# refern > refern is a desktop visual reference manager for artists. It connects a searchable library of your own reference images and files with infinite project canvases, so you can find the reference you saved and bring it into the artwork you are making. Existing files stay in their own folders. $35 USD one-time, updates included. Windows, macOS, and Linux. refern 1.10 is the latest public release (October 10, 2026). It is made for artists who regularly collect and reuse visual references, including illustrators, concept artists, character designers, 3D artists, students, hobbyists, and professionals. Designers, photographers, and other visual researchers use it the same way. ## What you can do with refern - Collect references with their source attached: save images and videos from the web with the refern browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), or drag, paste, and import files. Add tags now or organize later. - Bring an existing collection: point a workspace at folders you already have. Normal workspace indexing reads existing files where they are; explicit imports and copy actions can create files. One workspace can cover several folders, including folders on other drives. - Move from other tools: import Eagle libraries, PureRef 2.x boards (rebuilt as editable canvases), Allusion backups, and public Pinterest boards. Check each import report before retiring the source. - Find what you remember: full-text search across names, tags, notes, sources, and creators, where any part of a name matches and tags and creators are also found by their aliases; 23 typed search operators; color search by hex; visual similarity; duplicate detection; and Search by meaning with the optional on-device Auto Tagger. - Organize at your own pace: folders, hierarchical tags with tag trees and optional automatic parent tags (off by default), categories and linked sets, ratings, color labels, favorites, notes, sources, several ordered creators per item, smart folders, and image groups. Linked copies place one file in several folders without duplicating it. One Tag Manager window finds and merges duplicate tags. - Review files one at a time: start a review from a folder, a saved search, a selection, or the whole library, and rate, tag, and credit each file with the keyboard. Culling mode shows the next file beside the current one, so you can keep it or move it to the Trash, with Undo. - Build project boards: an infinite canvas with layers, text, shapes, freehand drawing, image adjustments, and non-destructive crop. Pin a board above your drawing app; window transparency and click-through work on Windows and macOS. - See how references connect: typed links between items and a navigable relationship graph across folders, images, canvases, groups, and tags. - Practice: Timed Study runs drawing sessions from your own references, with routines, history, a calendar, statistics, and notes. - Label large libraries: the optional Auto Tagger suggests tags, reads text in images, and describes them on your device after a one-time model download. You review every suggestion. - Share a single image or canvas: refern cloud (beta), included with a purchased license after account signup, publishes temporary links that expire after seven days and can be renewed. Links can be public, private, or PIN-protected. A shared canvas opens in a browser, where viewers can edit their own copy and save it back to refern. ## Key facts - Price: $35 USD one-time with updates included, one user on up to three activated devices, commercial use included. Regional pricing applies in some countries. The full app has a 30-day free trial with no card required. After the trial, the app interface requires activation; your original files and workspace folders remain accessible on disk. - Platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux desktop apps built with Tauri and Rust. The interface is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, French, German, and Italian (non-English translations are beta). - Your files: a workspace uses ordinary folders on disk. refern keeps its database and generated thumbnails in the workspace's data location. Tags and other refern metadata live in that database; they are not written into your original files. - Network: core library, search, canvas, viewing, and study work locally without uploading your library. License activation, update checks, optional Auto Tagger model downloads, feedback, saving media from the web, URL and Pinterest imports, and refern cloud sharing use the internet. A dated audit of the desktop source found no usage-analytics client or automatic crash-report uploader. - Formats: images (including AVIF), GIFs, and videos are handled natively; PDFs can be indexed and viewed in the app. Other file types can be indexed with a type icon, metadata, and an optional cover image, but are not rendered. - Company: refern is built by Refern Labs Inc., founded by Jackson Ye, an artist who codes. ## How refern compares - Eagle: both organize large visual libraries for a similar one-time price. Choose Eagle for broad design-file previews, font management, and its plugin ecosystem. Choose refern for an infinite canvas and relationship graph in the same app, Linux support, deeper operator search, or a workspace that indexes existing folders in place. Eagle's standard import copies media into its library. - PureRef: PureRef is