# Soleil Clusters

> An infinite-canvas creative workspace for film, photo, design and brand teams.
> Organize references, storyboards, shot lists and scripts on shared boards.
> In one line: Soleil Clusters (https://clusters.soleilpictures.com) is a browser-based alternative to PureRef and Milanote: a shared reference board that opens on any device from one link, free to start.
> Read and write it from your own code with the https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/api/v1 REST API or the MCP server.

Terminology: the product calls a board a **cluster**. The API and database call the same object a `board`.

Every page below is also available as raw Markdown by appending `.md` (e.g. https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api.md).
The full corpus in one file: https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/llms-full.txt

## Changelog

- [Changelog](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/changelog): Every user-visible change to Soleil Clusters, newest first, with dates. Updated weekly. Most recent entry: 2026-10-04. Raw Markdown at https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/changelog.md, RSS at https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/changelog.xml.

## Pricing

- [Pricing](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/pricing): Soleil Clusters has two plans. Free is $0 forever with no credit card. Creator is $25/mo, or $20/mo billed annually ($240/yr), and one Creator plan covers the whole workspace: everyone invited builds at its limits, with no per-seat charges. Raw Markdown at https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/pricing.md; limits and billing in detail at https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/plans.

## Getting started

- [Soleil Clusters documentation](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs): Complete documentation for Soleil Clusters — the infinite canvas for film, photo and design teams. Features, guides, REST API and MCP reference.
- [Getting started](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/getting-started): Sign in, make your first cluster, get images onto the canvas and share it. A five-minute walkthrough of Soleil Clusters from empty account to shareable board.
- [Core concepts](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/concepts): Workspaces, clusters, cards and nesting explained. The vocabulary Soleil Clusters uses, and why the app says "cluster" where the API says "board".
- [Keyboard shortcuts](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/keyboard-shortcuts): Every keyboard shortcut in Soleil Clusters — canvas tools, navigation, editing, view controls, notes and document formatting.
- [Coming from another tool](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/migrating): Moving to Soleil Clusters from PureRef, Milanote, Miro, Boords, StudioBinder or Storyboarder — what maps across, what does not, and how to bring work over.

## The canvas

- [The canvas](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas): The infinite canvas in Soleil Clusters — tools, panning, zooming, selection, right-click menus, drawing, backgrounds and exporting.
- [Cards](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/cards): Every card type in Soleil Clusters — images, notes, links, documents, PDFs, video, audio, palettes, shapes, grids, schedules, votes and nested clusters.
- [Images and photo editing](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/images): Add images to a Soleil Clusters canvas and adjust them non-destructively — exposure, contrast and colour. Lightbox, downloads with edits baked in.
- [Notes](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/notes): Rich-text notes on the Soleil Clusters canvas — formatting, checklists, @-mentions, auto-linking and real-time co-typing with other people.
- [Shapes and drawing](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/shapes-and-drawing): Draw freehand on a Soleil Clusters canvas, add shapes with stroke and fill control, use the sketch pad overlay, or place a bounded art canvas card.
- [Arrows](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/arrows): Connect cards with arrows in Soleil Clusters. Arrows anchor to cards, re-route as you move things, and carry labels, colours, thickness and head styles.
- [Groups](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/groups): Group cards on a Soleil Clusters canvas. Named, outlined selections that move as one and can be commented on, tagged and coloured as a unit.
- [Grids](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/grids): Grid cards in Soleil Clusters split into resizable cells holding any content — storyboards, contact sheets, comparisons. Split, merge, or generate a matrix.
- [Schedules](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/schedule): Real-date calendar cards on the Soleil Clusters canvas — day tiles, a list, a month grid, and days that run as a timed running order.
- [Vote cards](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/vote-cards): Vote cards in Soleil Clusters are up/down polls you can anchor anywhere on a board, so a team can decide between options without a thread of comments.
- [Colour palettes and the picker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/palettes-and-color): Palette cards, the colour picker with eyedropper and hex input, recent colours, and how board colours stay readable in light and dark themes.
- [Snapping and alignment](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/snapping-and-alignment): Alignment guides and snapping on the Soleil Clusters canvas. Cards snap to each other's edges and centres as you drag; hold Alt to bypass.
- [Exporting a board](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/canvas/export): Export a Soleil Clusters board as a PNG image or a PDF, download individual images with or without adjustments, and share a live link instead.

