Mindmap

What this page is for

A mind map is a feature for writing things out, branching from a central theme. Maps are saved automatically, and you can share them with members and edit together.

It's a separate feature from the goal tree, and the map's branches don't become goals automatically. To turn branches into goals, ask the AI with "Turn into goals with AI" (→ Having the AI create maps).

To open it, go to "More" (the left sidebar on desktop, the bar at the bottom of the screen on mobile) → "Mind maps" in "Other features." On mobile, you can also open it from the menu (≡) at the top left. If you pin it in "Other features," you can open it from the left sidebar on desktop.

Creating a map

Press "Create map" in the list and enter a map name (1–128 characters), and a canvas opens with a single central theme placed. The list shows "Your maps" on top, then "Shared with you" below. Only shared rows carry a "Can edit" or "View only" badge.

From each map's "…" in the list, you can rename, duplicate, and delete. Delete asks for confirmation once, and you can bring it back with "Undo delete" in the toast right afterward.

You can also have an MCP-connected AI create maps for you from "Create with AI" in the list (→ Having the AI create maps).

Screen layout

• Top toolbar: Display depth (1–9; how many levels to show), node search, "Export" and "Import," theme (Classic / Dark / Paper / Monochrome), "Present," opening/closing the outline, opening/closing the detail panel, the shortcut list, and "Ask AI." While you're focused on a branch, "Show all" appears too
• Left outline: A panel that shows the whole map as a bulleted list. Press a row to select that node, double-click (or Enter / F2) to edit its name, and the ▶ at the start of the row to collapse. It auto-scrolls to match the node selected on the canvas
• Canvas: Branches extend left and right from the central theme. Drag the background to move, wheel to scroll vertically, ⌘ (Ctrl on Windows / Linux) + wheel to zoom. At the bottom right are zoom buttons: "−," the magnification (press to return to 100%), "＋," and "Fit to view" (20%–200%). When the selected node is off-screen, it automatically brings it into view
• Right detail panel: Edit the selected node's note, icon, image, appearance, and connections. When no node is selected, it shows "Select one node to see its details."

On desktop, there are always operation hints at the bottom of the canvas: "Click to select, double-click to edit, Tab for a child, Enter to add a sibling. Right-click for the menu, ? for the shortcut list."

Adding and fixing branches

• Child node: Select a node and Tab. On the central theme, you can also choose "Add a branch on the left" / "Add a branch on the right" from the button that appears when you select it
• Sibling node: Enter below, Shift+Enter above
• Editing the name: Double-click, or ⌘Enter / F2. One node is up to 1024 characters
• Moving a branch elsewhere: Drag a node onto another node. Reorder siblings with ⌘↑ / ⌘↓
• Collapse / expand: Space. A collapsed branch gets a round badge with the count of hidden nodes
• Delete: Delete / Backspace. ⌘Z to undo, ⌘Shift+Z to redo
• Select multiple: ⌘+click to add/remove, Shift+click to select a range of siblings under the same parent, Shift+drag to enclose and select on the background, ⌘A to select all
• Select a whole branch: Alt+click (or right-click → "Select branch") to select that node and its visible descendants together. A normal click selects only that node
• Move to a neighbor: Move to an adjacent node with the arrow keys. Up/down proceeds not just to siblings under the same parent but also, in order, to cousins (nodes under the same grandparent)
• Wrap with a boundary: Select nodes and right-click → "Wrap with boundary" to enclose the selected nodes in a boundary. Right-click the boundary to get "Add heading" (up to 128 characters) and "Remove boundary"

From the right-click menu, you can also add a child or sibling, rename, collapse, select a branch, add a connection, add an image, wrap with a boundary, focus on the branch, copy / cut / paste, copy link, turn into goals with AI, delete, and fit to view. "Copy link" is the link that opens the map with that node selected.

Node details (note, icon, image, appearance, connections)

Select one node, and the following items appear in "Node details" on the right.

• Note: Supplementary text that doesn't fit in the node name (up to 4,000 characters)
• Icon: Put an emoji at the start of the node
• Image: Put an image on the node with "Add image" (JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP, up to 5MB). "Replace image" and "Remove image" are here too. You can also attach one by copying an image, selecting the node, and pasting with ⌘V. When you select the node, handles appear at the image's four corners; drag them to resize. To go back to the original size, right-click → "Reset image size"
• Appearance: Fill, shape (rounded ends / rounded corners), bold, branch color (default is inherited from the parent)
• Connections: Separate from parent-child relationships, connect any two nodes with a line. "Add connection" → click the target node (Esc to cancel). Lines can have a label (describe the relationship), a direction (none / to the other / to this / bidirectional), and a line color

People who can edit the map can attach images. If the organization's storage has reached its cap, images can't be attached.

