layout Analysis**    | PaddleOCR / LayoutParser | Document structure detection      |
+| **Primary OCR**        | PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4    | Highest accuracy scene text, CPU-only |
+| **Cloud Fallback**     | Google Vision API     | Optional cloud fallback (disabled by default) |
+| **Backward Compat**    | Tesseract 5.x / pytesseract | Legacy engine, configurable via env var |
+| **Engine Abstraction** | `OcrEngine` ABC       | Pluggable engine interface in `ocr/app/engines/` |
 
 ### Data Extraction
 
@@ -291,85 +304,93 @@
 fastapi>=0.100.0
 uvicorn[standard]>=0.23.0
 python-multipart>=0.0.6
-
-# Task Queue
-celery>=5.3.0
-redis>=4.6.0
+pydantic>=2.0.0
 
 # File Detection & Handling
 python-magic>=0.4.27
 pillow>=10.0.0
 pillow-heif>=0.13.0
 
-# PDF Processing
-pymupdf>=1.23.0
-
 # Image Preprocessing
 opencv-python-headless>=4.8.0
-deskew>=1.4.0
-scikit-image>=0.21.0
 numpy>=1.24.0
 
 # OCR Engines
 pytesseract>=0.3.10
-paddlepaddle>=2.5.0
-paddleocr>=2.7.0
+paddlepaddle>=2.6.0
+paddleocr>=2.8.0
+google-cloud-vision>=3.7.0
 
-# Table Extraction
-img2table>=1.2.0
-camelot-py[cv]>=0.11.0
+# PDF Processing
+PyMuPDF>=1.23.0
 
-# NLP & Data
-spacy>=3.6.0
-pandas>=2.0.0
+# Redis for job queue
+redis>=5.0.0
 
-# Storage & Database
-boto3>=1.28.0
-psycopg2-binary>=2.9.0
-sqlalchemy>=2.0.0
+# HTTP client for callbacks
+httpx>=0.24.0
+
+# Testing
+pytest>=7.4.0
+pytest-asyncio>=0.21.0
 ```
 
 ### System Package Requirements (Ubuntu/Debian)
 
 ```bash
-# Tesseract OCR
-apt-get install tesseract-ocr tesseract-ocr-eng libtesseract-dev
+# Tesseract OCR (backward compatibility engine)
+apt-get install tesseract-ocr tesseract-ocr-eng
+
+# PaddlePaddle OpenMP runtime
+apt-get install libgomp1
 
 # HEIC Support
-apt-get install libheif-examples libheif-dev
+apt-get install libheif1 libheif-dev
 
-# OpenCV dependencies
-apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx libglib2.0-0
+# GLib (OpenCV dependency)
+apt-get install libglib2.0-0
 
-# PDF rendering dependencies
-apt-get install libmupdf-dev mupdf-tools
-
-# Image processing
-apt-get install libmagic1 ghostscript
-
-# Camelot dependencies
-apt-get install ghostscript python3-tk
+# File type detection
+apt-get install libmagic1
 ```
 
+### Environment Variables
+
+| Variable | Default | Description |
+|----------|---------|-------------|
+| `OCR_PRIMARY_ENGINE` | `paddleocr` | Primary OCR engine (`paddleocr`, `tesseract`) |
+| `OCR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD` | `0.6` | Minimum confidence threshold |
+| `OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE` | `none` | Fallback engine (`google_vision`, `none`) |
+| `OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD` | `0.6` | Confidence below this triggers fallback |
+| `GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH` | `/run/secrets/google-vision-key.json` | Path to Google Vision service account key |
+
 ---
 
 ## DOCKERFILE
 
 ```dockerfile
-FROM python:3.11-slim
+# Primary engine: PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 (models baked into image)
+# Backward compat: Tesseract 5.x (optional, via TesseractEngine)
+# Cloud fallback: Google Vision (optional, requires API key at runtime)
+
+FROM python:3.13-slim
 
 # System dependencies
+# - tesseract-ocr/eng: Backward-compatible OCR engine
+# - libgomp1: OpenMP runtime required by PaddlePaddle
+# - libheif1/libheif-dev: HEIF image support (iPhone photos)
+# - libglib2.0-0: GLib shared library (OpenCV dependency)
+# - libmagic1: File type detection
+# - curl: Health check endpoint
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     tesseract-ocr \
     tesseract-ocr-eng \
-    libtesseract-dev \
-    libheif-examples \
+    libgomp1 \
+    libheif1 \
     libheif-dev \
-    libgl1-mesa-glx \
     libglib2.0-0 \
     libmagic1 \
-    ghostscript \
-    poppler-utils \
+    curl \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Python dependencies
@@ -377,11 +398,9 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY requirements.txt .
 RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 
-# Download spaCy model
-RUN python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm
-
-# Download PaddleOCR models (cached in image)
-RUN python -c "from paddleocr import PaddleOCR; PaddleOCR(use_angle_cls=True, lang='en')"
+# Pre-download PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 models during build (not at runtime)
+RUN python -c "from paddleocr import PaddleOCR; PaddleOCR(use_angle_cls=True, lang='en', use_gpu=False, show_log=False)" \
+    && echo "PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 models downloaded and verified"
 
 COPY . .
 

frontend/src/features/vehicles/hooks/useVinOcr.ts

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ async function extractVinFromImage(file: File): Promise<VinOcrResult> {
 
   const response = await apiClient.post('/ocr/extract/vin', formData, {
     headers: { 'Content-Type': 'multipart/form-data' },
-    timeout: 30000, // 30 seconds for OCR processing
+    timeout: 120000, // 120 seconds for OCR processing
   });
 
   const data = response.data;

frontend/src/shared/components/CameraCapture/CameraCapture.tsx

@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ export const CameraCapture: React.FC<CameraCaptureProps> = ({
     return (
       <CropTool
         imageSrc={capturedImageSrc}
-        lockAspectRatio={guidanceType !== 'none'}
+        lockAspectRatio={guidanceType !== 'none' && guidanceType !== 'vin'}
         aspectRatio={cropAspectRatio}
         onConfirm={handleCropConfirm}
         onReset={handleCropReset}

frontend/src/shared/components/CameraCapture/useImageCrop.ts

@@ -95,10 +95,6 @@ export function useImageCrop(options: UseImageCropOptions = {}): UseImageCropRet
   const drawOriginRef = useRef({ x: 0, y: 0 });
   const cropAreaRef = useRef(cropArea);
 
-  useEffect(() => {
-    cropAreaRef.current = cropArea;
-  }, [cropArea]);
-
   const setCropArea = useCallback(
     (area: CropArea) => {
       setCropAreaState(getAspectRatioAdjustedCrop(area));
@@ -177,7 +173,9 @@ export function useImageCrop(options: UseImageCropOptions = {}): UseImageCropRet
       startPosRef.current = { x: clientX, y: clientY };
       drawOriginRef.current = { x, y };
 
-      setCropAreaState({ x, y, width: 0, height: 0 });
+      const initial = { x, y, width: 0, height: 0 };
+      setCropAreaState(initial);
+      cropAreaRef.current = initial;
 
       isDrawingRef.current = true;
       activeHandleRef.current = null;
@@ -203,18 +201,24 @@ export function useImageCrop(options: UseImageCropOptions = {}): UseImageCropRet
         const originX = drawOriginRef.current.x;
         const originY = drawOriginRef.current.y;
 
-        let newCrop: CropArea = {
+        const drawnWidth = Math.abs(currentX - originX);
+        const drawnHeight = aspectRatio
+          ? drawnWidth / aspectRatio
+          : Math.abs(currentY - originY);
+        let drawnY = Math.min(originY, currentY);
+        // Clamp so crop doesn't exceed container bounds when aspect ratio forces height
+        if (aspectRatio && drawnY + drawnHeight > 100) {
+          drawnY = Math.max(0, 100 - drawnHeight);
+        }
+        const newCrop: CropArea = {
           x: Math.min(originX, currentX),
-          y: Math.min(originY, currentY),
-          width: Math.abs(currentX - originX),
-          height: Math.abs(currentY - originY),
+          y: drawnY,
+          width: drawnWidth,
+          height: drawnHeight,
         };
 
-        if (aspectRatio) {
-          newCrop.height = newCrop.width / aspectRatio;
-        }
-
         setCropAreaState(newCrop);
+        cropAreaRef.current = newCrop;
         return;
       }
 
@@ -303,7 +307,9 @@ export function useImageCrop(options: UseImageCropOptions = {}): UseImageCropRet
           break;
       }
 
-      setCropAreaState(constrainCrop(newCrop));
+      const constrained = constrainCrop(newCrop);
+      setCropAreaState(constrained);
+      cropAreaRef.current = constrained;
     },
     [isDragging, constrainCrop, aspectRatio]
   );
@@ -312,7 +318,9 @@ export function useImageCrop(options: UseImageCropOptions = {}): UseImageCropRet
     if (isDrawingRef.current) {
       isDrawingRef.current = false;
       const area = cropAreaRef.current;
-      if (area.width >= minSize && area.height >= minSize) {
+      // Accept crop if at least one dimension is meaningful (allows thin strips like VINs)
+      const meetsMinSize = area.width >= minSize || area.height >= minSize;
+      if (meetsMinSize) {
         setCropDrawn(true);
       }
     }

ocr/CLAUDE.md

@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 # ocr/
 
+Python OCR microservice. Primary engine: PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 with optional Google Vision cloud fallback. Pluggable engine abstraction in `app/engines/`.
+
 ## Files
 
 | File | What | When to read |
 | ---- | ---- | ------------ |
-| `Dockerfile` | Container build definition | Docker builds, deployment |
+| `Dockerfile` | Container build (PaddleOCR models baked in) | Docker builds, deployment |
 | `requirements.txt` | Python dependencies | Adding dependencies |
 
