marknode / manifesto
Five beliefs about writing tools — about ownership, format honesty, durability, human authorship, and respect for your time.
MarkNode is a Markdown editor with an integrated mind map. Think visually, write in Markdown, and keep everything synced — while your documents stay on your local disk where they belong.
01
Plain Markdown files in folders you create, on hardware you own. Sync them with Git, Dropbox, iCloud, a USB stick — anything that moves files around. We don't host them, we don't see them, and we don't gatekeep them.
Cloud sync is a tool you reach for, not a requirement you can't escape. When you understand where your content lives and how it's structured, you truly own it.
We don't have your files. That's the point.
02
Most apps treat a mind map as a separate file format — they import your text, build a .mm or .opml blob, and leave you wondering which one is canonical. MarkNode doesn't.
The mind map is a live, bidirectional view of the same plain .md files you'd edit by hand. Headings are nodes. Nothing hidden, no metadata snuck in, no conversion step. Edit either side; the other reflects it instantly.
Markdown is the format. The mind map is a view.
03
Markdown has been an open format since 2004 — a .md file you wrote then still opens today, in dozens of editors that weren't invented at the time. Whatever you write in MarkNode is just as portable, and just as future-proof.
You don't have to bet on us. You don't have to migrate later. You don't have to export — there's nothing to export from. You're working in plain text the whole way.
No lock-in. No migration. No goodbye letter.
04
AI handles the friction — syntax checks, polish, rewording — without taking over the cursor. One chat input, any instruction. Results stream in real time. Nothing is applied until you say yes. Reject and the suggestion disappears; accept and the AI gets out of your way. You're still the one writing the book.
The free path runs through your own installed agent CLI — claude, codex, or any compatible tool. Zero config: MarkNode finds it, you direct it, and your content never leaves your machine. If you'd rather skip the CLI entirely, a hosted assistant is available as part of Ultimate — no setup required.
One input. Always reversible. Never automatic.
05
MarkNode is native — top to bottom. There's no runtime tax sitting between you and your files, no megabyte spinner before you can type the first word, no warm-up cost when you open another window.
An editor that lags is disrespecting your thinking. The tool should disappear; you should feel only the work.
If you can feel the editor, we did it wrong.