Native Mindmap

Mindmaps that are just Markdown notes. Keyboard-first. Animated.

_{▶️ Watch the full 2-minute demo (keyboard building, Markdown sync, Canvas mode)}

Install · Features · Shortcuts · Canvas mode

Why Native Mindmap?

Most mindmap tools make you choose: a beautiful editor that locks your ideas in a proprietary format, or plain text that you can't see the shape of. Native Mindmap refuses the trade-off.

• Your map is a note. A mindmap is a regular Markdown file: the first # heading is the central topic and the nested bullet list is the tree. It stays searchable, linkable, diffable, syncable and future-proof. No database, no lock-in, no export step.
• Keyboard-first. Tab adds a child, Enter adds a sibling, arrows navigate. You can build a whole map without touching the mouse.
• Alive. Topics grow out of their parent, fold back into it, and edges morph smoothly as the layout changes. Animations respect your system's reduce motion setting.
• Truly native. Topics render real Obsidian Markdown: [[wikilinks]] with hover preview, tags, bold, code, math. It follows your theme's palette in light and dark mode.
• Works inside Canvas. Turn any Canvas card into the center of a mindmap with a single keypress.

At a glance

Your map is a note

Quick start

A mindmap is a note with one frontmatter flag:

---
mindmap-plugin: basic
---

# Project Alpha

- Ideas
    - [[Some note]]
    - **Bold** idea
- Tasks
    - Ship v1

The note opens as a mindmap wherever Obsidian opens it: file explorer, links, quick switcher. Switch to the raw Markdown and back from the tab header, the "More options" menu or the command palette.

Features

• Smooth animations on add, delete, fold, move and layout change.
• Balanced branches on both sides, colored from your theme's palette.
• Drag and drop to reparent a topic (drop on it) or reorder (drop above or below).
• Multi-select with a drag rectangle, Shift click or Mod A, then delete, copy, fold or drag topics together.
• Undo / redo, plus copy / cut / paste as Markdown lists (paste a list from anywhere to grow a branch instantly).
• Fold and unfold branches, with a count of hidden topics.
• Canvas-like navigation: pan, zoom, pinch, dot grid, floating zoom controls, zoom to fit / selection.
• Three layouts, selectable per map.
• Mobile and tablet friendly.
• Configurable: spacing, topic width, colors, grid, animation speed, scroll behavior, default layout and folder for new maps.
• Every action is a command, so you can bind your own hotkeys.

Layouts

Each map picks its own layout from the layout button (Markdown view) or the right-click menu (Canvas):

Canvas mode

Inside any Obsidian Canvas, select a card and press Tab: it becomes the center of a mindmap and gets a connected child. Enter adds a sibling, arrows move between topics, Delete removes a branch, and the right-click menu switches layout or tidies the map.

Several mindmaps can live on the same canvas next to your other cards. Only edges created by the plugin (marked "mindmap": true in the .canvas file) are ever re-arranged; the rest of your canvas is left alone.

Canvas mode relies on Canvas internals (checked on Obsidian 1.14) and may need an update after a future Obsidian release. You can turn it off in the settings.

Shortcuts

Mod is ⌘ on macOS and Ctrl elsewhere.

Installation

From Community plugins

Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse, search for Native Mindmap, then select Install and Enable. You can also find it on the community directory.

From a GitHub release (manual)

1. Download main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Put them in <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/native-mindmap/.
3. Reload Obsidian and enable Native Mindmap in Settings → Community plugins.

With BRAT

Install BRAT, then add this repository as a beta plugin.

Development

bun install            # or npm install
VAULT="/path/to/vault" bun esbuild.config.mjs   # watch mode, builds into the vault's plugin folder
bun run build          # type-check + production bundle

Then enable Native Mindmap in Settings → Community plugins. The Hot Reload plugin gives you live reloading while you develop.

Good to know

• Fold state is kept per session and isn't written to the file.
• Lines in the note that aren't part of the list are kept and written back after the list.
• Multi-line list items are joined onto one line.

Contributing & maintenance

This plugin is actively maintained. Every issue and pull request is read and gets an answer.

• 🐛 Found a bug? Open an issue with your Obsidian version and steps to reproduce.
• 💡 Have an idea? Open an issue and describe the workflow you want: real use cases shape the roadmap.
• 🔧 Want to contribute code? Pull requests are welcome, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Not affiliated with Obsidian.

MIT