A mind map that thinks with you
Turn what you're learning into a visual knowledge map where every node is an AI you can talk to — running against a local model, working offline, with everything stored encrypted on your own machine.
Download — it's free Will it run on my machine?
Think of it as NotebookLM, except it's a living visual map instead of a chat box — and nothing is uploaded.
Ask about one idea, not the whole document
Open a chat on any node and the AI sees that branch — its notes, its children, its parent — and nothing else. No 400-message transcript to scroll, no context you did not ask for.
The AI edits the map, and you can take it back
Ask it to extend a branch and it rewrites the structure — as a single reviewable change. One undo puts everything back exactly as it was.
Find things by meaning, with the network off
Semantic search runs entirely on-device against an embedding model that ships inside the app. It finds the node you meant, not the word you typed — on a plane, in a tunnel, anywhere.
Why not just use a chatbot?
Because a scrolling transcript loses the shape of what you're learning. Here the structure is the interface:
- AI scoped to a single idea. Ask about one concept without dragging in the rest of the map.
- Notes stay where they belong. An explanation is pinned to the exact node it explains, not buried 400 messages up.
- AI can restructure the map — and you review the change before it lands, then undo it in one step if you don't like it.
- Find things by meaning. Semantic search runs on-device, so it works with no network at all.
- Bring your existing material. Imports Freeplane (
.mm) and XMind files.
Will it run on my machine?
Almost certainly — and here's the part most AI apps won't tell you plainly: the app is useful before you install any model at all. Local AI is an upgrade, not a prerequisite.
| What you run | What you get | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| No LLM at all | The full mind map editor, Freeplane/XMind import, and offline semantic search (the embedding model ships with the app) | Any modern desktop or phone |
| A local LLM private & offline |
Everything, plus node-scoped AI chat, AI-generated notes and AI map edits | See the model table below |
| A cloud endpoint bring your own key |
Everything, fastest, with no local hardware demands | Any machine + an API key |
Supported local models
The app installs and starts Ollama for you and pulls the model you pick — there's no command line to fight. These are the models it ships support for:
| Model | Tag | Roughly needs |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen 2.5 (7B) | qwen2.5:7b | ~8 GB RAM or VRAM |
| Qwen 2.5 (32B) | qwen2.5:32b | ~24 GB VRAM (or 32 GB RAM) — best quality, slowest |
| Mistral (7B) | mistral:7b | ~8 GB RAM or VRAM |
| Gemma 3n (e4B) | gemma3n:e4b | ~6 GB RAM or VRAM — lightest option |
| Gemma 4 (e4B) | gemma4:e4b | ~6 GB RAM or VRAM |
Memory figures are approximate and assume the default quantised weights; a GPU is a nice-to-have, not a requirement. Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint also works — Ollama, LM Studio, OpenAI, or a custom base URL — so this list is a starting point, not a cage.
Download
Free, no account, no sign-up. Version 1.17.9.
macOS note: the download is an Intel (x86_64) build. It runs on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) Macs automatically through Rosetta 2 — the first launch may prompt you to install Rosetta if it isn't already present. A native Apple Silicon build is not yet provided.
What "private" actually means here
Not a slogan — the specifics:
- No account. There is no sign-up, because there is no server to sign up to.
- Encrypted at rest. The database and settings are AES-256 encrypted (SQLCipher) with your passphrase — safe to keep in Dropbox, Drive, or any storage you don't fully trust.
- Your files, your folder. Maps and notes live in a directory you choose and can back up or delete yourself.
- Works offline. Semantic search is fully on-device. With a local model pulled, so is the AI.
- Nothing leaves your machine unless you deliberately point the app at a cloud endpoint.
Tell me what to build next
This is a solo project and it is free. The most useful thing you can send me is what's missing or broken.
Look around
Every screenshot here is captured from the running app. Click any of them to enlarge.
Your maps, listed and searchable
Chat with the whole library
Import, export and map options
Per-node actions, right on the canvas
Collapse branches to see the shape of the whole
Every AI edit is one undo away
The node context menu
Node properties and rich-text notes
Styling a node
Colour picker
Icon picker
The AI actions available on any node
Ask the AI to research a node
Research results, written back into the map
Let the AI extend a branch
Extend the entire map at once
Chat scoped to the whole map
Point it at Ollama, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
Display settings
Your data lives in a folder you choose
About, updates and feedback
Common questions
Is it really free?
Yes. No paid tier, no trial, no account.
Is it open source?
No — it's source-available under the Elastic License 2.0, which mainly means nobody may resell it as a hosted service. You can read the licence in full.
Does it phone home?
It checks for updates on startup, which you can switch off in Settings. That's the only outbound request the app makes on its own. Everything else — your maps, notes and chats — stays local unless you configure a cloud model yourself. See the privacy page.
Can I use it with an existing mind map?
Yes — import your Freeplane .mm or XMind files and carry on from there.
Coming from something else?
- MindMap Chat vs NotebookLM — the offline alternative
- MindMap Chat vs XMind — mind mapping with local AI
- MindMap Chat vs Freeplane — keep your
.mmfiles - Private, offline mind mapping