Reference/ — Project Folder Convention v2

What it is

Reference/ is the project's working library. If Deliverables/ answers "what did we give the client?", Reference/ answers "what are we working FROM?"

Lives here: brand voice + messaging anchors, ad specs + copy decks, source creative files, vendor proposals for OOH/print buys, lead exports, cycle history snapshots, and standalone reference docs the team consults repeatedly.

Does NOT live here: outputs we shipped (those go to Deliverables/), files that just arrived (Inbox/), daily auto-monitor output (Logs/), retired files (_junk/{YYYY-MM-DD}-{reason}/).

Subfolder structure

Six standard subfolders plus standalone root-level singletons. Subfolders are lazy — not every project will have all six.

brand/

Voice, messaging, and brand guidelines. The "are we on-message?" library.

Contains: brand-voice.md, messaging-library.md, guidelines/, master brand decks (gslides)

creative-specs/

Ad specs, copy decks, format requirements, compliance docs. Read-only references.

Contains: ad specs sheet, copy decks (frozen for cycle), HSAC/FHA/GST compliance docs

creative-sources/

Source files organized by medium. Cindy + Caroline's working library.

Contains: assets/, digital-ads/, mockups/, ooh/, print-ads/

ooh-proposals/

OOH and traditional-media vendor proposals. One folder per vendor.

Subfolders: broadsign/, pattison/, lamar/, astral/, arts-new-west/

leads/

Lead exports by month. Used for attribution analysis and Salesforce reconciliation.

Subfolders: YYYY-MM/ (one per month, CSVs/XLSXs from CRM)

History/

Cycle rollover archive. Lazy — created on first rollover event.

Subfolders: Productions/{cycle-slug}/, briefs/{cycle-slug}/

Plus standalone root-level singletons for docs consulted directly — Statement of Services, project brief, UTM builder, search keywords. These live at Reference/ root because they're consulted on their own, not browsed among siblings.

How files get here

Reference/ follows the project's Inbox-first intake model:

Drop in Inbox/

▼

/inbox-process
(nightly)

▼

High confidence

auto-route
to canonical destination

Med / Low confidence

surface to human
review queue

Default route — drop in Inbox/. Overnight, /inbox-process(in progress) matches each file against routing rules (conventions/routing-rules.yaml), assigns a confidence score, auto-executes HIGH routes, and surfaces MEDIUM/LOW to human review. Every move logged to Logs/inbox-process-{YYYY-MM-DD}.md.

Fast path — direct drop to known destination. Power users who know exactly where a file belongs can bypass the queue. Example: monthly lead export goes straight to Reference/leads/{YYYY-MM}/. /folder-audit(in progress) won't flag direct drops that land in canonical destinations.

Forbidden — drop at project root. Project root is reserved for canonical context files (CLAUDE.md, campaign.md, cycle files, agent files). Anything else must go in Inbox/ or a bin subfolder.

Rollout status (2026-05-24): /inbox-process is not yet built. Until it ships, manual routing is the operational path. After the skill runs reliably for 30 days, Inbox-first becomes the hard default and direct drops outside canonical destinations are flagged as anti-patterns.

The 3-item rule

When does a singleton file at Reference/ root get promoted to its own subfolder?

Same-type files at root	Where they live
1–2 files	Keep at `Reference/` root as standalone files
3+ files	Promote to a subfolder (named lowercase-kebab-case)

Example: one UTM builder gsheet stays at root. If three UTM builders arrive (Rennie structure, Periphery structure, legacy), they get promoted to utm-builders/.

Example: two competitor analysis PDFs at root is fine. Three or more → competitor-analysis/.