 ## Subdirectories
@@ -12,4 +14,5 @@
 | Directory | What | When to read |
 | --------- | ---- | ------------ |
 | `app/` | FastAPI application source | OCR endpoint development |
+| `app/engines/` | Engine abstraction layer (OcrEngine ABC, factory, hybrid) | Adding or changing OCR engines |
 | `tests/` | Test suite | Adding or modifying tests |

ocr/Dockerfile

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Production Dockerfile for MotoVaultPro OCR Service
 # Uses mirrored base images from Gitea Package Registry
+#
+# Primary engine: PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 (models baked into image)
+# Cloud fallback: Google Vision (optional, requires API key at runtime)
 
 # Build argument for registry (defaults to Gitea mirrors, falls back to Docker Hub)
 ARG REGISTRY_MIRRORS=git.motovaultpro.com/egullickson/mirrors
@@ -7,10 +10,13 @@ ARG REGISTRY_MIRRORS=git.motovaultpro.com/egullickson/mirrors
 FROM ${REGISTRY_MIRRORS}/python:3.13-slim
 
 # System dependencies
+# - libgomp1: OpenMP runtime required by PaddlePaddle
+# - libheif1/libheif-dev: HEIF image support (iPhone photos)
+# - libglib2.0-0: GLib shared library (OpenCV dependency)
+# - libmagic1: File type detection
+# - curl: Health check endpoint
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-    tesseract-ocr \
-    tesseract-ocr-eng \
-    libtesseract-dev \
+    libgomp1 \
     libheif1 \
     libheif-dev \
     libglib2.0-0 \
@@ -21,7 +27,18 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
 # Python dependencies
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY requirements.txt .
-RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
+# Install dependencies. PaddleX (transitive via paddleocr) pulls in the full
+# opencv-python which requires libGL.so.1.  Force-reinstall the headless
+# variant afterwards so the container stays GUI-free.
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt \
+    && pip install --no-cache-dir --force-reinstall opencv-python-headless
+
+# Pre-download PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 models during build (not at runtime).
+# Models are baked into the image so container starts are fast and
+# no network access is needed at runtime for model download.
+ENV PADDLE_PDX_DISABLE_MODEL_SOURCE_CHECK=True
+RUN python -c "from paddleocr import PaddleOCR; PaddleOCR(ocr_version='PP-OCRv4', use_textline_orientation=True, lang='en', device='cpu', enable_mkldnn=False)" \
+    && echo "PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 models downloaded and verified"
 
 COPY . .
 

ocr/app/CLAUDE.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 
 | Directory | What | When to read |
 | --------- | ---- | ------------ |
+| `engines/` | OCR engine abstraction (PaddleOCR primary, Google Vision fallback) | Engine changes, adding new engines |
 | `extractors/` | Data extraction logic | Adding new extraction types |
 | `models/` | Data models and schemas | Request/response types |
 | `patterns/` | Regex and parsing patterns | Pattern matching rules |

ocr/app/config.py

@@ -9,7 +9,20 @@ class Settings:
         self.log_level: str = os.getenv("LOG_LEVEL", "info")
         self.host: str = os.getenv("HOST", "0.0.0.0")
         self.port: int = int(os.getenv("PORT", "8000"))
-        self.tesseract_cmd: str = os.getenv("TESSERACT_CMD", "/usr/bin/tesseract")
+        # OCR engine configuration
+        self.ocr_primary_engine: str = os.getenv("OCR_PRIMARY_ENGINE", "paddleocr")
+        self.ocr_confidence_threshold: float = float(
+            os.getenv("OCR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD", "0.6")
+        )
+
+        # Cloud fallback configuration (disabled by default)
+        self.ocr_fallback_engine: str = os.getenv("OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE", "none")
+        self.ocr_fallback_threshold: float = float(
+            os.getenv("OCR_FALLBACK_THRESHOLD", "0.6")
+        )
+        self.google_vision_key_path: str = os.getenv(
+            "GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH", "/run/secrets/google-vision-key.json"
+        )
 
         # Redis configuration for job queue
         self.redis_host: str = os.getenv("REDIS_HOST", "mvp-redis")

ocr/app/engines/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""OCR engine abstraction layer.
+
+Provides a pluggable engine interface for OCR processing,
+decoupling extractors from specific OCR libraries.
+
+Engines:
+  - PaddleOcrEngine: PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 (primary, CPU-only)
+  - CloudEngine: Google Vision TEXT_DETECTION (optional cloud fallback)
+  - HybridEngine: Primary + fallback with confidence threshold
+"""
+
+from app.engines.base_engine import (
+    EngineError,
+    EngineProcessingError,
+    EngineUnavailableError,
+    OcrConfig,
+    OcrEngine,
+    OcrEngineResult,
+    WordBox,
+)
+from app.engines.engine_factory import create_engine
+
+__all__ = [
+    "OcrEngine",
+    "OcrConfig",
+    "OcrEngineResult",
+    "WordBox",
+    "EngineError",
+    "EngineUnavailableError",
+    "EngineProcessingError",
+    "create_engine",
+]

ocr/app/engines/base_engine.py

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+"""OCR engine abstract base class and shared data types."""
+
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Any
+
+
+# --- Exception hierarchy ---
+
+
+class EngineError(Exception):
+    """Base exception for all OCR engine errors."""
+
+
+class EngineUnavailableError(EngineError):
+    """Raised when an engine cannot be initialized (missing binary, bad config)."""
+
+
+class EngineProcessingError(EngineError):
+    """Raised when an engine fails to process an image."""
+
+
+# --- Data types ---
+
+
+@dataclass
+class WordBox:
+    """A single recognized word with position and confidence."""
+
+    text: str
+    confidence: float  # 0.0-1.0
+    x: int = 0
+    y: int = 0
+    width: int = 0
+    height: int = 0
+
+
+@dataclass
+class OcrConfig:
+    """Engine-agnostic OCR configuration.
+
+    Common fields cover the most frequent needs. Engine-specific
+    parameters go into ``hints`` so the interface stays stable.
+    """
+
+    char_whitelist: str | None = None  # e.g. VIN: "ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"
+    single_line: bool = False  # Treat image as a single text line
+    single_word: bool = False  # Treat image as a single word
+    use_angle_cls: bool = True  # Enable angle classification (PaddleOCR)
+    hints: dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
+
+
+@dataclass
+class OcrEngineResult:
+    """Normalized result returned by every engine implementation."""
+
+    text: str
+    confidence: float  # 0.0-1.0
+    word_boxes: list[WordBox]
+    engine_name: str  # "paddleocr", "google_vision"
+
+
+# --- Abstract base ---
+
+
+class OcrEngine(ABC):
+    """Abstract base class that all OCR engines must implement."""
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def recognize(self, image_bytes: bytes, config: OcrConfig) -> OcrEngineResult:
+        """Run OCR on preprocessed image bytes.
+
+        Args:
+            image_bytes: Raw image bytes (PNG/JPEG).
+            config: Engine-agnostic configuration.
+
+        Returns:
+            Normalized OCR result.
+
+        Raises:
+            EngineProcessingError: If recognition fails.
+            EngineUnavailableError: If the engine is not ready.
+        """
+
+    @property
+    @abstractmethod
+    def name(self) -> str:
+        """Short identifier used in OcrEngineResult.engine_name."""

