# Interface Lineage – library of interface patterns and principles > Source: > Published: 2026-10-30 16:35:24+00:00 [Interface Lineage](https://interfacelineage.com/) A free library of interface patterns and principles. Name the mechanism, prompt it to your AI, and invent new interfaces. [Interface Lineage](https://interfacelineage.com) # A library of patterns and principles for inventing new interfaces A designer may have solved your interface problem decades ago. [Your AI can connect to this library](https://interfacelineage.com/members) and show you their solution, demo included. ## Drag the list down and let go. Before *Pull-to-Refresh* there was *Inertial Scrolling*, that smooth momentum-based scrolling the iPhone introduced in 2007. Definitely a pleasant effect, but without meaning. [Pull-to-Refresh](https://interfacelineage.com/pull-to-refresh-gesture) changed that. It repurposed the gesture into a trigger to reload data. In Interface Lineage we trace how those interactions connect and evolve. ## Open a menu and slide toward the submenu. The submenu suddenly closes. Super frustrating … Why does every other popular app fail this test? Maybe the makers didn’t test or didn’t care. But you do care; otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. Knowing about the pain and knowing how to cure it are two different things. The cure here is called “[Safe Triangle](https://interfacelineage.com/safe-triangle)”. You can build better interfaces just by knowing and prompting this name. But if you dig a little deeper and read the background stories in this library, you can become an inventor of new interfaces. ## Spin the wheel. A flat list turned into a drum you spin with one thumb. Spin faster and it flies, ease off and it slows. The [iPod wheel](https://interfacelineage.com/ipod-click-wheel) came from a Bang & Olufsen cordless phone. The iPod is gone, but you still spin through lists with the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown. Good mechanisms outlive the hardware that introduced them. ## Common interface problems, and the patterns that solve them. ## What you’ll learn The [principles](https://interfacelineage.com/principles) interfaces prove or break. ## You can’t prompt what you can’t name. Designers often know when something isn’t working but lack the vocabulary to explain why. Without the words to name a problem, it’s difficult to translate design intuition into clear instructions AI can act on. Here's a real exchange: same model, same question. But notice the vocabulary that the library gives you? ## For you, and for your AI. Yours to read and play with ### Free You’ll have names for things you’ve felt in apps for years. Play a demo, and your hands remember the move. Follow one interface to the next. Careful, it’s a rabbit hole. You’ll design beyond the average, and know why. Give your AI a point of view ### Founding Member Your AI gets everything I’ve traced, and via MCP goes beyond the default. It stops guessing, finds related work and might even argue with you. I’ll add your name and number to the colophon, one of only 100. You’re part of why the library is free and open to everyone. ## Go ahead, start with one of these: There are 500+ [interface tear downs](https://interfacelineage.com/interfaces) to inspire your work ## Questions ## Want to talk it through with your AI? Ask what Interface Lineage covers, how it differs from other design resources, and where it might help in your work. View the prompt ## What is Interface Lineage? An interlinked library that takes interfaces apart for the people who make them. Every entry names the mechanism, traces it back to the people who built it, and connects it to the ideas it grew from. Many come with a demo you can operate and practical takeaways. ## Who is it for? Designers, engineers and students who already feel the difference between a good interface and one that just works, and want the words to name it and the judgment to defend it. It is not a tutorial, a set of components or a course. There are [other](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/)¹ [excellent](https://devouringdetails.com/)² [places](https://ui.shadcn.com/)³ [for](https://animations.dev/)⁴ [this](https://www.makingsoftware.com)⁵. It’s a library where you can bring your own librarian. ## Who’s behind this? I’m Johannes Mutter. I am a design engineer from Germany. This library started in 2011 as my personal collection of interface teardowns. I completely redesigned it this year so that it makes sense to you too. I spoke about disassembling interfaces at [Figma Config 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kxf4BJlA_s), which is a short preview of how the library works. ## What does it cost to read? Nothing. Every page is free to read, no account needed. The project is funded by [Founding Members](https://interfacelineage.com/members): one payment of €199. Membership lets you connect your AI with a personal MCP token. Founding Members get a permanent entry in the colophon. It is limited to 100 Memberships. Teams of three or more get [seats from €149 each](https://interfacelineage.com/join?seats=3). If membership turns out not to be for you, write within 14 days of your purchase and you get [the full amount back](https://interfacelineage.com/terms#refunds), no questions asked. ## How often is it updated? New interfaces are added regularly. When a pattern or a lineage comes into focus, I write a long-form article to walk through it. So expect interface entries on most weeks, and a new article roughly every other month. [Check out the Changelog for the latest updates](https://interfacelineage.com/changelog). ## How can I contribute? Contributions that expand, fact-check, or enrich the library are welcome. If you are a design historian, a researcher, or a designer who cares about interfaces as deeply as I do, [reach out](https://interfacelineage.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bfd5d0d7ded1d1daccffd6d1cbdacdd9dedcdad3d6d1daded8da91dcd0d2). The same goes if you like to reconstruct, record and preserve interface artifacts on hardware that is no longer around. ## Can my AI use it? Yes. The library connects to your AI over Model Context Protocol (MCP). It can search, fetch entries, and follow lineage directly. The personal token comes with the [Founding Membership](https://interfacelineage.com/members) or [a seat on a team](https://interfacelineage.com/members#team-membership). Setup takes under a minute; see the [connect page](https://interfacelineage.com/connect-mcp) for instructions. ## How was this made? I had notes, voice memos and Notion databases about interfaces, principles and patterns, plus an ontology I had modeled on top. It made sense to me, but to no one else. I could cut it down to a handful of mechanisms like “Slide to Unlock” or “Pull to Refresh” and write a book, or publish the full network. I asked on Twitter, and the vast majority of you voted for the network. A mechanism is worth less on its own than linked to hundreds of neighbors. That volume needs language models: for drafts, research and ~~most~~ all of the demo code. I took eight months off my regular work to build it, plus a CMS, site builder and slides tool for trying new storytelling formats. ## Is the prose written by a language model? If you run a page through an AI detector like Pangram, it will probably score as AI-generated. That’s correct. Language models write the drafts. I decide which interface and mechanism each entry is about, and the argument comes from my notes and voice memos. Each draft goes through several rounds of human and AI revision against a shared authoring guide. Sources are the makers’ own words: interviews, talks, oral histories. A quote comes from an identifiable primary source, or it is cut. made by [Johannes Mutter](https://x.com/JohannesMutter)