Explore Connections Between Your References
refern's relationship graph shows connections stored in the workspace. It can help you move from an image to a board that uses it, or explore related entries. It does not discover an image's artistic meaning or reconstruct relationships that were never recorded.
Start with an image you know
Select an image and inspect Linked References in its details. Depending on its saved relationships, you can see a source it was cropped from, canvases it appears in, and manually linked entries.
This focused view is often easier to read than opening the whole workspace graph. Choose a known connection first so you can check what the app is representing.
Read the relationship correctly
| Relationship | What it records |
|---|---|
| Member of | Membership in a group |
| Derived from | A saved source relationship, such as a crop created from another image |
| Placed in canvas | An image's placement in a canvas |
| Cross-reference | An explicitly created connection between entries |
A shared tag or canvas can be useful context. It is not evidence that two references have the same creator, license, or visual style. Keep those facts in the appropriate metadata and source records.
Explore a graph view
Right-click an item and choose Show in graph view to open the graph around it. The Graph row is hidden in the left sidebar by default; show it in Settings > Navigator if you want it there. Use the graph's selection and display controls to focus on a manageable set of connections. Navigate to an entry to inspect the media and metadata behind the node. If the view is crowded, begin from one image's neighborhood rather than trying to read every connection at once.
The graph reflects indexed entities and supported relationships. A crop made in an external editor does not automatically acquire a derived-from link just because it looks similar.
Search recorded links
The public search operators include derived:true, grouped:true, and linked:true. Use the current suggestions to inspect their meanings. The linked filter covers supported cross-axis links such as crops, canvas placements, and manual links; it is not a synonym for group membership alone.
Do not use placed-in-canvas:true as an operator. To inspect canvas placements, use the image's linked-reference details instead.
For meaningful connections, start with a project moodboard or a carefully saved crop. Preserve workspace data in your backup; having original pixels alone does not preserve every relationship you recorded.