## Files and media

- [Files and uploads](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/files): Upload any file type to Soleil Clusters. What is supported free, where the size caps are, how large uploads work, and where storage is counted.
- [PDFs](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/files/pdf): PDF cards in Soleil Clusters show page one and a page count, and open into a full-screen scrolling viewer with download. Free accounts cap PDFs at 50 MB.
- [Video and audio](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/files/video-and-audio): Video and audio play inline on the canvas. Video steps frame by frame in a review player; audio draws a real waveform with cover art.

## Clusters

- [Clusters](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters): Create, nest, rename and organize clusters in Soleil Clusters. Unlimited nesting, cover images, thumbnails, moving boards and the sidebar tree.
- [Files view](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters/list-view): Every cluster in Soleil Clusters is also a drive. Files shows it as a grid or a list, with search, sort, type filters and a detail panel with previews.
- [Home](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters/home-graph): Home in Soleil Clusters shows your clusters — where you left off, every top-level cluster newest first, New cluster — over a 3D graph of your workspace.
- [Production schedules](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters/production-schedule): Run a production schedule in Soleil Clusters — a multi-month calendar shared with the crew, each day its own cluster holding that day's material.
- [Trash and recovery](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/clusters/trash-and-recovery): Restore deleted clusters from a 30-day trash, roll a board back through version history, or rewind an entire workspace to a point in time.

## Documents

- [Documents](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/documents): Write long-form documents inside Soleil Clusters. Multi-page editor with a page tree, formatting, tables, board embeds, comments, find and replace.
- [Screenplay mode](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/documents/screenplay): Write screenplays in Soleil Clusters with industry formatting, accurate pagination, a scene navigator, title page, and Final Draft and Fountain support.
- [Exporting documents](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/documents/export): Export a Soleil Clusters document as PDF, Markdown or HTML, and screenplays as Final Draft .fdx or Fountain. Exports work from a phone or tablet browser too.
- [Comments, tags and backlinks in documents](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/documents/comments-and-tags): Comment on a text range in a Soleil Clusters document, tag passages, confirm suggested entities from the margin, and see everywhere a document is referenced.

## Organize and find

- [Tags and entities](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/organize/tags): Tag anything in Soleil Clusters — cards, groups, boards and passages of text. Entity types, automatic tagging, AI suggestions and emergent themes.
- [Links and mentions](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/organize/links-and-mentions): Mention any board, document, card, tag or person with @ in Soleil Clusters. Automatic link detection, hover previews, backlinks and deep links.
- [Search and the command palette](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/organize/search): Cmd-K in Soleil Clusters searches clusters, cards, notes, docs and tags, and runs commands — share, invite, trash, theme, settings — from the keyboard.

## Collaborate

- [Collaborating](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/collaborate): Invite editors and viewers to Soleil Clusters boards. Collaboration is free on every plan — editors do not need to pay, and the owner's quota is what counts.
- [Sharing and public links](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/collaborate/sharing): Share a Soleil Clusters board with a view-only public link that needs no account, set an expiry, include sub-clusters, or invite editors by email.
- [Presence](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/collaborate/presence): See collaborators' cursors, selections and location in real time across Soleil Clusters. Workspace facepile, click to jump to someone, presence colours.
- [Comments](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/collaborate/comments): Comment anywhere in Soleil Clusters — on a card, a group, an empty point on the canvas, a whole board, or a range of text in a document.
- [Messages](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/collaborate/messages): Direct and group messages in Soleil Clusters. Message anyone you share a board with, drag attachments onto the canvas, deep-link to any message.
- [Notifications](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/collaborate/notifications): Control what Soleil Clusters notifies you about — mentions, comment replies, workspace invites, board shares, schedule changes and product tips — in Settings.

## Publish

- [Publishing to Explore](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/publish/explore): Publish a Soleil Clusters board to the public Explore directory. How review works, what a published board gets, and how it differs from a share link.

## Soleil Scout

- [Soleil Scout](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/scout): Text photos, clips, voice notes, PDFs and links to Soleil Scout and they land as cards on a Clusters canvas. No app, no login. Commands, batching and search.

