Create a style

This guide shows you how to build a style by hand on the Style Board and generate the compiled StyleRef at the end. To build with AI from an existing source instead, see Extract a style.

You can start without an account — your work is kept in an anonymous session and moves to your account when you sign up.

The Style Board

Go to styleref.io/styles/create . The board shows your style’s sections as cards, organized into three themed columns:

Fundamentals & Voice — Output Format, UI & Web, Light & Shadow, Voice & Language, Container/Boundary, Inspiration Images.
Brand & Composition — Colors, Typography, Spatial Structure, Camera & Motion, Shape Language, Surface & Material, Line & Stroke.
Style Identity & Rules — Mood & Personality, References, Artistic Mediums, Post-processing, Background & Environment, Guardrails, Custom Style Items.

Sections keep their column while you edit, so a card you’ve found once stays where you left it. On a published style’s shared page the same cards are packed for even column lengths instead, since there’s nothing to edit there.

The panel on the right holds the Copy StyleRef output; the Extract Style box sits as the first card on the board.

Add and edit blocks

Each section holds blocks — individual style elements. To add one:

Pick a section

Select the section the element belongs to — Colors, for example. The Block Selector opens, listing that section’s available block types with a description of each.

Choose a block type

Select a block type — a color palette, a font family, a lighting mood. The block lands on the card and the Inspector panel opens.

Set the value

The Inspector shows the input for that block type. Every block starts in preset mode — choose from the schema’s predefined options — and can switch to manual mode for free-text input. Inputs include selects, multi-selects, 9-step range sliders, text, image upload, and a color palette picker (up to 10 colors, solid or gradient tabs).

To edit a block later, select it — the Inspector reopens. To remove one, use the Inspector’s delete button or the block’s × icon.

Two shortcuts worth knowing: Randomize seeds the board with schema values to react against, and undo/redo covers every block change.

Switch a style item off

Not every constraint belongs in every run. Any style item — or a whole section — can be switched off without deleting it.

On a computer, hover a style item and an eye icon appears in its corner; section headings have the same icon for switching everything in that section at once. On a phone or tablet, tap the item to open it and use the Include in output switch; section headings keep their icon visible so you can still switch a whole section. An item that is already off always shows its icon, wherever you are — that’s how you switch it back on.

A switched-off item stays on your board, dimmed, and keeps its value. It is simply left out of the compiled StyleRef — in every format, and everywhere the style is read: the copy panel, downloads, the API, MCP, and the ComfyUI nodes. Your public style page shows only the items that are on, so visitors see exactly what the StyleRef contains. Switching an item back on restores it as it was.

Use it to test a style with and without a constraint, or to keep a rule you’re not ready to delete. Because it changes the output, the copy panel will offer to re-generate afterwards. Switched-off items don’t count toward the ten items a style needs to be published to the gallery.

Saving and naming

There’s no save button — the board auto-saves every change. Set the style’s name in the editor — it’s what you’ll recognize the style by in your library and in the gallery. Agents address it by its id or share slug rather than its name, so renaming a style never breaks a reference; see style references.

Populate only the sections that matter for your work. A photography style leans on Light & Shadow and Camera & Motion; a brand-voice style leans on Voice & Language. Ten or more style items also clears the bar for gallery publishing later.

Generate your StyleRef

When the style has content, select Generate StyleRef in the action bar. StyleRef compiles your blocks into the ready-to-use text block:

Pick the format for your destination tool — default, flux, midjourney, diffusion, stylemd, or json (see Core concepts).
Copy StyleRef puts it on your clipboard, ready to paste.
Download saves it as .txt, STYLE.md, or .json — available on every plan, including Free.
If you edit blocks after generating, the modal flags how many items changed so you can re-generate.

On the Free plan, generating spends credits — the cost is shown on the button. Pro generates without limits. Anonymous visitors sign up (free) to generate. Copying and downloading the result are never gated.

Next steps

Use your style in AI tools — where to paste each format.
Extract a style — let AI draft blocks from a source.
Gallery, sharing & remixing — share or publish the result.