XenoMind - How It Works

1. What XenoMind is

XenoMind is a web-based visual thinking and organization tool. You capture ideas as maps you can shape four different ways, keep structured data in full-featured spreadsheets, organize everything in folders, and share or collaborate with others. What sets it apart is how tightly it works with AI: you can let the built-in assistant draft and edit maps for you, or connect the app directly to Claude so Claude can read and build your maps and sheets as if they were its own tools.

2. Features

Maps - four types

Every map is built from nodes and connections, and you choose the thinking model that fits the problem:

• Mind maps - a central topic that branches outward into ideas and sub-ideas.
• Flowcharts - step-by-step process diagrams, including labelled Yes/No branches.
• Concept maps - free-form networks of ideas linked by relationships.
• Fishbone (cause & effect) - work back from a problem to the things that cause it.

Nodes are rich. Each can carry a topic, notes (Markdown), styles (fill, shape, text and branch colours, font size), icons, tags, a link, attachments and images, and tasks. You can draw relationships / connectors between any nodes, collapse branches to focus, and each map type applies its own layout automatically.

Spreadsheets ("Sheets")

Sheets are a full Excel-style grid, not a toy table. They support cell formats, borders, merge / unmerge, freeze panes, formulas, autofilter and checkboxes, across multiple worksheets. You can import .xlsx, .xls and .csv files and export back to .xlsx.

My Drive & folders

Everything lives in My Drive. Organize maps and sheets together in nested folders with drag-and-drop; folders show how many items are inside (counting everything in their sub-folders too). Search finds items by title or by the text inside their nodes.

Sharing & collaboration

• Public share links - read-only, no-login access to a single map or sheet.
• Gallery - publish a map or sheet so other members can discover it.
• Public directories - share a whole folder of maps and sheets at once.
• Teams - shared workspaces where members can view and edit the team's maps and sheets together.

Import / export

Bring existing work in from .mmjson / .json, Markdown, OPML, FreeMind, and plain text. Export maps in the native .mmjson format, and back up or restore your entire library as a single zip archive.

Help

Built-in support: a searchable knowledge base, an AI help assistant, and support tickets for when you need a person.

3. AI that works for you

The easiest way to use AI in XenoMind is to let the built-in assistant do the work. Add your own AI key once, then just describe what you want in plain words - "make a mind map for planning a wedding", "add a Risks branch", "turn this into a flowchart" - and it builds or reshapes the map for you.

Bring your own AI key

In Settings → AI, each person adds their own API key for one of three providers - Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT or Google Gemini. Keys are stored encrypted; you validate the key and pick a model right in the app.

1. Open Settings → AI.
2. Pick a provider: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
3. Paste your API key and choose a model.
4. Click Validate, then Save. The built-in assistant can now draft and edit maps from your prompts.

4. Build a map with any AI (copy & paste)

The easy, no-setup way to brainstorm with any assistant - ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whatever you already use - and get a real mind map out of it. Copy a prompt, paste it into your AI, then paste its answer back into XenoMind. No key or connection needed.

1. Copy the prompt below into your AI. Replace <MY TOPIC> with what you want to map - "a wedding plan", "my dissertation outline", "a product launch".
2. The AI replies with a block of JSON. Copy all of it.
3. In XenoMind, go to New → Import → Paste JSON, paste it, and confirm.
4. Your map opens laid out and ready - rename it, restyle it, or ask the built-in AI to expand it.

Ready-to-copy prompt

It looks technical, but you don't need to read or understand any of it - just press Copy, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any other assistant, and import what it gives back.

You are generating a mind map for XenoMind. Output ONLY valid JSON - no prose,
no explanation, no Markdown code fence - matching this EXACT schema.

Top-level object (a MindMapDocument):
- "formatVersion": the number 1
- "rootId": the string id of the root node
- "nodes": an OBJECT (flat map) keyed by node id - NOT nested. Each node:
    - "id": string, equal to its key
    - "parentId": the id of its parent, or null for the root node
    - "children": array of child node ids, in sibling order
    - "topic": the node's text
    - "createdAt" and "updatedAt": ISO 8601 strings (use "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z")
    - optional: "notes" (Markdown string)
- "relationships": array (use [])
- "theme": "classic"
- "layout": { "type": "map", "hGap": 64, "vGap": 16, "balanceRoot": true }
- "meta": { "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" }

Integrity rules you MUST follow:
- Every node id is a unique string.
- Every id in a node's "children" array must also exist as a key in "nodes".
- A node's "parentId" must equal the id of the node that lists it as a child.
- The root node's "parentId" is null.

Here is a complete, valid example to match exactly in structure:

{
  "formatVersion": 1,
  "rootId": "root",
  "nodes": {
    "root": { "id": "root", "parentId": null, "children": ["a", "b"], "topic": "My project", "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" },
    "a": { "id": "a", "parentId": "root", "children": [], "topic": "Goals", "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" },
    "b": { "id": "b", "parentId": "root", "children": [], "topic": "Timeline", "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" }
  },
  "relationships": [],
  "theme": "classic",
  "layout": { "type": "map", "hGap": 64, "vGap": 16, "balanceRoot": true },
  "meta": { "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" }
}

Now build a map about  with a root node and 5-8 branches, each with
2-4 sub-points. Give each node a short, unique id. Output ONLY the JSON object.

{
  "formatVersion": 1,
  "rootId": "root",
  "nodes": {
    "root": { "id": "root", "parentId": null, "children": ["a", "b"], "topic": "My project", "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" },
    "a": { "id": "a", "parentId": "root", "children": [], "topic": "Goals", "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" },
    "b": { "id": "b", "parentId": "root", "children": [], "topic": "Timeline", "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" }
  },
  "relationships": [],
  "theme": "classic",
  "layout": { "type": "map", "hGap": 64, "vGap": 16, "balanceRoot": true },
  "meta": { "createdAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z" }
}

5. Prebuilt templates

Don't want to start from a blank map? XenoMind ships with a library of ready-made templates - fully structured starter maps for common tasks. Pick one and it opens as a real, editable mind map in a single click, already filled with sensible branches you can rename, trim, restyle, or extend.

How to use a template

1. Go to New (the Home screen).
2. Scroll to "Start from a template" - the gallery below the four format tiles.
3. Click a template. It creates the map and opens it in the editor, ready to edit.

The Home screen also rotates a "Did you know?" tip with a one-click Try it button that starts the matching template.

What's included

Templates span everyday and professional use - for example:

• Planning: Weekly planner, Travel plan, Project kickoff, Decision (pros & cons).
• Work: Business plan, Website build plan, Software build plan.
• Study & research: Study plan, Lesson plan, Research protocol, Book / literature notes.
• Life: Cooking recipe.

Each template becomes an ordinary map once created, so you can restyle it, add notes, links and connections, or hand it to the AI to expand.

6. Getting started

Create your first map from New, pick the type that matches how you think, and start adding nodes - or open a template and edit it. Add your AI key in Settings → AI to let the built-in assistant draft and edit maps from your prompts. Organize everything in My Drive, and share via a link, the Gallery, a public directory, or a Team when you're ready to bring others in. That's everything most people need.

7. For developers & power users

The deeper, more technical ways to drive XenoMind with AI. Safe to skip - everything above is enough to get full value from the app.

claude mcp add --transport http mindmap https://www.xenomind.studio/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_TOKEN>"

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