ocr/app/engines/cloud_engine.py

@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+"""Google Vision cloud OCR engine with lazy initialization."""
+
+import logging
+import os
+from typing import Any
+
+from app.engines.base_engine import (
+    EngineProcessingError,
+    EngineUnavailableError,
+    OcrConfig,
+    OcrEngine,
+    OcrEngineResult,
+    WordBox,
+)
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Default path for Google Vision service account key (Docker secret mount)
+_DEFAULT_KEY_PATH = "/run/secrets/google-vision-key.json"
+
+
+class CloudEngine(OcrEngine):
+    """Google Vision TEXT_DETECTION wrapper with lazy initialization.
+
+    The client is not created until the first ``recognize()`` call,
+    so the container starts normally even when the secret file is
+    missing or the dependency is not installed.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, key_path: str | None = None) -> None:
+        self._key_path = key_path or os.getenv(
+            "GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH", _DEFAULT_KEY_PATH
+        )
+        self._client: Any | None = None
+
+    @property
+    def name(self) -> str:
+        return "google_vision"
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Lazy init
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _get_client(self) -> Any:
+        """Create the Vision client on first use."""
+        if self._client is not None:
+            return self._client
+
+        # Verify credentials file exists
+        if not os.path.isfile(self._key_path):
+            raise EngineUnavailableError(
+                f"Google Vision key not found at {self._key_path}. "
+                "Set GOOGLE_VISION_KEY_PATH or mount the secret."
+            )
+
+        try:
+            from google.cloud import vision  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
+
+            # Point the SDK at the service account key
+            os.environ["GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS"] = self._key_path
+            self._client = vision.ImageAnnotatorClient()
+            logger.info(
+                "Google Vision client initialized (key: %s)", self._key_path
+            )
+            return self._client
+        except ImportError as exc:
+            raise EngineUnavailableError(
+                "google-cloud-vision is not installed. "
+                "Install with: pip install google-cloud-vision"
+            ) from exc
+        except Exception as exc:
+            raise EngineUnavailableError(
+                f"Failed to initialize Google Vision client: {exc}"
+            ) from exc
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # OCR
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def recognize(self, image_bytes: bytes, config: OcrConfig) -> OcrEngineResult:
+        """Run Google Vision TEXT_DETECTION on image bytes."""
+        client = self._get_client()
+
+        try:
+            from google.cloud import vision  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
+
+            image = vision.Image(content=image_bytes)
+            response = client.text_detection(image=image)
+
+            if response.error.message:
+                raise EngineProcessingError(
+                    f"Google Vision API error: {response.error.message}"
+                )
+
+            annotations = response.text_annotations
+            if not annotations:
+                return OcrEngineResult(
+                    text="",
+                    confidence=0.0,
+                    word_boxes=[],
+                    engine_name=self.name,
+                )
+
+            # First annotation is the full-page text; the rest are words
+            full_text = annotations[0].description.strip()
+            word_boxes: list[WordBox] = []
+            confidences: list[float] = []
+
+            for annotation in annotations[1:]:
+                text = annotation.description
+                vertices = annotation.bounding_poly.vertices
+
+                # Apply character whitelist filter if configured
+                if config.char_whitelist:
+                    allowed = set(config.char_whitelist)
+                    text = "".join(ch for ch in text if ch in allowed)
+
+                if not text.strip():
+                    continue
+
+                xs = [v.x for v in vertices]
+                ys = [v.y for v in vertices]
+                x_min, y_min = min(xs), min(ys)
+                x_max, y_max = max(xs), max(ys)
+
+                # Google Vision TEXT_DETECTION does not return per-word
+                # confidence in annotations.  Use 0.95 as the documented
+                # typical accuracy for clear images so comparisons with
+                # PaddleOCR are meaningful.
+                word_conf = 0.95
+                word_boxes.append(
+                    WordBox(
+                        text=text.strip(),
+                        confidence=word_conf,
+                        x=x_min,
+                        y=y_min,
+                        width=x_max - x_min,
+                        height=y_max - y_min,
+                    )
+                )
+                confidences.append(word_conf)
+
+            # Apply whitelist to full text too
+            if config.char_whitelist:
+                allowed = set(config.char_whitelist)
+                full_text = "".join(
+                    ch for ch in full_text if ch in allowed or ch in " \n"
+                )
+
+            avg_confidence = (
+                sum(confidences) / len(confidences) if confidences else 0.0
+            )
+
+            return OcrEngineResult(
+                text=full_text,
+                confidence=avg_confidence,
+                word_boxes=word_boxes,
+                engine_name=self.name,
+            )
+
+        except (EngineUnavailableError, EngineProcessingError):
+            raise
+        except Exception as exc:
+            raise EngineProcessingError(
+                f"Google Vision recognition failed: {exc}"
+            ) from exc

ocr/app/engines/engine_factory.py

@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+"""Factory function for creating OCR engine instances from configuration."""
+
+import importlib
+import logging
+
+from app.config import settings
+from app.engines.base_engine import EngineUnavailableError, OcrEngine
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Valid engine identifiers (primary engines only; hybrid is constructed separately)
+_ENGINE_REGISTRY: dict[str, str] = {
+    "paddleocr": "app.engines.paddle_engine.PaddleOcrEngine",
+    "google_vision": "app.engines.cloud_engine.CloudEngine",
+}
+
+
+def _create_single_engine(name: str) -> OcrEngine:
+    """Instantiate a single engine by registry name."""
+    if name not in _ENGINE_REGISTRY:
+        raise EngineUnavailableError(
+            f"Unknown engine '{name}'. Available: {list(_ENGINE_REGISTRY.keys())}"
+        )
+
+    module_path, class_name = _ENGINE_REGISTRY[name].rsplit(".", 1)
+
+    try:
+        module = importlib.import_module(module_path)
+        engine_cls = getattr(module, class_name)
+        engine: OcrEngine = engine_cls()
+        logger.info("Created OCR engine: %s", name)
+        return engine
+    except EngineUnavailableError:
+        raise
+    except Exception as exc:
+        raise EngineUnavailableError(
+            f"Failed to create engine '{name}': {exc}"
+        ) from exc
+
+
+def create_engine(engine_name: str | None = None) -> OcrEngine:
+    """Instantiate an OCR engine by name (defaults to config value).
+
+    When a fallback engine is configured (``OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE != "none"``),
+    returns a ``HybridEngine`` that wraps the primary with the fallback.
+
+    Args:
+        engine_name: Engine identifier ("paddleocr", "google_vision").
+                     Falls back to ``settings.ocr_primary_engine``.
+
+    Returns:
+        Initialized OcrEngine instance (possibly a HybridEngine wrapper).
+
+    Raises:
+        EngineUnavailableError: If the primary engine cannot be loaded.
+    """
+    name = (engine_name or settings.ocr_primary_engine).lower().strip()
+    primary = _create_single_engine(name)
+
+    # Check for cloud fallback configuration
+    fallback_name = settings.ocr_fallback_engine.lower().strip()
+    if fallback_name == "none" or not fallback_name:
+        return primary
+
+    # Create fallback engine (failure is non-fatal -- log and return primary only)
+    try:
+        fallback = _create_single_engine(fallback_name)
+    except EngineUnavailableError as exc:
+        logger.warning(
+            "Fallback engine '%s' unavailable, proceeding without fallback: %s",
+            fallback_name,
+            exc,
+        )
+        return primary
+
+    from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+    threshold = settings.ocr_fallback_threshold
+    hybrid = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=threshold)
+    logger.info(
+        "Created hybrid engine: primary=%s, fallback=%s, threshold=%.2f",
+        name,
+        fallback_name,
+        threshold,
+    )
+    return hybrid

ocr/app/engines/hybrid_engine.py

@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+"""Hybrid OCR engine: primary engine with optional cloud fallback."""
+
+import logging
+import time
+
+from app.engines.base_engine import (
+    EngineError,
+    EngineProcessingError,
+    OcrConfig,
+    OcrEngine,
+    OcrEngineResult,
+)
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Maximum time (seconds) to wait for the cloud fallback
+_CLOUD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 5.0
+
+
+class HybridEngine(OcrEngine):
+    """Runs a primary engine and falls back to a cloud engine when
+    the primary result confidence is below the configured threshold.
+
+    If the fallback is ``None`` (default), this engine behaves identically
+    to the primary engine.  Cloud failures are handled gracefully -- the
+    primary result is returned whenever the fallback is unavailable,
+    times out, or errors.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        primary: OcrEngine,
+        fallback: OcrEngine | None = None,
+        threshold: float = 0.6,
+    ) -> None:
+        self._primary = primary
+        self._fallback = fallback
+        self._threshold = threshold
+
+    @property
+    def name(self) -> str:
+        fallback_name = self._fallback.name if self._fallback else "none"
+        return f"hybrid({self._primary.name}+{fallback_name})"
+
+    def recognize(self, image_bytes: bytes, config: OcrConfig) -> OcrEngineResult:
+        """Run primary OCR, optionally falling back to cloud engine."""
+        primary_result = self._primary.recognize(image_bytes, config)
+
+        # Happy path: primary confidence meets threshold
+        if primary_result.confidence >= self._threshold:
+            logger.debug(
+                "Primary engine confidence %.2f >= threshold %.2f, no fallback",
+                primary_result.confidence,
+                self._threshold,
+            )
+            return primary_result
+
+        # No fallback configured -- return primary result as-is
+        if self._fallback is None:
+            logger.debug(
+                "Primary confidence %.2f < threshold %.2f but no fallback configured",
+                primary_result.confidence,
+                self._threshold,
+            )
+            return primary_result
+
+        # Attempt cloud fallback with timeout guard
+        logger.info(
+            "Primary confidence %.2f < threshold %.2f, trying fallback (%s)",
+            primary_result.confidence,
+            self._threshold,
+            self._fallback.name,
+        )
+
+        try:
+            start = time.monotonic()
+            fallback_result = self._fallback.recognize(image_bytes, config)
+            elapsed = time.monotonic() - start
+
+            if elapsed > _CLOUD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS:
+                logger.warning(
+                    "Cloud fallback took %.1fs (> %.1fs limit), using primary result",
+                    elapsed,
+                    _CLOUD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
+                )
+                return primary_result
+
+            # Return whichever result has higher confidence
+            if fallback_result.confidence > primary_result.confidence:
+                logger.info(
+                    "Fallback confidence %.2f > primary %.2f, using fallback result",
+                    fallback_result.confidence,
+                    primary_result.confidence,
+                )
+                return fallback_result
+
+            logger.info(
+                "Primary confidence %.2f >= fallback %.2f, keeping primary result",
+                primary_result.confidence,
+                fallback_result.confidence,
+            )
+            return primary_result
+
+        except EngineError as exc:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Cloud fallback failed (%s), returning primary result: %s",
+                self._fallback.name,
+                exc,
+            )
+            return primary_result
+        except Exception as exc:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Unexpected cloud fallback error, returning primary result: %s",
+                exc,
+            )
+            return primary_result

