Docs
Getting started
A ref is a short public URL, shelfref.com/t/{id}, that goes wherever you say and can be changed forever. You put it on a physical thing. These pages explain the few things there are to know.
1. Sign in
Sign in with Google. The first time, 5 refs are created for you: 5 random seven-letter ids, each with an empty target. There is no card to enter and nothing to configure.
2. Put refs on things
From My refs, download a QR for one ref, print a label sheet with all of them, or write a ref to an NFC tag from your phone. Details in QR, NFC and labels. Give each ref a private label ("Dune, hardcover", "Boiler manual") so you remember what it is on.
3. Point them
Paste a link in the target field and save. From the next scan on, the ref goes there. Or scan a ref that is not set up yet while standing in front of the thing: the page you land on has the target field, and you type the link right there.
Instead of a link, a ref can show a small card: a title, a line of text and up to three links. See Redirects and cards.
4. Change your mind, any time
Edit a target and the printed label keeps working. Move a whole collection at once with CSV, or let a script or an AI agent do it through the API.
The rules we never break
- An issued ref is never deleted and never expires.
- Redirects are
302, never301: nobody's browser caches a target. - Nothing is recorded about the people who scan.
- Your refs are exportable as CSV at any time.