## Account and plans

- [Settings](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/settings): Every setting in Soleil Clusters — Profile, Appearance, Notifications, Connections, Billing, Invite and earn, General, Members, Card defaults and Documentation.
- [Plans and pricing](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/plans): Soleil Clusters is free with 50 cards and free collaborators. Creator removes the card cap and the file size limits on a 100GB drive.
- [Theme and defaults](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/theme-and-defaults): Follow your system theme or pick light or dark in Soleil Clusters, set an accent colour and body font, and choose what new notes, shapes and clusters start as.
- [Referrals](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/referrals): Invite people to Soleil Clusters and earn bonus cards when they actually get started. Your referral link, share targets and stats live in Settings.
- [Mobile and tablet](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/mobile): Soleil Clusters on phones and tablets — touch gestures, focus view, the mobile add sheet, and adding it to your home screen as a web app.
- [Data and privacy](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/account/data-and-privacy): Where Soleil Clusters stores your files, how long deleted things are kept, how sharing affects visibility, and how to get your data out or delete it.

## Developers

- [The REST API](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api): Read and write Soleil Clusters boards, cards and images from your own code. Bearer-token REST API at /api/v1, with an OpenAPI spec and MCP server.
- [API quickstart](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/quickstart): Working Soleil Clusters API examples in curl, TypeScript and Python — authenticate, create a board, add cards, read them back and clean up.
- [Authentication](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/authentication): Mint, scope and revoke Soleil Clusters personal access tokens. How bearer auth works, why a token acts as you, and how to keep one safe.
- [Boards API](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/boards): Create, list, read, rename, reparent, delete and restore Soleil Clusters boards over REST. Field reference, filters, pagination and cycle-safe reparenting.
- [Connecting an app (OAuth)](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/oauth): Soleil Clusters is an OAuth 2.1 authorization server — open client registration, PKCE and RFC 9728 discovery, so an MCP client connects with no token to paste.
- [Cards API](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/cards): Add, read, update, move and delete Soleil Clusters cards over REST. Field reference, size limits, auto-placement and the delete-is-the-undo pattern.
- [Images API](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/images): Upload an image to Soleil Clusters in one POST, or files of any size with multipart. Endpoints, limits, storage quota, and listing images back.
- [Import](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/import): Bring reference in from wherever it lives now — a shared drive folder, a CDN, any list of URLs — with an import you can safely run twice.
- [Arrange](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/arrange): Lay cards out automatically — justified rows, colour-ordered masonry or a uniform grid — or place them by hand with z-order, rotation and groups.
- [Identifiers and properties](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/metadata): Attach foreign IDs and structured fields to boards and cards, look objects up by them, and run the same import twice without duplicating anything.
- [Search API](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/search): Search Soleil Clusters boards and cards by text over REST. Query parameters, kind and workspace filters, pagination and result shape.
- [Export](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/export): Get a whole board out, either as complete JSON or as MovieLabs OMC-JSON, the ontology film studios use to describe creative material.
- [MCP server](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/mcp): Connect Claude or any MCP client to Soleil Clusters — hosted over a URL, or run locally. Tools for reading, building, importing and exporting boards.
- [Errors and status codes](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/errors): Every Soleil Clusters API error code and what to do about it — which are retryable, which are permanent, and how idempotency interacts with retries.
- [Webhooks](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/webhooks): Get notified when boards and cards change, including changes made in the app. Signed deliveries, a delivery log you can inspect, and redelivery.
- [Service accounts](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/service-accounts): Create a credential owned by a workspace rather than by a person, so an integration keeps working after the person who built it leaves.
- [Audit log](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/docs/api/audit): Read who changed what through the API, and who fetched image bytes, with cursor paging. Covers your own calls and your service accounts'.