ocr/app/engines/paddle_engine.py

@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+"""PaddleOCR engine wrapper using PP-OCRv4 models."""
+
+import io
+import logging
+from typing import Any
+
+from app.engines.base_engine import (
+    EngineProcessingError,
+    EngineUnavailableError,
+    OcrConfig,
+    OcrEngine,
+    OcrEngineResult,
+    WordBox,
+)
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class PaddleOcrEngine(OcrEngine):
+    """PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 engine with angle classification, CPU-only."""
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self._ocr: Any | None = None
+
+    @property
+    def name(self) -> str:
+        return "paddleocr"
+
+    def _get_ocr(self) -> Any:
+        """Lazy-initialize PaddleOCR instance on first use."""
+        if self._ocr is not None:
+            return self._ocr
+        try:
+            from paddleocr import PaddleOCR  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
+
+            self._ocr = PaddleOCR(
+                ocr_version="PP-OCRv4",
+                use_textline_orientation=True,
+                lang="en",
+                device="cpu",
+                enable_mkldnn=False,
+            )
+            logger.info("PaddleOCR PP-OCRv4 initialized (CPU, textline_orientation=True)")
+            return self._ocr
+        except ImportError as exc:
+            raise EngineUnavailableError(
+                "paddleocr is not installed. "
+                "Install with: pip install paddlepaddle paddleocr"
+            ) from exc
+        except Exception as exc:
+            raise EngineUnavailableError(
+                f"Failed to initialize PaddleOCR: {exc}"
+            ) from exc
+
+    def recognize(self, image_bytes: bytes, config: OcrConfig) -> OcrEngineResult:
+        """Run PaddleOCR on image bytes.
+
+        PaddleOCR v3.x ``predict()`` returns an iterator of result objects.
+        Each result's ``.json`` property returns a dict.  The OCR fields
+        (``dt_polys``, ``rec_texts``, ``rec_scores``) may be at the top
+        level or nested under a ``"res"`` key depending on the version.
+        """
+        ocr = self._get_ocr()
+
+        try:
+            import numpy as np  # type: ignore[import-untyped]
+            from PIL import Image
+
+            image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(image_bytes)).convert("RGB")
+            img_array = np.array(image)
+
+            results = list(ocr.predict(img_array))
+
+            if not results:
+                return OcrEngineResult(
+                    text="",
+                    confidence=0.0,
+                    word_boxes=[],
+                    engine_name=self.name,
+                )
+
+            raw = results[0].json
+            # Unwrap nested "res" key if present (save_to_json format)
+            res = raw.get("res", raw) if isinstance(raw, dict) else raw
+            logger.debug(
+                "PaddleOCR result keys: %s",
+                list(res.keys()) if isinstance(res, dict) else type(res).__name__,
+            )
+            dt_polys = res.get("dt_polys", [])
+            rec_texts = res.get("rec_texts", [])
+            rec_scores = res.get("rec_scores", [])
+
+            if not rec_texts:
+                return OcrEngineResult(
+                    text="",
+                    confidence=0.0,
+                    word_boxes=[],
+                    engine_name=self.name,
+                )
+
+            word_boxes: list[WordBox] = []
+            texts: list[str] = []
+            confidences: list[float] = []
+
+            for i, text in enumerate(rec_texts):
+                conf = float(rec_scores[i]) if i < len(rec_scores) else 0.0
+
+                # Apply character whitelist filter if configured
+                if config.char_whitelist:
+                    allowed = set(config.char_whitelist)
+                    text = "".join(ch for ch in text if ch in allowed)
+
+                if not text.strip():
+                    continue
+
+                # Convert quadrilateral polygon to bounding box
+                x_min, y_min, width, height = 0, 0, 0, 0
+                if i < len(dt_polys):
+                    poly = dt_polys[i]
+                    xs = [pt[0] for pt in poly]
+                    ys = [pt[1] for pt in poly]
+                    x_min, y_min = int(min(xs)), int(min(ys))
+                    x_max, y_max = int(max(xs)), int(max(ys))
+                    width = x_max - x_min
+                    height = y_max - y_min
+
+                word_boxes.append(
+                    WordBox(
+                        text=text.strip(),
+                        confidence=conf,
+                        x=x_min,
+                        y=y_min,
+                        width=width,
+                        height=height,
+                    )
+                )
+                texts.append(text.strip())
+                confidences.append(conf)
+
+            combined_text = " ".join(texts)
+            avg_confidence = (
+                sum(confidences) / len(confidences) if confidences else 0.0
+            )
+
+            return OcrEngineResult(
+                text=combined_text,
+                confidence=avg_confidence,
+                word_boxes=word_boxes,
+                engine_name=self.name,
+            )
+
+        except (EngineUnavailableError, EngineProcessingError):
+            raise
+        except Exception as exc:
+            raise EngineProcessingError(
+                f"PaddleOCR recognition failed: {exc}"
+            ) from exc

ocr/app/extractors/manual_extractor.py

@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import Callable, Optional
 
-import pytesseract
 from PIL import Image
 
+from app.engines import create_engine, OcrConfig
 from app.preprocessors.pdf_preprocessor import pdf_preprocessor, PdfInfo
 from app.table_extraction.detector import table_detector, DetectedTable
 from app.table_extraction.parser import table_parser, ParsedScheduleRow
@@ -243,8 +243,9 @@ class ManualExtractor:
 
         # OCR the full page
         try:
-            image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(image_bytes))
-            ocr_text = pytesseract.image_to_string(image)
+            engine = create_engine()
+            ocr_result = engine.recognize(image_bytes, OcrConfig())
+            ocr_text = ocr_result.text
 
             # Mark tables as maintenance if page contains maintenance keywords
             for table in detected_tables:
@@ -358,8 +359,9 @@ class ManualExtractor:
 
             if not text and first_page.image_bytes:
                 # OCR first page
-                image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(first_page.image_bytes))
-                text = pytesseract.image_to_string(image)
+                engine = create_engine()
+                ocr_result = engine.recognize(first_page.image_bytes, OcrConfig())
+                text = ocr_result.text
 
             if text:
                 return self._parse_vehicle_from_text(text)

ocr/app/extractors/receipt_extractor.py

@@ -1,16 +1,13 @@
 """Receipt-specific OCR extractor with field extraction."""
-import io
 import logging
 import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import Any, Optional
 
 import magic
-import pytesseract
-from PIL import Image
 from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener
 
-from app.config import settings
+from app.engines import OcrConfig, create_engine
 from app.extractors.base import BaseExtractor
 from app.preprocessors.receipt_preprocessor import receipt_preprocessor
 from app.patterns import currency_matcher, date_matcher, fuel_matcher
@@ -53,8 +50,8 @@ class ReceiptExtractor(BaseExtractor):
     }
 
     def __init__(self) -> None:
-        """Initialize receipt extractor."""
-        pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = settings.tesseract_cmd
+        """Initialize receipt extractor with engine from factory."""
+        self._engine = create_engine()
 
     def extract(
         self,
@@ -150,26 +147,19 @@ class ReceiptExtractor(BaseExtractor):
         detected = mime.from_buffer(file_bytes)
         return detected or "application/octet-stream"
 
-    def _perform_ocr(self, image_bytes: bytes, psm: int = 6) -> str:
+    def _perform_ocr(self, image_bytes: bytes) -> str:
         """
-        Perform OCR on preprocessed image.
+        Perform OCR on preprocessed image via engine abstraction.
 
         Args:
             image_bytes: Preprocessed image bytes
-            psm: Tesseract page segmentation mode
-                 4 = Assume single column of text
-                 6 = Uniform block of text
 
         Returns:
             Raw OCR text
         """
-        image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(image_bytes))
-
-        # Configure Tesseract for receipt OCR
-        # PSM 4 works well for columnar receipt text
-        config = f"--psm {psm}"
-
-        return pytesseract.image_to_string(image, config=config)
+        config = OcrConfig()
+        result = self._engine.recognize(image_bytes, config)
+        return result.text
 
     def _detect_receipt_type(self, text: str) -> str:
         """

ocr/app/extractors/vin_extractor.py

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 """VIN-specific OCR extractor with preprocessing and validation."""
-import io
 import logging
 import os
 import time
@@ -8,11 +7,10 @@ from datetime import datetime
 from typing import Optional
 
 import magic
-import pytesseract
-from PIL import Image
 from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener
 
 from app.config import settings
+from app.engines import OcrConfig, create_engine
 from app.extractors.base import BaseExtractor
 from app.preprocessors.vin_preprocessor import vin_preprocessor, BoundingBox
 from app.validators.vin_validator import vin_validator
@@ -56,15 +54,15 @@ class VinExtractor(BaseExtractor):
         "image/heif",
     }
 
-    # VIN character whitelist for Tesseract
+    # VIN character whitelist (passed to engine for post-OCR filtering)
     VIN_WHITELIST = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"
 