Focusing on a branch and presenting

Focusing on a branch: Right-click a node → "Focus this branch" to show only that node and the branch beneath it. You can still edit inside that branch while focused. Return to the whole map with "Show all" in the toolbar or Esc.

Presenting: Press "Present" in the toolbar, and the editing UI disappears and the map goes full screen, showing the nodes one at a time starting from the central theme. The current node and its direct children are shown brightly, and the rest are dimmed.

• Next: → or Space
• Previous: ←
• End: Esc, or "Exit presentation" on the screen (you return to the view from before you started presenting)

Collapsed branches are skipped. If you focus on a branch before presenting, only the inside of that branch is shown in order. The map can't be edited while presenting.

Saving

It saves automatically. There's no save button. Next to the title, "Saving" → "Saved" appears.

When multiple people edit the same map at once and saves collide, it shows "Conflicted with another save. Your local edits are kept." Choose "Load the server version" to take in the other person's content, or "Keep local edits" to overwrite the server with your edits.

Sharing and permissions

The person who created a map is the owner. The "Share" button appears for the owner and editors. Only the owner can assign members, set the visibility, and start or stop external publishing; in the share screen, editors can copy the link of a map that is published externally.

• Assign members: People you add start as a member (view only). Change their role to editor and they can edit
• Visibility: Set to organization-wide and everyone in the organization can view (only the owner and assigned editors can edit). Private means only the owner and assigned members can see it
• View-only people can also export the map (PNG / PDF) and present it. They can also collapse branches (Space) and change the display depth (1–9) on the spot, but those are display-only changes that aren't saved (they revert on reload)
• Ownership can't be transferred. Renaming is for the owner and editors; deletion is for the owner only

Pressing "Publish" under "External publishing" in the share screen lets people who know the link view it without logging in (unavailable if external publishing is disabled in the organization settings).

Exporting and importing

• Export: PNG (twice the screen resolution), PDF (one page), Copy image (to the clipboard), JSON (backup / moving to another map), Text (an indented bulleted list)
• Import: JSON and Text. With text, indentation becomes the hierarchy as-is, so you can paste a draft the AI gave you as a bulleted list and turn it into a map. Pasting a bulleted list with ⌘V does the same

A single map can hold up to 2,000 nodes.

Using it on mobile

You can open maps on your phone too, to read and fix them.

• Tap to select a node, and tap the selected node again to edit its name
• Tap the round badge that appears outside a node with children to expand or collapse the branch
• Long-press a node to bring up the node menu
• Pinch in or out with two fingers to zoom out or in
• The detail panel and the outline open as sheets from the bottom of the screen
• The toolbar shows display depth, search, present, outline, and the detail panel. Export / import, theme, and the shortcut list are for desktop

Having the AI create maps

MCP-connected AI (Claude Code, Codex, etc.) can read, create, and fix mind maps. Ask things like "turn the issues of this plan into a mind map" or "tidy up the ◯◯ branch of this map" (→ MCP integration).

There are three ways to ask the AI from the screen. Each one shows where to hand it off ("Open in Claude Code," "Open in Codex," "Open in ChatGPT," "Copy prompt") when pressed.

• "Create with AI" in the list: The AI asks what the map is about, where it will be used, and how detailed it should be, then shows a proposed structure and creates it once you approve

• "Ask AI" in the map's toolbar: Choose "Turn the whole map into goals with AI" (adds the whole map as goals) or "Edit with AI" (the AI shows a list of changes and applies only the ones you approve). When you return to the map's tab after the AI edits it, the latest content is loaded

• Right-click a node → "Turn into goals with AI": Adds the selected node and everything below it as goals. The AI shows candidate parent goals to add them under, plus a list of placements, titles, and ideals, and creates them once you approve

• What the AI can do: Read the list of maps and their contents, create a new map (it can build everything from a bulleted list down to the branches in one go), add nodes, change a node's name, note, and collapsed state, move and delete nodes, and duplicate maps

• What you do on screen: Images, boundaries, appearance (icon, color, shape), and connections can't be changed from the AI

Maps the AI creates are listed as maps of the person who asked.

Notes

• Write a URL in a node's label and you can open it from that text. There's no link field
• Images are also shown on the external public page opened without logging in

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This article is based on the screens as of October 15, 2026. Addness is updated daily, so the screens and steps may differ slightly from what you see now.