| # Browser-First Era Archive | |
| This document marks the architectural pivot from **browser-first** (Muse Alpha v0.2) to **board-first** (RefStudio v1.0). | |
| ## What was the browser-first approach? | |
| - Main workspace was a web browser with tabs | |
| - Sidebar navigation between Home/Browser/Library/Board/Settings views | |
| - Board was a secondary view accessed from the sidebar | |
| - Image hover overlay injected into browser tabs for saving references | |
| - Ad-blocking engine for browsing comfort | |
| ## Why the pivot? | |
| The core use case is **reference organization**, not web browsing. Artists need: | |
| - An infinite canvas as the PRIMARY workspace (like PureRef) | |
| - Browser as a TOOL (embedded panel) to find references, not the main UI | |
| - Zero-friction image capture from browser → canvas | |
| - Always-on-top mode for overlaying references while working in art apps | |
| - Click-through transparency for tracing | |
| ## What's preserved from browser-first era? | |
| - Rust adblock engine (`adblock/` module) | |
| - Tauri child webview architecture for embedded browser | |
| - Image download + library persistence (`library.rs`, `persistence.rs`) | |
| - Board item CRUD (`board.rs`) | |
| - SQLite migrations | |
| - Credentials/stronghold setup | |
| ## New architecture (board-first / RefStudio) | |
| - Infinite canvas is the main and only workspace | |
| - Browser panel slides in from the right as a capture tool | |
| - Library panel slides in from the left for asset management | |
| - Three.js GPU-accelerated image rendering with shaders | |
| - Annotations (freehand drawing) directly on canvas | |
| - Text notes with rich formatting | |
| - Image cropping, flipping, grouping, desaturate | |
| - Minimap for navigation | |
| - StarterHub for project management | |
| - Always-on-top + click-through + opacity control | |
| ## Files archived | |
| The previous `artifacts/musealpha-production.zip` contains the browser-first build. | |
| The `ui-prototype/` directory contains the browser-first prototype. | |
| The source in `src/` and `src-tauri/` is now being replaced with the board-first architecture from `uiprototype2/`. | |