Writing Mind Maps in Plain Text: An Introduction to the Mind Elixir Text Format
Most mind map tools rely on a graphical interface. To draw a map, you open an app and add nodes, links, and styles one by one with the mouse. This is not convenient in every situation. When you want AI to quickly generate a map outline, or save a map as plain text in your note library, or simply jot down the tree structure of an idea, the graphical interface becomes an obstacle rather than a…
Mind Elixir offers a plain text format for creating mind maps that can be imported into the tool when a visual representation is needed. The basic structure follows a Markdown list style, with the root node starting with a hyphen and each subsequent level deeper indented by two spaces. This universal text format can be written in any text editor and read by any tool that outputs text.
To reference specific nodes, Mind Elixir uses the [^id] syntax. This is useful when linking nodes that are not in a parent-child relationship. Links can be bidirectional or unidirectional by using specific syntax. Additionally, nodes can contain style information in a JSON-like syntax, such as color, background, and font size.
Summary nodes can be used to provide a one-line summary for a group of sibling nodes. This is particularly helpful for organizing study notes or maintaining a clear structure in mind maps. The format also supports coordinate parameters for controlling link curvature, which can be omitted when writing manually and calculated automatically by Mind Elixir.
The Mind Elixir plain text format is advantageous for AI-generated map outlines, as it is simple and less prone to errors. Maps can be stored in .txt or .md files, which are easily readable even if the user stops using the specific software. This format also enables cross-tool collaboration, as plain text is easy to diff and merge.
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