     # Fixed debug output directory (inside container)
     DEBUG_DIR = "/tmp/vin-debug"
 
     def __init__(self) -> None:
-        """Initialize VIN extractor."""
-        pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = settings.tesseract_cmd
+        """Initialize VIN extractor with engine from factory."""
+        self._engine = create_engine()
         self._debug = settings.log_level.upper() == "DEBUG"
 
     def _save_debug_image(self, session_dir: str, name: str, data: bytes) -> None:
@@ -135,21 +133,21 @@ class VinExtractor(BaseExtractor):
 
             # Perform OCR with VIN-optimized settings
             raw_text, word_confidences = self._perform_ocr(preprocessed_bytes)
-            logger.debug("PSM 6 raw text: '%s'", raw_text)
-            logger.debug("PSM 6 word confidences: %s", word_confidences)
+            logger.debug("Primary OCR raw text: '%s'", raw_text)
+            logger.debug("Primary OCR word confidences: %s", word_confidences)
 
             # Extract VIN candidates from raw text
             candidates = vin_validator.extract_candidates(raw_text)
-            logger.debug("PSM 6 candidates: %s", candidates)
+            logger.debug("Primary OCR candidates: %s", candidates)
 
             if not candidates:
-                # No VIN candidates found - try with different PSM modes
+                # No VIN candidates found - try alternate OCR configurations
                 candidates = self._try_alternate_ocr(preprocessed_bytes)
 
             if not candidates:
-                # Try grayscale-only (no thresholding) — the Tesseract
-                # LSTM engine often performs better on non-binarized input
-                # because it does its own internal preprocessing.
+                # Try grayscale-only (no thresholding) — OCR engines often
+                # perform better on non-binarized input because they do
+                # their own internal preprocessing.
                 gray_result = vin_preprocessor.preprocess(
                     image_bytes, apply_threshold=False
                 )
@@ -166,9 +164,9 @@ class VinExtractor(BaseExtractor):
                 raw_text, word_confidences = self._perform_ocr(
                     gray_result.image_bytes
                 )
-                logger.debug("Gray PSM 6 raw text: '%s'", raw_text)
+                logger.debug("Gray primary raw text: '%s'", raw_text)
                 candidates = vin_validator.extract_candidates(raw_text)
-                logger.debug("Gray PSM 6 candidates: %s", candidates)
+                logger.debug("Gray primary candidates: %s", candidates)
                 if not candidates:
                     candidates = self._try_alternate_ocr(
                         gray_result.image_bytes, prefix="Gray"
@@ -188,9 +186,9 @@ class VinExtractor(BaseExtractor):
                     )
 
                 raw_text, word_confidences = self._perform_ocr(otsu_result.image_bytes)
-                logger.debug("Otsu PSM 6 raw text: '%s'", raw_text)
+                logger.debug("Otsu primary raw text: '%s'", raw_text)
                 candidates = vin_validator.extract_candidates(raw_text)
-                logger.debug("Otsu PSM 6 candidates: %s", candidates)
+                logger.debug("Otsu primary candidates: %s", candidates)
                 if not candidates:
                     candidates = self._try_alternate_ocr(
                         otsu_result.image_bytes, prefix="Otsu"
@@ -280,52 +278,31 @@ class VinExtractor(BaseExtractor):
         return detected or "application/octet-stream"
 
     def _perform_ocr(
-        self, image_bytes: bytes, psm: int = 6
+        self,
+        image_bytes: bytes,
+        single_line: bool = False,
+        single_word: bool = False,
     ) -> tuple[str, list[float]]:
         """
-        Perform OCR with VIN-optimized settings.
+        Perform OCR with VIN-optimized settings via engine abstraction.
 
         Args:
             image_bytes: Preprocessed image bytes
-            psm: Tesseract page segmentation mode
-                 6 = Uniform block of text
-                 7 = Single text line
-                 8 = Single word
+            single_line: Treat image as a single text line
+            single_word: Treat image as a single word
 
         Returns:
             Tuple of (raw_text, word_confidences)
         """
-        image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(image_bytes))
-
-        # Configure Tesseract for VIN extraction
-        # OEM 1 = LSTM neural network engine (best accuracy)
-        # NOTE: tessedit_char_whitelist does NOT work with OEM 1 (LSTM).
-        # Using it causes empty/erratic output.  Character filtering is
-        # handled post-OCR by vin_validator.correct_ocr_errors() instead.
-        config = (
-            f"--psm {psm} "
-            f"--oem 1 "
-            f"-c load_system_dawg=false "
-            f"-c load_freq_dawg=false"
+        config = OcrConfig(
+            char_whitelist=self.VIN_WHITELIST,
+            single_line=single_line,
+            single_word=single_word,
+            use_angle_cls=True,
         )
-
-        # Get detailed OCR data
-        ocr_data = pytesseract.image_to_data(
-            image, config=config, output_type=pytesseract.Output.DICT
-        )
-
-        # Extract words and confidences
-        words = []
-        confidences = []
-
-        for i, text in enumerate(ocr_data["text"]):
-            conf = int(ocr_data["conf"][i])
-            if text.strip() and conf > 0:
-                words.append(text.strip())
-                confidences.append(conf / 100.0)
-
-        raw_text = " ".join(words)
-        return raw_text, confidences
+        result = self._engine.recognize(image_bytes, config)
+        word_confidences = [wb.confidence for wb in result.word_boxes]
+        return result.text, word_confidences
 
     def _try_alternate_ocr(
         self,
@@ -335,21 +312,25 @@ class VinExtractor(BaseExtractor):
         """
         Try alternate OCR configurations when initial extraction fails.
 
-        PSM modes tried in order:
-            7  - Single text line
-            8  - Single word
-            11 - Sparse text (finds text in any order, good for angled photos)
-            13 - Raw line (no Tesseract heuristics, good for clean VIN plates)
+        Modes tried:
+            single-line - Treat as a single text line
+            single-word - Treat as a single word
+
+        PaddleOCR angle classification handles rotated/angled text
+        inherently, so no PSM mode fallbacks are needed.
 
         Returns:
             List of VIN candidates
         """
         tag = f"{prefix} " if prefix else ""
-        for psm in (7, 8, 11, 13):
-            raw_text, _ = self._perform_ocr(image_bytes, psm=psm)
-            logger.debug("%sPSM %d raw text: '%s'", tag, psm, raw_text)
+        for mode_name, kwargs in [
+            ("single-line", {"single_line": True}),
+            ("single-word", {"single_word": True}),
+        ]:
+            raw_text, _ = self._perform_ocr(image_bytes, **kwargs)
+            logger.debug("%s%s raw text: '%s'", tag, mode_name, raw_text)
             candidates = vin_validator.extract_candidates(raw_text)
-            logger.debug("%sPSM %d candidates: %s", tag, psm, candidates)
+            logger.debug("%s%s candidates: %s", tag, mode_name, candidates)
             if candidates:
                 return candidates
 

ocr/app/preprocessors/vin_preprocessor.py

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class VinPreprocessor:
             gray = cv_image
         steps_applied.append("grayscale")
 
-        # Upscale small images for better OCR (Tesseract needs ~300 DPI)
+        # Upscale small images for better OCR (~300 DPI recommended)
         gray = self._ensure_minimum_resolution(gray)
         steps_applied.append("resolution_check")
 
@@ -129,14 +129,14 @@ class VinPreprocessor:
         )
 
     # Minimum width in pixels for reliable VIN OCR.
-    # A 17-char VIN needs ~30px per character for Tesseract accuracy.
+    # A 17-char VIN needs ~30px per character for reliable OCR accuracy.
     MIN_WIDTH_FOR_VIN = 600
 
     def _ensure_minimum_resolution(self, image: np.ndarray) -> np.ndarray:
         """
         Upscale image if too small for reliable OCR.
 
-        Tesseract works best at ~300 DPI. Mobile photos of VINs may have
+        OCR works best at ~300 DPI. Mobile photos of VINs may have
         the text occupy only a small portion of the frame, resulting in
         low effective resolution for the VIN characters.
         """
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ class VinPreprocessor:
         Colored backgrounds have a low min value (e.g. green sticker:
         min(130,230,150) = 130) → inverted to 125 (medium gray).
 
