Generate — Mindmap

/generate mindmap turns wiki pages and their heading structure into an interactive mindmap. Output is a self-contained HTML file — no CDN, no hosting, pan and zoom in any browser.

flowchart TB
    Start([/generate mindmap topic]) --> Resolve
    Resolve["Resolve topic<br/>tag / folder / file / all"] --> Outline
    Outline["Build outline.md<br/>H1 root, H2 branches,<br/>H3 sub-branches,<br/>H4+ flattened"] --> Hash
    Hash["Compute source-hash"] --> Render
    Render{"markmap-cli<br/>available?"}
    Render -- yes --> Markmap["markmap-cli → HTML<br/>(self-contained SVG + JS)"]
    Render -- no --> Mermaid["fallback: Mermaid<br/>mindmap block"]
    Markmap --> Sidecar
    Mermaid --> Sidecar
    Sidecar[".meta.yaml<br/>sidecar"] --> Done([Mindmap ready])

    classDef engine fill:#5bbcd6,stroke:#2e6c7c,color:#0b0f14
    classDef output fill:#7dcea0,stroke:#2d6a4f,color:#0b0f14
    class Resolve,Outline,Hash,Render,Markmap,Mermaid engine
    class Sidecar,Done output

Usage

/generate mindmap <topic> [--vault <name>] [--include-wikilinks] [--template <name>]

Example

/generate mindmap rag-patterns --vault llm-wiki-research

Output:

✅ Mindmap generated
   Topic:       rag-patterns
   Pages in:    6 (sorted)
   Source hash: 8f3a1d6be711
   Outline:     vaults/llm-wiki-research/artifacts/mindmap/rag-patterns-2026-04-18.outline.md
   HTML:        vaults/llm-wiki-research/artifacts/mindmap/rag-patterns-2026-04-18.html
   Sidecar:     vaults/llm-wiki-research/artifacts/mindmap/rag-patterns-2026-04-18.meta.yaml
   Open with:   open vaults/llm-wiki-research/artifacts/mindmap/rag-patterns-2026-04-18.html

The .outline.md is kept — it’s the Markmap source, re-renderable and diffable.

Outline Construction

Wiki heading	Mindmap position
Page title (H1 of page)	Top branch under the topic root
H2	Sub-branch
H3	Sub-sub-branch
H4+	Flattened into H3 as a bullet list
`[[wikilink]]`	Italic label; with `--include-wikilinks` adds a “Related” sub-branch
Page `.md` path	`[Source]()` leaf link per page

Dependencies

Lazy-installed on first run:

Tool	Install	Purpose
`markmap-cli`	`pnpm add -g markmap-cli` (or `npm i -g`)	Markdown → mindmap HTML

If the install fails (offline box, locked npm), the handler writes a Mermaid mindmap block to a plain .md file. You can paste it into Obsidian’s Mermaid renderer, into GitHub, or anywhere else Mermaid is supported.

Customisation

The `markmap:` YAML block

The shipped template includes a non-standard markmap: YAML block that Markmap reads directly:

markmap:
  colorFreezeLevel: 2
  maxWidth: 300
  initialExpandLevel: 2
  spacing: { vertical: 6, horizontal: 80 }

Tools other than markmap-cli ignore it.

Vault-local override

Drop <vault>/.templates/mindmap/default.md to ship house-tuned spacing / colour-freeze-level per vault.

Obsidian Embedding

The generated HTML is self-contained — works with the HTML Reader plugin:

## Mindmap

`$= "<iframe src='" + app.vault.adapter.getResourcePath('artifacts/mindmap/rag-patterns-2026-04-18.html') + "' width='100%' height='600'></iframe>"`

(That’s a dataviewjs snippet — adjust the artifact path.)

Known Limitations (Phase 2B)

Cross-file hyperlinks between mindmaps aren’t supported. Node-level links only work for external URLs or local file paths.
Wikilinks render as italic labels — not clickable inside the mindmap. Use --include-wikilinks to surface them as a “Related” branch.
Mermaid fallback is plain markdown — no interactive pan/zoom, but renders everywhere Mermaid renders.