Freeform Canvas
Think in space, not lines. Sticky cards, live mind maps, groups and embeds — fast at any size, and every object is a real Markdown note.
Thesis
Own your tools, own your thinking
Argument
Lock-in is a tax on your future self
Evidence
Every app you’ve quit took your notes with it
A blank note asks for a sentence. A blank canvas asks for the whole idea.
Linear notes are great for finished thinking. They’re terrible for the messy middle — when you’re still working out how the pieces relate and a single column forces an order you haven’t earned yet.
Freeform Canvas gives that mess somewhere to live. Spread it out, move it around, draw the connections — and it’s all still plain Markdown underneath, ready to become a real note the moment it’s ready.
Spatial when you’re thinking. Linear when you’re done.
The gap it fills
A canvas, or your own files. Never both.
Every spatial tool made you give something up — your file format, your privacy, or the link back to the note you actually keep.
What you had
Obsidian’s native Canvas
Infinite and local — but stores a `.canvas` JSON blob, not real notes. Your cards aren’t Markdown you can open, link or search.
What you had
Miro, Milanote, FigJam
Gorgeous spatial canvases — but cloud-locked SaaS you rent. Your thinking lives on their servers, in their format, behind their paywall.
What you had
Dedicated mind-map apps
Good at trees — but a separate silo with its own file type. The map never becomes the note you actually write.
An infinite canvas where every card is a real Markdown note, living in your own vault.
An infinite canvas that never stops being your Markdown — under three rules.
Think in space, not lines.
Some ideas won’t sit in a linear note. Lay thoughts out where they belong — near, far, branching, clustered — until the shape becomes obvious.
Still just Markdown.
Every sticky, node and board is plain Markdown in your vault. Open any card as a note; open any note as a card. The canvas is a view, never a cage.
Fast at any size.
Virtualised rendering keeps huge boards smooth, a minimap keeps you oriented, and an outline panel gives the board a linear spine when you need one.
What you put on it
Four kinds of object, one surface.
Everything you drop on the board is a real Markdown note — so the canvas never traps your thinking in a format you can’t leave.
Capture
Sticky cards
Drop a thought anywhere. Colour-code it, resize it, link it. Each card is a real Markdown note you can open in a tab.
Connect
Live mind maps
Grow a tree of child nodes that stays in sync with its Markdown outline. Convert any sticky into a mind map in a click.
Organise
Groups & kanban
Corral related cards into groups, or drop in a kanban board when the thinking turns into a flow of work.
Bring in
Notes & embeds
Pull any note from your vault straight onto the board, or embed media inline. A workbench for everything you hold.
Built for big boards
Sprawl without the slowdown.
A canvas is only useful if it stays fast and findable when the idea gets large. These keep a thousand-card board under control.
Minimap overview
Toggle a bird’s-eye map to fly across a sprawling board.
Outline panel
See — and edit — the same board as a linear outline.
Bases views
Generate a Bases view across all your boards at once.
Convert anything
Sticky ↔ mind map ↔ note ↔ file, whenever the idea shifts.
Templates
Start a new board from a saved template in one step.
Virtualised
Hundreds of cards stay smooth — only what’s on screen renders.
Three ways it earns its place.
Plan, write, or think out loud — the canvas adapts to the shape of the work, then hands you back real notes.
Stand up a project
A sticky for every task, clustered into groups by phase. When it’s time to execute, convert the board to a kanban.
Map an essay first
Branch a mind map from your thesis, rearrange until the logic holds — then open the outline note and write.
Untangle a messy idea
Dump every half-formed thought as a card, push them around until clusters appear, then promote the keepers into notes.
The whole point
A view, never a cage.
Open any board as a Freeform canvas or as a plain Markdown file — your choice, any time. The spatial layout is just another way to look at notes you already own.
Part of the suite
Three tools, one promise.
Freeform Canvas, Oak and Bullet Journal all keep the same vow — plain Markdown, in your vault, yours to keep. See how they fit together.