## Buying guides

- [The 10 Best PureRef Alternatives in 2026](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/best/pureref-alternatives): The 10 best PureRef alternatives in 2026, tested on real film pre-production. Online, collaborative, and open-source reference boards compared honestly.
- [The 12 Best Milanote Alternatives in 2026](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/best/milanote-alternatives): The 12 best Milanote alternatives in 2026, ranked on real production work. Free tiers, item caps, and collaboration compared honestly — including our own app.
- [The 12 Best Mood Board Apps in 2026](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/best/mood-board-apps): The 12 best mood board apps in 2026, tested on real film and design work. Free and paid options compared: canvases, collages, and collaboration.
- [The 10 Best Storyboard Software Tools in 2026](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/best/storyboard-software): The 10 best storyboard software tools in 2026, tested on real film pre-production. Drawn boards, photo boards, AI frames and animatics compared honestly.

## Comparisons and tool pages

- [Text your scout photos. Get a board.](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/scout): Soleil Scout turns texted photos, links and notes into a board, grouped by scene. Invite-only for now: leave your number and we text you when you are in.
- [Mood Board Maker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/mood-board-maker): Make a mood board online, free. Drag images, notes, and palettes onto an infinite canvas, build it live with your team, and share it with one link.
- [AI Mood Board Maker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/ai-mood-board-maker): Connect Claude or any MCP client to Soleil Clusters and ask for a mood board. It gathers and arranges your own references — it does not invent pictures.
- [Storyboard Maker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/storyboard-maker): Make a storyboard online: drop frames in a grid, caption and re-order shots, keep the shot list beside the frames, and share one link with your crew.
- [Shot List Maker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/shot-list-maker): Build a shot list your crew will actually use: every shot carries its reference frame, lens, and notes. Toggle canvas or list view. Share one live link.
- [Look Book Maker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/look-book-maker): Make a look book online. Arrange looks in clean grid spreads, unify them with photo adjustments, and send clients one polished, interactive link.
- [Free Online Mood Board Maker](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/free-mood-board-maker): A genuinely free mood board maker — no credit card, no download, no trial clock. Drop images, notes, and palettes on an infinite canvas; share a link.
- [An Online Reference Board Maker for Working Artists](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/reference-board-maker): Make a reference board online: drag images onto an infinite canvas, check values in B&W, and open the same board on any device. Free, nothing to install.
- [Shared Reference Boards for Studio Art Teams](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/shared-reference-board): One reference board for a whole art team: artists add to it live, the art director comments on the image itself, and nobody installs anything.
- [Director’s Treatment Template](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/directors-treatment): A director’s treatment structure you can use today: develop the look with your team on a live board, write it as a document with images, export a PDF.
- [Production Design Mood Boards](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/production-design-mood-board): Mood boards for production designers: a cluster per set, with references, palettes and plans together, built live by set dec, props and the director.
- [Costume Design Mood Boards](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/costume-design-mood-board): Mood boards for costume designers: a board per character, looks laid out scene by scene, swatches and fittings together, shared live with the director.
- [Cinematography Lookbook](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/tools/cinematography-lookbook): A lookbook for cinematographers: frames, lighting references and lens notes on a shared board, B&W value checks, and one link for the whole camera team.
- [A Milanote Alternative Built for Production Teams](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/vs/milanote): The free Milanote alternative without per-person pricing — a real-time multiplayer canvas with screenplay mode, 100GB storage and link sharing.
- [A Storyflow Alternative for Crews That Work Live](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/vs/storyflow): A Storyflow alternative you can use free today: a live production canvas at a flat price, with no AI meter. Honest about where Storyflow still wins.
- [An Eagle Alternative for Teams That Build Boards Together](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/vs/eagle): An Eagle alternative for teams: a shared reference canvas in the browser, built live with your crew. Honest about where Eagle’s private library wins.
- [A Google Drive Alternative for Creative Work](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/vs/google-drive): Keep Drive for backup and sync. Clusters is where a creative team sees its files: drop a folder, get nested boards, every file kept under its own name.
- [PureRef Online: The Closest Thing, in Your Browser](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/vs/pureref): There is no PureRef web version. Clusters is the closest thing online: the same drop-and-arrange reference wall, in your browser, shared with one link.
- [A Miro Alternative for Filmmakers and Creative Teams](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/vs/miro): A Miro alternative for creative work, not diagramming: image-first boards, palettes, storyboards, and client-ready sharing. Free to start.
- [What You Can Make with Clusters](https://clusters.soleilpictures.com/use-cases): Mood boards, look books, storyboards, shot lists — see what creative teams make with Soleil Clusters, browse example boards, and start yours free.