Mind Mapping app: https://mindmap.chaotung.com/

The Power of Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a powerful way to organize thoughts visually—structured yet fluid, like ideas branching out from a central seed. The technique involves creating a diagram where concepts radiate outward from a core idea, revealing relationships, hierarchies, and hidden connections. While it feels modern and intuitive, its origins trace back to around 300 AD, when Porphyry of Tyre first used a similar approach to classify Aristotle’s philosophies. Centuries later, Tony Buzan brought mind mapping into the mainstream as a tool to capture, connect, and clarify complex thinking.

Why use mind mapping?

• Ideation: It helps capture fleeting thoughts and brainstorm new ideas.

• Connection: It facilitates linking new information with existing knowledge.

• Clarity: It simplifies complex ideas, making them easier to understand.

• Creativity: It boosts creative thinking by visually connecting disparate ideas.

• Collaboration: It promotes teamwork by providing a shared visual space.

• Problem-Solving: It aids in breaking down problems and exploring solutions.

Who Can Benefit from Mind Mapping?
Whether you're brainstorming, planning, strategizing, or managing projects, mind mapping can be beneficial. I was first introduced to it during my master's program for creative exploration in animation and filmmaking. Since then, I've consistently used mind mapping for technology innovation and product management tasks.

The Quest for the Ideal Mind Mapping Tool

Over the years, I've explored numerous mind mapping tools, both commercial and open-source. While many offer powerful features, I often found them either overly complicated or lacking essential functionalities. I believe the following are crucial capabilities for an effective mind mapping tool:

1. Accessibility: Easy to use and readily available.

2. Simple Data Format & Import/Export: Data should be easily exportable and importable in a non-proprietary, text-based format (like Markdown). Your knowledge should remain yours, not locked away. Seamlessly import text outlines (like Markdown bullet points) and export the mind map back into a text format.

3. The Adaptability and Flexibility of Consciousness: Effortlessly connect, disconnect, and rearrange ideas and branches as your thinking evolves; ability to expand complex branches or collapse them to focus on the bigger picture.

4. Visual Cues: Simple color-coding options to categorize and visually differentiate streams of thought.

Building Solutions
Driven by the desire for a tool that met these criteria, and inspired by the recent advancements in AI, I decided to build my own. With the help of tools like Windsurf, Cursor, and Omnimodal LMM like Gemini 2.5 Pro, I was able to create a functional app I'm genuinely excited about!