-        The inversion ensures Tesseract always receives dark-text-on-
+        The inversion ensures the OCR engine always receives dark-text-on-
         light-background, which is the polarity it expects.
         """
         b_channel, g_channel, r_channel = cv2.split(bgr_image)
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ class VinPreprocessor:
         min_channel = np.minimum(np.minimum(b_channel, g_channel), r_channel)
 
         # Invert so white text (min=255) becomes black (0) and colored
-        # backgrounds (min~130) become lighter gray (~125).  Tesseract
-        # expects dark text on light background.
+        # backgrounds (min~130) become lighter gray (~125).  OCR engines
+        # expect dark text on light background.
         inverted = cv2.bitwise_not(min_channel)
 
         gray = cv2.cvtColor(bgr_image, cv2.COLOR_BGR2GRAY)

ocr/app/services/ocr_service.py

@@ -1,15 +1,14 @@
-"""Core OCR service using Tesseract with HEIC support."""
+"""Core OCR service with HEIC support, using pluggable engine abstraction."""
 import io
 import logging
 import time
 from typing import Optional
 
 import magic
-import pytesseract
 from PIL import Image
 from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener
 
-from app.config import settings
+from app.engines import OcrConfig, create_engine
 from app.models import DocumentType, ExtractedField, OcrResponse
 from app.services.preprocessor import preprocessor
 
@@ -32,8 +31,8 @@ class OcrService:
     }
 
     def __init__(self) -> None:
-        """Initialize OCR service."""
-        pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd = settings.tesseract_cmd
+        """Initialize OCR service with engine from factory."""
+        self._engine = create_engine()
 
     def extract(
         self,
@@ -86,14 +85,11 @@ class OcrService:
                     file_bytes, deskew=True, denoise=True
                 )
 
-            # Perform OCR
-            image = Image.open(io.BytesIO(file_bytes))
-            ocr_data = pytesseract.image_to_data(
-                image, output_type=pytesseract.Output.DICT
-            )
-
-            # Extract text and calculate confidence
-            raw_text, confidence = self._process_ocr_data(ocr_data)
+            # Perform OCR via engine abstraction
+            config = OcrConfig()
+            result = self._engine.recognize(file_bytes, config)
+            raw_text = result.text
+            confidence = result.confidence
 
             # Detect document type from content
             document_type = self._detect_document_type(raw_text)
@@ -160,26 +156,6 @@ class OcrService:
 
         return b""
 
-    def _process_ocr_data(
-        self, ocr_data: dict
-    ) -> tuple[str, float]:
-        """Process Tesseract output to extract text and confidence."""
-        words = []
-        confidences = []
-
-        for i, text in enumerate(ocr_data["text"]):
-            # Filter out empty strings and low-confidence results
-            conf = int(ocr_data["conf"][i])
-            if text.strip() and conf > 0:
-                words.append(text)
-                confidences.append(conf)
-
-        raw_text = " ".join(words)
-        avg_confidence = sum(confidences) / len(confidences) if confidences else 0.0
-
-        # Normalize confidence to 0-1 range (Tesseract returns 0-100)
-        return raw_text, avg_confidence / 100.0
-
     def _detect_document_type(self, text: str) -> DocumentType:
         """Detect document type from extracted text content."""
         text_lower = text.lower()

ocr/app/table_extraction/detector.py

@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ class TableDetector:
         Returns:
             2D list of cell contents
         """
-        # This would use Tesseract on the cropped region
+        # This would use OCR on the cropped region
         # For now, return empty - actual OCR will be done in manual_extractor
         logger.debug(f"Table region: ({table.x}, {table.y}) {table.width}x{table.height}")
         return []

ocr/app/validators/vin_validator.py

@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ class VinValidator:
         Uses two strategies:
         1. Find continuous 11-20 char alphanumeric runs (handles intact VINs)
         2. Concatenate adjacent short fragments separated by spaces/dashes
-           (handles Tesseract fragmenting VINs into multiple words)
+           (handles OCR fragmenting VINs into multiple words)
 
         Args:
             text: Raw OCR text

ocr/requirements.txt

@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ opencv-python-headless>=4.8.0
 numpy>=1.24.0
 
