mdmind

mdmind is a local-first thinking tool for structured maps in plain text.

It gives you two interfaces over the same file:

• mdm: a CLI for viewing, searching, validating, exporting, and copying examples
• mdmind: a full-screen TUI for navigating, filtering, editing, and reshaping maps

The goal is not to mimic a whiteboard app. The goal is to make large idea trees feel calm, searchable, and safe to edit with a keyboard.

License: Apache-2.0

Why mdmind

mdmind is good for:

• product and feature planning
• research and writing maps
• prompt libraries
• project breakdowns
• backlog shaping
• keyboard-first personal planning

It is intentionally not:

• a rich document editor
• a team wiki
• a freeform diagram canvas

What A Map Looks Like

Maps are plain-text tree files with lightweight inline structure:

• #tag for grouping and workflow markers
• @key:value for structured metadata
• [id:path/to/node] for stable deep links
• [[target/id]] or [[rel:kind->target/id]] for cross-branch references
• | detail text for longer notes attached to a node

Example:

- Product Idea #idea [id:product]
  | Keep the tree label short. Put longer rationale here.
  - Direction #strategy [id:product/direction]
    - CLI-first MVP
  - Tasks #todo @status:active [id:product/tasks] [[prompts/library]]
    - Build parser
    - Ship tests
  - Prompt Library #prompt [id:prompts/library]

These files stay readable in normal Markdown tools. mdmind adds structure and navigation on top of that plain-text shape.

Install

For public installs, GitHub Releases are the source of truth.

• macOS:

brew tap dudash/tap
brew install mdmind

• Linux: install from the release tarball
• Windows: install from the release zip

For local development from this repo:

cargo install --path .

That installs both:

• mdm
• mdmind

More install and release detail lives in docs/INSTALL_AND_RELEASE.md.

Quick Start

Create a map from a starter template:

mdm init roadmap.md --template product

Open the TUI:

mdmind roadmap.md

Inspect a map from the CLI:

mdm view roadmap.md
mdm find roadmap.md "#todo"
mdm links roadmap.md

Copy bundled example maps onto your machine:

mdm examples list
mdm examples copy all

Core Ideas

• one plain-text map format, two interfaces
• local-first files with small sidecars for session state, views, checkpoints, navigation memory, and UI settings
• focused views for working inside large maps without losing structure
• built-in search, browse, saved views, ids, relations, and detail notes
• safe editing with undo, redo, checkpoints, and autosave/manual save modes

Read Next

If you are new:

• docs/README.md
• docs/USER_GUIDE.md
• docs/TUI_WORKFLOWS.md
• docs/USING_MDMIND_AS_OUTLINER.md
• docs/AGENT_USAGE.md

If you want specific features:

• docs/QUERY_LANGUAGE.md
• docs/IDS_AND_DEEP_LINKS.md
• docs/CROSS_LINKS_AND_BACKLINKS.md
• docs/NODE_DETAILS.md
• docs/SKILLS.md
• docs/SAFETY_AND_HISTORY.md
• docs/TEMPLATES.md
• examples/README.md

If you want product status and roadmap shelves:

• docs/product/README.md
• docs/product/features/finished/README.md
• docs/product/features/inwork/README.md
• docs/product/features/future/README.md

If you are working on the repo:

• DEVELOPER.md