Asset routing — quick reference

Asset type	Destination
Client-supplied brand book (PDF)	`Reference/brand/guidelines/`
Logo files / font files	`Reference/brand/guidelines/`
Living brand voice document	`Reference/brand/brand-voice.md`
Approved messaging library	`Reference/brand/messaging-library.md`
Master brand deck (gslides)	`Reference/brand/`
Ad specs sheet	`Reference/creative-specs/`
Copy deck (frozen for cycle)	`Reference/creative-specs/`
Source PSDs / AI files / raw video	`Reference/creative-sources/{medium}/`
OOH vendor proposal	`Reference/ooh-proposals/{vendor-slug}/`
Monthly lead export	`Reference/leads/{YYYY-MM}/`
Signed Statement of Services	`Reference/` (root singleton)
Original client brief	`Reference/` (root singleton)
UTM builder sheet	`Reference/` (root singleton — unless 3+ exist)
Prior brand voice version	`_junk/{YYYY-MM-DD}-brand-voice-superseded/`
Built-out mockups / prototypes	`Reference/creative-sources/mockups/` if source; `Deliverables/` if shipped

Anti-patterns

What /folder-audit will flag in Reference/:

/folder-audit will flag these

Loose creative-source files at Reference/ root (must go in creative-sources/{medium}/)
OOH proposals dumped at Reference/ root (must go in ooh-proposals/{vendor}/ even if only one vendor)
Brand assets stuck in Inbox/ for >7 days (route to Reference/brand/)
Multiple "brand-voice-v2-final-FINAL.docx" siblings (version in frontmatter inside one canonical file; archive older to _junk/)
Lead exports mixed in with other files (always route to Reference/leads/{YYYY-MM}/)
Cycle files left at project root after rollover (must move to Reference/History/Productions/{cycle-slug}/)
Direct drops outside canonical destinations (flagged post-/inbox-process rollout)

Pier West — the worked example

The live Reference/ folder for Rennie/Pier West, as of 2026-05-24. Canonical reference implementation including the developer cross-folder pattern (BOSA-supplied OOH proposals live here because BOSA is the developer and Pier West is the project).

View the full real Reference/ folder Pier West · 2026-05-24 · live tree

Reference/
├── brand/
│   ├── brand-voice.md
│   ├── messaging-library.md
│   ├── guidelines/                                  ← Pier West brand book + Fakt Pro fonts (from Cindy's archive)
│   ├── Pier West Campaign Key Messaging.gsheet
│   └── Pier West x Periphery Digital.gslides       ← Master brand deck
│
├── creative-specs/
│   ├── Pier West - Ad Specs & Requirements.gdoc
│   ├── Pier West Digital Ad Copy (Internal Use View Only).gsheet
│   └── Pier West Print Ad Copy.gdoc
│
├── creative-sources/
│   ├── assets/                                      ← Raw photography, video, vector elements
│   ├── digital-ads/                                 ← Source files for Meta/Google/programmatic
│   ├── mockups/                                     ← Render mockups + composition references
│   ├── ooh/                                         ← Transit shelter, billboard, print OOH
│   └── print-ads/                                   ← Newspaper/magazine print
│
├── ooh-proposals/
│   ├── arts-new-west/
│   ├── astral/
│   ├── broadsign/                                   ← Includes BOSA Campaign xlsx (developer cross-folder)
│   ├── lamar/
│   └── pattison/                                    ← Includes BOSA TSA xlsx
│
├── leads/
│   └── 2025-09/
│
├── History/
│   └── briefs/                                      ← (Productions/ not yet — first rollover pending)
│
└── (root singletons)
    ├── Pier West - Statement of Services.gsheet
    ├── Pier West Project Brief.gdoc
    ├── Pier West UTM Link Builder V3 (Rennie Structure).gsheet
    └── pier-west-google-search-keywords.xlsx

Note on the BOSA cross-folder pattern: two BOSA-specific OOH proposals live in broadsign/ and pattison/ because BOSA is the developer and Pier West is the project. A Drive folder shortcut at BOSA/Pier West/ → Rennie/Pier West/ makes the project discoverable from both client paths. See the BOSA CLAUDE.md for the full pattern.

Change Log

Date	Change
2026-05-24	Initial chapter created. Pier West established as canonical reference implementation. Inbox-first intake model documented.