---
name: library-architecture
description: "Build a reference system that returns the right reference in under 60 seconds. Use when setting up a design reference library, reorganizing existing collections, or helping teams build shared reference systems."
---

# Library Architecture

A reference library is only as good as your ability to find the right reference at the right time.

## How to use

- `/library-architecture` Apply library design constraints to this conversation.

## Constraints

### System Requirements
- MUST use one tool, not three. Pick one and commit.
- MUST support tags and search. If you can't find a reference in 60 seconds, the system is failing.
- MUST save screenshots, not bookmarks. URLs die. Products redesign. Screenshots are permanent.
- SHOULD include a cropped detail of the specific thing that caught your eye alongside the full screenshot

### Content Rules
- MUST collect decisions, not aesthetics. A checkout flow screenshot is more useful than a beautiful hero.
- MUST collect from outside your domain. At most 40% should be from your own industry.
- MUST collect across time. Include work from the 1950s alongside work from this month.
- SHOULD collect problems too. A well-crafted design that fails at some level teaches more than obvious success.

### Maintenance
- Monthly: add minimum 10 new references, remove 5 that aren't earning their place
- Quarterly: review tags. Are you using all of them? Are there missing categories?
- MUST prune ruthlessly. 200 strong references beats 2,000 unsorted screenshots.

### Anti-Patterns
- Saving everything without curation (hoarding is not collecting)
- Only saving work from your own domain
- Never revisiting or pruning the library
- Using multiple tools with no single source of truth