 # OCR Engines
-pytesseract>=0.3.10
+paddlepaddle>=2.6.0
+paddleocr>=2.8.0
+google-cloud-vision>=3.7.0
 
 # PDF Processing
 PyMuPDF>=1.23.0

ocr/tests/test_engine_abstraction.py

@@ -0,0 +1,626 @@
+"""Tests for OCR engine abstraction layer.
+
+Covers: base types, exception hierarchy, PaddleOcrEngine,
+CloudEngine, HybridEngine, and engine_factory.
+"""
+
+import io
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import pytest
+from PIL import Image
+
+from app.engines.base_engine import (
+    EngineError,
+    EngineProcessingError,
+    EngineUnavailableError,
+    OcrConfig,
+    OcrEngine,
+    OcrEngineResult,
+    WordBox,
+)
+
+
+# --- Helpers ---
+
+
+def _create_test_image_bytes() -> bytes:
+    """Create minimal PNG image bytes for engine testing."""
+    img = Image.new("RGB", (100, 50), (255, 255, 255))
+    buf = io.BytesIO()
+    img.save(buf, format="PNG")
+    return buf.getvalue()
+
+
+def _make_result(
+    text: str, confidence: float, engine_name: str
+) -> OcrEngineResult:
+    """Create a minimal OcrEngineResult for testing."""
+    return OcrEngineResult(
+        text=text, confidence=confidence, word_boxes=[], engine_name=engine_name
+    )
+
+
+def _mock_paddle_result(
+    dt_polys: list, rec_texts: list[str], rec_scores: list[float]
+) -> MagicMock:
+    """Create a mock PaddleOCR v3.x predict() result object.
+
+    Wraps data under ``"res"`` key to match save_to_json format.
+    """
+    result = MagicMock()
+    result.json = {
+        "res": {
+            "dt_polys": dt_polys,
+            "rec_texts": rec_texts,
+            "rec_scores": rec_scores,
+        }
+    }
+    return result
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Exception hierarchy
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestExceptionHierarchy:
+    """Engine errors form a proper hierarchy under EngineError."""
+
+    def test_unavailable_is_engine_error(self) -> None:
+        assert issubclass(EngineUnavailableError, EngineError)
+
+    def test_processing_is_engine_error(self) -> None:
+        assert issubclass(EngineProcessingError, EngineError)
+
+    def test_engine_error_is_exception(self) -> None:
+        assert issubclass(EngineError, Exception)
+
+    def test_catch_base_catches_subtypes(self) -> None:
+        with pytest.raises(EngineError):
+            raise EngineUnavailableError("not installed")
+        with pytest.raises(EngineError):
+            raise EngineProcessingError("OCR failed")
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Data types
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestWordBox:
+    def test_default_positions(self) -> None:
+        wb = WordBox(text="VIN", confidence=0.95)
+        assert wb.x == 0
+        assert wb.y == 0
+        assert wb.width == 0
+        assert wb.height == 0
+
+    def test_all_fields(self) -> None:
+        wb = WordBox(text="ABC", confidence=0.88, x=10, y=20, width=100, height=30)
+        assert wb.text == "ABC"
+        assert wb.confidence == 0.88
+        assert wb.x == 10
+        assert wb.width == 100
+
+
+class TestOcrConfig:
+    def test_defaults(self) -> None:
+        config = OcrConfig()
+        assert config.char_whitelist is None
+        assert config.single_line is False
+        assert config.single_word is False
+        assert config.use_angle_cls is True
+        assert config.hints == {}
+
+    def test_vin_whitelist_excludes_ioq(self) -> None:
+        whitelist = "ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"
+        config = OcrConfig(char_whitelist=whitelist)
+        assert "I" not in config.char_whitelist
+        assert "O" not in config.char_whitelist
+        assert "Q" not in config.char_whitelist
+
+    def test_hints_are_independent_across_instances(self) -> None:
+        c1 = OcrConfig()
+        c2 = OcrConfig()
+        c1.hints["psm"] = 7
+        assert "psm" not in c2.hints
+
+
+class TestOcrEngineResult:
+    def test_construction(self) -> None:
+        result = OcrEngineResult(
+            text="1HGBH41JXMN109186",
+            confidence=0.94,
+            word_boxes=[WordBox(text="1HGBH41JXMN109186", confidence=0.94)],
+            engine_name="paddleocr",
+        )
+        assert result.text == "1HGBH41JXMN109186"
+        assert result.confidence == 0.94
+        assert len(result.word_boxes) == 1
+        assert result.engine_name == "paddleocr"
+
+    def test_empty_result(self) -> None:
+        result = OcrEngineResult(
+            text="", confidence=0.0, word_boxes=[], engine_name="paddleocr"
+        )
+        assert result.text == ""
+        assert result.word_boxes == []
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# OcrEngine ABC
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestOcrEngineABC:
+    def test_cannot_instantiate_directly(self) -> None:
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+            OcrEngine()  # type: ignore[abstract]
+
+    def test_concrete_subclass_works(self) -> None:
+        class StubEngine(OcrEngine):
+            @property
+            def name(self) -> str:
+                return "stub"
+
+            def recognize(
+                self, image_bytes: bytes, config: OcrConfig
+            ) -> OcrEngineResult:
+                return OcrEngineResult(
+                    text="ok", confidence=1.0, word_boxes=[], engine_name="stub"
+                )
+
+        engine = StubEngine()
+        assert engine.name == "stub"
+        result = engine.recognize(b"", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "ok"
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# PaddleOcrEngine
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestPaddleOcrEngine:
+    def test_name(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        assert engine.name == "paddleocr"
+
+    def test_lazy_init_not_loaded_at_construction(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        assert engine._ocr is None
+
+    def test_recognize_empty_results(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        mock_ocr = MagicMock()
+        mock_ocr.predict.return_value = iter([
+            _mock_paddle_result(dt_polys=[], rec_texts=[], rec_scores=[])
+        ])
+        engine._ocr = mock_ocr
+
+        result = engine.recognize(_create_test_image_bytes(), OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == ""
+        assert result.confidence == 0.0
+        assert result.word_boxes == []
+        assert result.engine_name == "paddleocr"
+
+    def test_recognize_with_results(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        mock_ocr = MagicMock()
+        mock_ocr.predict.return_value = iter([
+            _mock_paddle_result(
+                dt_polys=[
+                    [[10, 20], [110, 20], [110, 50], [10, 50]],
+                    [[10, 60], [110, 60], [110, 90], [10, 90]],
+                ],
+                rec_texts=["HELLO", "WORLD"],
+                rec_scores=[0.95, 0.88],
+            )
+        ])
+        engine._ocr = mock_ocr
+
+        result = engine.recognize(_create_test_image_bytes(), OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "HELLO WORLD"
+        assert abs(result.confidence - 0.915) < 0.01
+        assert len(result.word_boxes) == 2
+        assert result.word_boxes[0].text == "HELLO"
+        assert result.word_boxes[0].confidence == 0.95
+        assert result.word_boxes[1].text == "WORLD"
+        assert result.engine_name == "paddleocr"
+
+    def test_recognize_whitelist_filters_characters(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        mock_ocr = MagicMock()
+        mock_ocr.predict.return_value = iter([
+            _mock_paddle_result(
+                dt_polys=[[[0, 0], [100, 0], [100, 30], [0, 30]]],
+                rec_texts=["1HG-BH4!"],
+                rec_scores=[0.9],
+            )
+        ])
+        engine._ocr = mock_ocr
+
+        config = OcrConfig(char_whitelist="ABCDEFGHJKLMNPRSTUVWXYZ0123456789")
+        result = engine.recognize(_create_test_image_bytes(), config)
+        assert "-" not in result.text
+        assert "!" not in result.text
+        assert result.word_boxes[0].text == "1HGBH4"
+
+    def test_recognize_quadrilateral_to_bounding_box(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        mock_ocr = MagicMock()
+        # Slightly rotated quad: min x=8, min y=20, max x=110, max y=55
+        mock_ocr.predict.return_value = iter([
+            _mock_paddle_result(
+                dt_polys=[[[10, 20], [110, 25], [108, 55], [8, 50]]],
+                rec_texts=["TEXT"],
+                rec_scores=[0.9],
+            )
+        ])
+        engine._ocr = mock_ocr
+
+        result = engine.recognize(_create_test_image_bytes(), OcrConfig())
+        wb = result.word_boxes[0]
+        assert wb.x == 8
+        assert wb.y == 20
+        assert wb.width == 102  # 110 - 8
+        assert wb.height == 35  # 55 - 20
+
+    def test_recognize_skips_empty_after_whitelist(self) -> None:
+        """Text consisting only of non-whitelisted characters is skipped."""
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        mock_ocr = MagicMock()
+        mock_ocr.predict.return_value = iter([
+            _mock_paddle_result(
+                dt_polys=[[[0, 0], [50, 0], [50, 20], [0, 20]]],
+                rec_texts=["---"],
+                rec_scores=[0.9],
+            )
+        ])
+        engine._ocr = mock_ocr
+
+        config = OcrConfig(char_whitelist="ABC")
+        result = engine.recognize(_create_test_image_bytes(), config)
+        assert result.text == ""
+        assert result.word_boxes == []
+        assert result.confidence == 0.0
+
+    def test_import_error_raises_unavailable(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        engine._ocr = None
+        with patch.dict("sys.modules", {"paddleocr": None}):
+            with patch(
+                "app.engines.paddle_engine.importlib.import_module",
+                side_effect=ImportError("No module"),
+            ):
+                # Force re-import by removing cached paddleocr
+                original_import = __builtins__.__import__ if hasattr(__builtins__, '__import__') else __import__
+                def mock_import(name, *args, **kwargs):
+                    if name == "paddleocr":
+                        raise ImportError("No module named 'paddleocr'")
+                    return original_import(name, *args, **kwargs)
+
+                with patch("builtins.__import__", side_effect=mock_import):
+                    with pytest.raises(EngineUnavailableError, match="paddleocr"):
+                        engine._get_ocr()
+
+    def test_processing_error_on_exception(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
+
+        engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+        mock_ocr = MagicMock()
+        mock_ocr.predict.side_effect = RuntimeError("OCR crashed")
+        engine._ocr = mock_ocr
+
+        with pytest.raises(EngineProcessingError, match="PaddleOCR recognition failed"):
+            engine.recognize(_create_test_image_bytes(), OcrConfig())
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# CloudEngine
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestCloudEngine:
+    def test_name(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.cloud_engine import CloudEngine
+
+        engine = CloudEngine(key_path="/fake/path.json")
+        assert engine.name == "google_vision"
+
+    def test_lazy_init_not_loaded_at_construction(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.cloud_engine import CloudEngine
+
+        engine = CloudEngine(key_path="/fake/path.json")
+        assert engine._client is None
+
+    def test_missing_key_file_raises_unavailable(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.cloud_engine import CloudEngine
+
+        engine = CloudEngine(key_path="/nonexistent/key.json")
+        with pytest.raises(EngineUnavailableError, match="key not found"):
+            engine._get_client()
+
+    @patch("os.path.isfile", return_value=True)
+    def test_missing_library_raises_unavailable(self, _mock_isfile: MagicMock) -> None:
+        from app.engines.cloud_engine import CloudEngine
+
+        engine = CloudEngine(key_path="/fake/key.json")
+
+        def mock_import(name, *args, **kwargs):
+            if "google.cloud" in name:
+                raise ImportError("No module named 'google.cloud'")
+            return __import__(name, *args, **kwargs)
+
+        with patch("builtins.__import__", side_effect=mock_import):
+            with pytest.raises(EngineUnavailableError, match="google-cloud-vision"):
+                engine._get_client()
+
+    def test_recognize_empty_annotations(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.cloud_engine import CloudEngine
+
+        engine = CloudEngine(key_path="/fake/key.json")
+        mock_client = MagicMock()
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.error.message = ""
+        mock_response.text_annotations = []
+        mock_client.text_detection.return_value = mock_response
+        engine._client = mock_client
+
+        # Mock the google.cloud.vision import inside recognize()
+        mock_vision = MagicMock()
+        with patch.dict("sys.modules", {"google.cloud.vision": mock_vision, "google.cloud": MagicMock(), "google": MagicMock()}):
+            result = engine.recognize(b"fake_image", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == ""
+        assert result.confidence == 0.0
+        assert result.engine_name == "google_vision"
+
+    def test_recognize_api_error_raises_processing_error(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.cloud_engine import CloudEngine
+
+        engine = CloudEngine(key_path="/fake/key.json")
+        mock_client = MagicMock()
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.error.message = "API quota exceeded"
+        mock_client.text_detection.return_value = mock_response
+        engine._client = mock_client
+
+        mock_vision = MagicMock()
+        with patch.dict("sys.modules", {"google.cloud.vision": mock_vision, "google.cloud": MagicMock(), "google": MagicMock()}):
+            with pytest.raises(EngineProcessingError, match="API quota exceeded"):
+                engine.recognize(b"fake_image", OcrConfig())
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# HybridEngine
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestHybridEngine:
+    def test_name_with_fallback(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback.name = "google_vision"
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback)
+        assert engine.name == "hybrid(paddleocr+google_vision)"
+
+    def test_name_without_fallback(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary)
+        assert engine.name == "hybrid(paddleocr+none)"
+
+    def test_high_confidence_skips_fallback(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "cloud"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.95, "paddleocr")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN123"
+        assert result.engine_name == "paddleocr"
+        fallback.recognize.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_low_confidence_triggers_fallback(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "google_vision"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.3, "paddleocr")
+        fallback.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN456", 0.92, "google_vision")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN456"
+        assert result.engine_name == "google_vision"
+        fallback.recognize.assert_called_once()
+
+    def test_low_confidence_no_fallback_returns_primary(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.3, "paddleocr")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=None, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN123"
+
+    def test_fallback_lower_confidence_returns_primary(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "google_vision"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.4, "paddleocr")
+        fallback.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN456", 0.3, "google_vision")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN123"
+
+    def test_fallback_engine_error_returns_primary(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "google_vision"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.3, "paddleocr")
+        fallback.recognize.side_effect = EngineUnavailableError("key missing")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN123"
+
+    def test_fallback_unexpected_error_returns_primary(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "google_vision"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.3, "paddleocr")
+        fallback.recognize.side_effect = RuntimeError("network error")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN123"
+
+    @patch("app.engines.hybrid_engine.time")
+    def test_fallback_timeout_returns_primary(self, mock_time: MagicMock) -> None:
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "google_vision"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN123", 0.3, "paddleocr")
+        fallback.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN456", 0.92, "google_vision")
+        # Simulate 6-second delay (exceeds 5s limit)
+        mock_time.monotonic.side_effect = [0.0, 6.0]
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.text == "VIN123"  # timeout -> use primary
+
+    def test_exact_threshold_skips_fallback(self) -> None:
+        """When confidence == threshold, no fallback needed (>= check)."""
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        primary.name = "paddleocr"
+        fallback.name = "cloud"
+        primary.recognize.return_value = _make_result("VIN", 0.6, "paddleocr")
+
+        engine = HybridEngine(primary=primary, fallback=fallback, threshold=0.6)
+        result = engine.recognize(b"img", OcrConfig())
+        assert result.engine_name == "paddleocr"
+        fallback.recognize.assert_not_called()
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Engine factory
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestEngineFactory:
+    def test_unknown_engine_raises(self) -> None:
+        from app.engines.engine_factory import _create_single_engine
+
+        with pytest.raises(EngineUnavailableError, match="Unknown engine"):
+            _create_single_engine("nonexistent")
+
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory.settings")
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory._create_single_engine")
+    def test_defaults_to_settings_primary(
+        self, mock_create: MagicMock, mock_settings: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        mock_settings.ocr_primary_engine = "paddleocr"
+        mock_settings.ocr_fallback_engine = "none"
+        mock_engine = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        mock_create.return_value = mock_engine
+
+        from app.engines.engine_factory import create_engine
+
+        result = create_engine()
+        mock_create.assert_called_once_with("paddleocr")
+        assert result == mock_engine
+
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory.settings")
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory._create_single_engine")
+    def test_explicit_name_overrides_settings(
+        self, mock_create: MagicMock, mock_settings: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        mock_settings.ocr_fallback_engine = "none"
+        mock_engine = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        mock_create.return_value = mock_engine
+
+        from app.engines.engine_factory import create_engine
+
+        create_engine("google_vision")
+        mock_create.assert_called_once_with("google_vision")
+
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory.settings")
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory._create_single_engine")
+    def test_creates_hybrid_when_fallback_configured(
+        self, mock_create: MagicMock, mock_settings: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        mock_settings.ocr_primary_engine = "paddleocr"
+        mock_settings.ocr_fallback_engine = "google_vision"
+        mock_settings.ocr_fallback_threshold = 0.7
+        mock_primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        mock_fallback = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        mock_create.side_effect = [mock_primary, mock_fallback]
+
+        from app.engines.engine_factory import create_engine
+        from app.engines.hybrid_engine import HybridEngine
+
+        result = create_engine()
+        assert isinstance(result, HybridEngine)
+
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory.settings")
+    @patch("app.engines.engine_factory._create_single_engine")
+    def test_fallback_failure_returns_primary_only(
+        self, mock_create: MagicMock, mock_settings: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        mock_settings.ocr_primary_engine = "paddleocr"
+        mock_settings.ocr_fallback_engine = "google_vision"
+        mock_settings.ocr_fallback_threshold = 0.6
+        mock_primary = MagicMock(spec=OcrEngine)
+        mock_create.side_effect = [mock_primary, EngineUnavailableError("no key")]
+
+        from app.engines.engine_factory import create_engine
+
+        result = create_engine()
+        assert result == mock_primary