a focused, mature reference board with an excellent overlay workflow and a free personal download. Choose refern when the same images also need a persistent searchable library, tags, and organization connected to the boards. Both run on Windows, macOS, and Linux. - Pinterest: Pinterest is for discovering and saving ideas online. refern is where you keep, organize, and use the references you decide to save, as local files with their sources. Many artists use both; refern can import public Pinterest boards. - Obsidian: refern brings an Obsidian-like linked-graph way of working to a visual reference library instead of notes. - Cloud boards (Milanote, Miro, and similar): these are online, collaborative, and subscription-based. refern is a desktop app with a one-time price whose library stays in your folders; it does not offer real-time collaboration. ## Current limits - Desktop only: there is no mobile app. Shared links open in a browser on any device. - No real-time collaboration or library sync between devices yet. Cloud sharing covers temporary links to single images and canvases. - No plugin system yet. - 3D models, Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, and similar formats can be indexed but are not previewed. ## Key pages - [Home](https://www.refern.app/): product overview and free trial. - [Download](https://www.refern.app/download): Windows, macOS, and Linux installers. - [Pricing](https://www.refern.app/pricing): one-time license details. - [Changelog](https://www.refern.app/changelog): release notes. - [About refern](https://www.refern.app/about): company, founder, and product principles. - [Guides and comparisons](https://www.refern.app/blog): product education and migration guides. - [refern vs Eagle](https://www.refern.app/compare/refern-vs-eagle) and [refern vs PureRef](https://www.refern.app/compare/refern-vs-pureref): head-to-head comparisons. - [refern vs Pinterest](https://www.refern.app/compare/refern-vs-pinterest): discovery versus a personal reference library. - [Contact](https://www.refern.app/contact): support email and community Discord. - [Privacy](https://www.refern.app/privacy): website and product privacy policy. ## Free browser tools These run in any browser, including on phones. They need no account and do not upload files. - [All free tools](https://www.refern.app/tools): the hub page that lists every free browser tool below. - [PureRef file viewer](https://www.refern.app/tools/pureref-viewer): open a PureRef .pur file online without installing PureRef. It shows the board layout and every image, saves the whole board as one PNG or PDF, and saves one image or all of them as a .zip. Works with PureRef 2.x boards; support for older 1.x boards is new and may not open every board. - [Notan generator](https://www.refern.app/tools/notan-generator): turn a photo into a 2-value notan or a 3 to 5 value study, with an automatic threshold, smoothing, and PNG download. - [Drawing timer](https://www.refern.app/tools/drawing-timer): a gesture and figure drawing timer that uses your own images or a whole folder, with 30-second to 10-minute poses and a class mode. ## Local API and MCP server (for scripts and assistant apps) refern can let scripts and assistant apps on the same computer read and edit the workspace that is open in the app. It is off until the user switches it on in Settings > Local API, creates a token, and chooses what the token may do. - HTTP API: JSON endpoints under `http://127.0.0.1:7733/v1` (the next free port up to 7743 if 7733 is taken). Every request needs `Authorization: Bearer `. Requests from web pages are refused. - MCP server: `POST http://127.0.0.1:/mcp` with the same token (Streamable HTTP), or run `refern --mcp-stdio` with `REFERN_API_TOKEN` set. Settings > Local API shows copy-ready values for Claude Desktop (including a bundle), Codex, other MCP apps, and scripts. Works with local MCP clients such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, and editor agents. Cloud-hosted assistants cannot reach it, because it only listens on the user's computer. - Agent setup: an agent that can run commands on the user's computer can connect itself. Ask the user to turn on access and create a token, then read `http://127.0.0.1:7733/llms.txt` from that computer: it has the exact steps for Claude Code, Codex, Claude Desktop, and other clients. Settings > Local API offers a ready-to-paste message for this. - Access levels build on each other. Read: browse, search, thumbnails, and files. Write: everything read allows, plus item metadata and tags, creating tags and creators, groups and links, folder appearance, Auto Tagger runs and review, creating folders, imports, and undo. Organize: everything write allows, plus rename, move, copy, linked copies, Trash and restore, folder and root hiding, editing and deleting tags and creators, tag structures, and smart folders. No level can delete files from disk. A token can also hide items marked NSFW. MCP clients see only the tools their token allows. - The same rules as the app apply: tag links, parent tags, NSFW rules, group rules, tag and creator aliases, and creator web links. Every change is listed in Settings > Local API, where supported changes can be undone. - Documentation: while the API is on, the app serves a guide for agents at `http://127.0.0.1:/llms.txt` and the full reference at `/llms-full.txt`. Settings > Local API links to both.