Simple Mind

A Markdown-outline mind map editor for Obsidian.

github.com/fickit/simple-mind

Status: 1.0.4

Simple Mind turns a plain .mindmap file into a polished, interactive map — and keeps it a plain Markdown outline underneath. No account, no network calls, no lock-in.

Why Simple Mind

• Free, all of it. Four layouts, nine themes.
• Beautiful by default. Nine hand-tuned themes, from a warm Natural Organic light mode to a moonlit-forest dark mode, and the map follows Obsidian's light/dark switch on its own.
• Complete, not a toy. Four layouts, inline editing, drag to reorganize, collapse, undo/redo, clipboard, per-node styling, a custom theme editor, and per-file view state.
• Fast and quiet. No network requests and no telemetry. Redraws are frame-batched and off-screen nodes are culled, so maps with hundreds of nodes stay responsive.
• Your data stays yours. A .mindmap file is Markdown plus a small frontmatter block; it opens in the source editor at any time and syncs like any other note.

Features

Maps that fit the way you think

• Four layouts: mind map, tree to the right, tree to the left, and organization chart.
• Inline editing, drag to reorganize, copy and paste subtrees, undo and redo.
• Collapse a branch into a count bubble; add buttons follow the layout and remember which side a branch belongs to.
• Each file remembers its pan, zoom, and selected node.

Styling without a design degree

• One style panel for the file's theme, layout, and connector shape, plus the selected node's shape, fill, border, and text styling (size, color, bold, italic, underline, alignment, line height).
• Nine built-in themes: Meadow, Obsidian Native, Paper, Graphite, Nord, Solarized, Forest, Ocean, and Sakura.
• A custom theme editor with a live preview, and theme import/export.
• Font family, connector color, and connector thickness are global defaults in the settings tab.

Usage

1. Create a map. Click the ribbon icon or run the New mind map command. An existing Markdown outline also works — just rename it to .mindmap.

2. Type directly. With a node selected:

   • Space appends to the current label.
   • Any other character replaces the label with what you typed.
   • Clear the whole label and commit to delete the node (the root keeps at least one character).

3. Keys.

   Key	Action
   Tab / Enter	Add a child / add a sibling
   F2 or double-click	Edit the selected node
   Delete / Backspace	Delete the selected node, except the root
   Arrow keys	Move the selection
   Ctrl/Cmd+Z, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z	Undo / redo
   Ctrl/Cmd+C, X, V	Copy, cut, paste

4. Style it. Open the style panel from the floating menu and pick a theme, layout, and connector shape for the file, or restyle the selected node.

5. Edit the source. The source button switches the same tab to Obsidian's Markdown editor, and back to the map when you are done.

Installation

Install from Settings → Community plugins → Browse → Simple Mind once the plugin is listed.

Manual install: download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release, put them in <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/simple-mind/, then enable Simple Mind in the community plugins settings.

File format

A map is a Markdown outline with a small frontmatter block; per-node styles live inline, so the file stays readable and diffs stay small.

---
mindmap:
  theme: meadow
  layout: mindmap
  connectorStyle: curve
---

# Product plan
- Discovery
  - Interviews
  - Survey
- Launch <!-- sm:{"shape":"pill","bold":true} -->

Compatibility

• Obsidian 1.7.2 or newer, desktop only.
• Light and dark follow Obsidian; every setting is stored in the vault's plugin data, never sent anywhere.

License

MIT.