Systems and methods for managing optical inspection target components are disclosed. A method may include, but is not limited to: storing at least one external recipe component at an inspection tool node; associating at least one proxy component with the at least one external recipe component; associating the at least one external recipe component with at least one optical inspection target recipe; and storing the at least one optical inspection target recipe including the at least one proxy component in a recipe distribution server. A method may include, but is not limited to: receiving a selection of at least one recipe associated with an optical inspection target to be inspected at a first inspection tool node; and determining whether one or more external recipe components associated with the recipe are stored on at least one of the first inspection tool node and a second node.