refern.

The reference library that’s also your canvas.

Save anything, organize it your way, and arrange it on an infinite canvas. All on your machine, yours forever.

Free during the alpha · Windows, macOS & Linux

Joined by 10,000+ others

scroll

Save everything you see.

From any site, in a click. The refern clipper drops it straight into your library, so nothing slips away. Grab one image or a whole page at once.

  • Browser extension
  • Right-click save
  • Bulk save
  • Drag & drop
  • Screenshot

Organize and find.

Tag it, search it, or find it by color. Your whole library, a few keystrokes away.

  • Hierarchical tags
  • Custom views
  • 14 search operators
  • Find by similarity
  • Recursive browsing

Then make something with it.

An infinite canvas, built in. Moodboard, draw, annotate, and arrange without a second app.

  • Infinite canvas
  • Layers
  • Draw & shapes
  • Pin-on-top
  • Filters
  • Crop
refern.
My libraryMoodboardsGolden hour
Golden hour
Osaka at sunset from above — a golden-hour gradient spilling over the hills into a blue sky.
Golden-hour coastline — sunlit rocks and birds wheeling over the surf.
The Palace of Fine Arts colonnade glowing warm in golden-hour light against a blue sky.
A church silhouetted beneath a pink-and-purple sunset sky.
Evening sun bursting past a large sea stack, light spilling across the water.
Original illustration — a character resting among fallen golden leaves beneath golden autumn trees.
Original illustration — two girls taking a selfie amid lush greenery, blue sky behind them.
Busan's Gamcheon Culture Village — a hillside stacked with colorful houses under a blue sky.
Open golden grassland running out to a lone mountain under a clear blue sky.
golden hour.
Drag anything around. The canvas is yours.
67%

See your library think.

Every save, tag, canvas, and crop becomes a connection. The only reference manager that maps its own structure.

  • Relationship graph
  • Backlinks
  • Connections

Other features you might love.

The story covers the highlights. Here are a few more that make refern the last reference tool you’ll set up.

  • Import from Eagle

    Bring your whole Eagle library across in one move, with folders, tags, ratings, and sources intact.

  • Keep your metadata

    Reads embedded keywords, ratings, descriptions, and sources (EXIF, IPTC, XMP) as you add images.

  • Timed study

    Full-screen study sessions for drawing from your own references, on your own clock.

  • Reference overlay

    Pin any window on top, dial down its opacity, and click straight through it while you work.

  • Linked references

    Crops, groups, and the canvases an image lives in all stay connected back to the source.

  • Edit in place

    Crop and adjust brightness, contrast, and color without ever touching the original file.

Get refern.

Free while it’s in alpha. Windows, macOS & Linux. Your files stay on your machine.

A $30 lifetime license when it launches.

And there’s plenty more once you’re inside.