Hey everyone,
I built Mindvas — a plugin that turns Obsidian Canvas into a full mind mapping tool, with keyboard-driven editing, auto-layout, and an outline panel.
Why I built this
I use mind maps constantly for studying and organizing ideas, but every dedicated mind mapping app felt disconnected from my notes. I wanted to build maps inside my vault, on Canvas, with the same
speed I get from keyboard-based tools like XMind — without leaving Obsidian.
Canvas has the visual foundation, but it lacks tree-aware operations. Mindvas adds that layer:
- No mouse required — add children, siblings, navigate, delete, and re-layout entirely from the keyboard
- Structure stays clean — contour-based auto-layout packs nodes tightly as you build
- Your maps stay navigable — the Map Outline panel gives you a sidebar with search, drag-and-drop reorder, and bidirectional highlight sync
What it does
Keyboard-driven editing
Add child nodes, siblings, navigate spatially through the tree, delete nodes, and flip branches — all from hotkeys you assign yourself.
Auto-layout
A contour-based tree layout algorithm keeps your map organized automatically. Supports left/right branches with balanced distribution.
Map Outline panel
A sidebar panel that mirrors your map structure — with groups, search, inline rename, and drag-and-drop reordering. Click a node in the outline to highlight it on canvas, and vice versa.
Branch coloring
Each top-level branch gets a distinct color automatically, so you can visually separate areas of your map at a glance.
Subtree drag
Dragging a node moves its entire subtree. Hold Alt to detach and move a single node.
And more
- Insert between nodes (
Alt+clicka connection point) - Node referencing — copy clickable links to any node, paste in notes or other canvases
- Forest layout — arrange multiple independent trees in a group into a clean grid
- FreeMind
.mmimport - Auto-resize nodes to fit content
- Full non-Latin keyboard support (Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic, etc.)
Installation
The plugin is currently pending approval in the community plugin directory. In the meantime you can install manually:
https://github.com/mobench/mindvas/releases/latest
Links
https://github.com/mobench/mindvas
I’d love to hear your feedback — what works, what doesn’t, what features you’d want next. And if you find it useful, a star on GitHub would mean a lot.