ocr/tests/test_health.py

@@ -39,14 +39,9 @@ def test_pillow_heif_can_register():
     assert "HEIF" in Image.registered_extensions().values()
 
 
-def test_tesseract_available():
-    """Tesseract OCR is available and can process images."""
-    import pytesseract
+def test_paddleocr_engine_available():
+    """PaddleOCR engine can be created."""
+    from app.engines.paddle_engine import PaddleOcrEngine
 
-    # Create a simple test image with text
-    img = Image.new("RGB", (200, 50), color="white")
-
-    # Verify pytesseract can call tesseract (will return empty string for blank image)
-    result = pytesseract.image_to_string(img)
-    # Just verify it doesn't raise an exception - blank image returns empty/whitespace
-    assert isinstance(result, str)
+    engine = PaddleOcrEngine()
+    assert engine.name == "paddleocr"

ocr/tests/test_vin_extraction.py

@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
-"""Integration tests for VIN extraction endpoint."""
+"""Integration tests for VIN extraction endpoint and engine integration."""
 import io
 from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
 
 import pytest
 from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
-from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont
+from PIL import Image, ImageDraw
 
+from app.engines.base_engine import OcrConfig, OcrEngineResult, WordBox
 from app.main import app
 
 
@@ -240,3 +241,106 @@ class TestVinExtractionContentTypes:
         )
 
         assert response.status_code == 200
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# VIN extractor engine integration tests
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestVinExtractorEngineIntegration:
+    """Tests verifying VinExtractor integrates correctly with engine abstraction."""
+
+    @patch("app.extractors.vin_extractor.create_engine")
+    def test_perform_ocr_calls_engine_with_vin_config(
+        self, mock_create_engine: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        """_perform_ocr passes VIN whitelist and angle_cls to engine."""
+        from app.extractors.vin_extractor import VinExtractor
+
+        mock_engine = MagicMock()
+        mock_engine.recognize.return_value = OcrEngineResult(
+            text="1HGBH41JXMN109186",
+            confidence=0.94,
+            word_boxes=[WordBox(text="1HGBH41JXMN109186", confidence=0.94)],
+            engine_name="paddleocr",
+        )
+        mock_create_engine.return_value = mock_engine
+
+        extractor = VinExtractor()
+        text, confidences = extractor._perform_ocr(b"fake_image")
+
+        mock_engine.recognize.assert_called_once()
+        call_config = mock_engine.recognize.call_args[0][1]
+        assert isinstance(call_config, OcrConfig)
+        assert call_config.char_whitelist == VinExtractor.VIN_WHITELIST
+        assert call_config.use_angle_cls is True
+        assert call_config.single_line is False
+        assert call_config.single_word is False
+        assert text == "1HGBH41JXMN109186"
+        assert confidences == [0.94]
+
+    @patch("app.extractors.vin_extractor.create_engine")
+    def test_perform_ocr_single_line_mode(
+        self, mock_create_engine: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        """_perform_ocr passes single_line flag to engine config."""
+        from app.extractors.vin_extractor import VinExtractor
+
+        mock_engine = MagicMock()
+        mock_engine.recognize.return_value = OcrEngineResult(
+            text="VIN123", confidence=0.9, word_boxes=[], engine_name="paddleocr"
+        )
+        mock_create_engine.return_value = mock_engine
+
+        extractor = VinExtractor()
+        extractor._perform_ocr(b"img", single_line=True)
+
+        call_config = mock_engine.recognize.call_args[0][1]
+        assert call_config.single_line is True
+        assert call_config.single_word is False
+
+    @patch("app.extractors.vin_extractor.create_engine")
+    def test_perform_ocr_single_word_mode(
+        self, mock_create_engine: MagicMock
+    ) -> None:
+        """_perform_ocr passes single_word flag to engine config."""
+        from app.extractors.vin_extractor import VinExtractor
+
+        mock_engine = MagicMock()
+        mock_engine.recognize.return_value = OcrEngineResult(
+            text="VIN123", confidence=0.9, word_boxes=[], engine_name="paddleocr"
+        )
+        mock_create_engine.return_value = mock_engine
+
+        extractor = VinExtractor()
+        extractor._perform_ocr(b"img", single_word=True)
+
+        call_config = mock_engine.recognize.call_args[0][1]
+        assert call_config.single_word is True
+        assert call_config.single_line is False
+
+    def test_calculate_base_confidence_empty_returns_default(self) -> None:
+        """Empty word confidences return 0.5 default."""
+        from app.extractors.vin_extractor import VinExtractor
+
+        extractor = VinExtractor.__new__(VinExtractor)
+        assert extractor._calculate_base_confidence([]) == 0.5
+
+    def test_calculate_base_confidence_weighted_blend(self) -> None:
+        """Confidence = 70% average + 30% minimum."""
+        from app.extractors.vin_extractor import VinExtractor
+
+        extractor = VinExtractor.__new__(VinExtractor)
+        # avg = (0.9 + 0.8) / 2 = 0.85, min = 0.8
+        # result = 0.7 * 0.85 + 0.3 * 0.8 = 0.595 + 0.24 = 0.835
+        result = extractor._calculate_base_confidence([0.9, 0.8])
+        assert abs(result - 0.835) < 0.001
+
+    def test_calculate_base_confidence_single_value(self) -> None:
+        """Single confidence value: avg == min, so result equals that value."""
+        from app.extractors.vin_extractor import VinExtractor
+
+        extractor = VinExtractor.__new__(VinExtractor)
+        result = extractor._calculate_base_confidence([0.92])
+        assert abs(result - 0.92) < 0.001

ocr/tests/test_vin_validator.py

@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class TestVinValidator:
         """Test candidate extraction handles space-fragmented VINs from OCR."""
         validator = VinValidator()
 
-        # Tesseract often fragments VINs into multiple words
+        # OCR engines sometimes fragment VINs into multiple words
         text = "1HGBH 41JXMN 109186"
         candidates = validator.extract_candidates(text)
 

secrets/app/google-vision-key.json.example

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{
+  "_comment": "Google Vision API service account key for OCR cloud fallback",
+  "_instructions": [
+    "1. Create a Google Cloud service account with Vision API access",
+    "2. Download the JSON key file",
+    "3. Save it as secrets/app/google-vision-key.json (gitignored)",
+    "4. Uncomment the volume mount in docker-compose.yml",
+    "5. Set OCR_FALLBACK_ENGINE=google_vision"
+  ],
+  "type": "service_account",
+  "project_id": "your-project-id",
+  "private_key_id": "",
+  "private_key": "",
+  "client_email": "your-sa@your-project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
+  "client_id": "",
+  "auth_uri": "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth",
+  "token_uri": "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token"
+}