# Create a library

> The New Library sheet: a name, a place, what the library is about, and the properties the app proposes.

Choose File › New Library… (⇧⌘N), or click New Library… on the welcome screen. The sheet has two steps. The second one is optional.

## Step 1: name, place, and what it is about

| Field                       | What to enter                                                                                                            |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Name                        | The library's name. It becomes the folder's name.                                                                        |
| Where                       | The folder the library is made in. The default is `~/Movies/BetterLibrary`. Click Change… to pick another parent folder. |
| What is this library about? | A sentence or two: the footage, who is in it, what it is for.                                                            |

The library folder is always named after the library and made inside the folder you chose. If a folder with that name already exists there, the sheet says so and waits for another name.

If Change… lands on a folder that is already a library, the sheet offers to open it instead.

The about text matters more than it looks. It opens every AI tagging prompt and the Ask planner's prompt, so the tags and the answers come back in your words. Three example chips show the shape of a good answer; click one to start from it. You can edit the text later in Settings › General.

With the text empty the button reads Create Library and the library is made with the built-in properties only. With text in it the button reads Propose Properties (⌘↩). Skip properties makes the library at once either way.

## Step 2: the proposed properties

Propose Properties sends your description to the model and comes back with three to five properties, each with three to eight tags and a one-line description saying when it applies. This call is not charged.

The proposal follows a few rules:

- A property the AI fills is one the model can decide from silent, downscaled video: what is visible, how it is shot, its feel.
- Facts the video cannot show (client, country, shoot date, approval) come back as manual properties, marked YOU FILL THIS. At most one.
- Pick one when the tags exclude each other (shot type, energy), pick any when a clip can be several things (exercise, scene).
- At most one yes/no property.
- Nothing that duplicates the built-ins: no Tags, Keywords, Rating, Quality, Description or Name.

Read the list and trim it:

| To                | Do                                                      |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| Drop a property   | Untick its checkbox                                     |
| Rename a property | Click its name and type                                 |
| Drop a tag        | Click it. It is struck through. Click again to keep it. |
| Add a tag         | Type in the dashed + tag field and press ↩              |
| Start over        | Click Propose again                                     |
| Go back           | Click Back. Your description is kept.                   |

Tags and Rating are always there and never removable: Tags holds loose keywords, Rating is a 1 to 5 you rate yourself.

Click Create Library. The library opens on In Progress, ready for the first import.

If the proposal fails, the sheet says why and offers Try Again, Back, or Create without them. The description is kept either way, and properties can be added any time in Settings › Properties. See [Properties and tags](https://docs.usebetterapps.com/betterlibrary/properties-and-tags).

> **Why the schema comes first**
>
> The AI can only pick from tags that exist, and Ask can only plan against them. A library with only Tags and Rating gives a weak first tagging pass. A few properties in your own words give a good one.