u/Neither_Koala1678

I've been thinking about this and I'm curious how people here see it.

I can see a mind map playing three different roles:

1. Entry point. A visual front door to the garden. You see the main topics, then branch into the notes behind them.
2. Temporary thinking surface. You map something out to understand it, the real notes go into the garden, and the map gets thrown away.
3. Permanent navigation layer. The map lives alongside the garden and grows with it, like a table of contents you can see.

For a long time I thought 2 was the only honest use. Maps are great for seeing structure, but bad at holding detail, so trying to keep them forever usually turns them into a mess.

Disclosure: I work on mindmapai.app , a mind map tool, and we recently added longer notes on nodes (with Markdown and math). That's partly why I'm asking. Once a node can hold a real note, the line between "map" and "garden" starts to blur, and I'm not sure if that's good or bad for how people actually think.

Not here to pitch anything, I'm genuinely curious:
- Do you use maps in your garden at all?
- If you do, do you keep them or throw them away?

(Quick note: we're a small team, not solo, but I think this applies to anyone doing their own marketing.)

Our latest MindMap AI release had more than a dozen changes: presentation mode, LaTeX formulas, notes, new styles, a new pricing plan, and more. The easy move is one "here's everything new" post. Almost nobody reads those.

What we're trying instead:

1. Pick 1-2 features per audience.Students care about formulas and notes. Productivity people care about planning. Founders care about the decisions behind it.
2. Match the format to the community. Study communities get a full study method, with the product mentioned only at the end. Founder communities get a product decision and its trade-off. Tester communities get a clear list of tasks.
3. Read every community's rules first. Some allow self-promo once a week, some once a month, some only with a flair, and some need karma first.
4. Space it out. A few posts a week, not everything on one day.

Question: when you ship an update, how do you decide which part to talk about, and where?

(Product, if you're curious: mindmapai.app)

Hey everyone, I'm part of the small team behind MindMap AI (mindmapai.app). We just shipped two features that a lot of people asked for, and I'd really like to hear what you think.

1. LaTeX formulas in nodes
   You can now write math, physics, and chemistry formulas, equations, and scientific notation directly in a node. They render on the canvas and in your exports. Formula rendering only loads when a map actually uses it, so your other maps stay fast.

2. Notes on nodes
   Any node can now hold a longer written note, so the map stays clean while the details stay one click away. Notes support Markdown, and math between $ signs renders inside notes too, like F=ma.

The idea: map out a topic and keep the explanations, derivations, and equations in the same place, instead of jumping to a separate doc.

Two questions for you:
- What would you put in a note vs. directly on the node?
- Is there any notation you'd expect to break? We want to test it.

There's a free plan (50 AI credits a month, no card needed) if you want to try it. I'll be in the comments answering questions.

Hey everyone, I'm part of the small team behind MindMap AI (mindmapai.app). We just shipped two features that a lot of people asked for, and I'd really like to hear what you think.

1. LaTeX formulas in nodes
   You can now write math, physics, and chemistry formulas, equations, and scientific notation directly in a node. They render on the canvas and in your exports. Formula rendering only loads when a map actually uses it, so your other maps stay fast.

2. Notes on nodes
   Any node can now hold a longer written note, so the map stays clean while the details stay one click away. Notes support Markdown, and math between $ signs renders inside notes too, like F=ma.

The idea: map out a topic and keep the explanations, derivations, and equations in the same place, instead of jumping to a separate doc.

Two questions for you:
- What would you put in a note vs. directly on the node?
- Is there any notation you'd expect to break? We want to test it.

There's a free plan (50 AI credits a month, no card needed) if you want to try it. I'll be in the comments answering questions.

Hey everyone, I'm part of the small team behind MindMap AI (mindmapai.app). We just shipped two features that a lot of people asked for, and I'd really like to hear what you think.

1. LaTeX formulas in nodes
   You can now write math, physics, and chemistry formulas, equations, and scientific notation directly in a node. They render on the canvas and in your exports. Formula rendering only loads when a map actually uses it, so your other maps stay fast.

2. Notes on nodes
   Any node can now hold a longer written note, so the map stays clean while the details stay one click away. Notes support Markdown, and math between $ signs renders inside notes too, like F=ma.

The idea: map out a topic and keep the explanations, derivations, and equations in the same place, instead of jumping to a separate doc.

Two questions for you:
- What would you put in a note vs. directly on the node?
- Is there any notation you'd expect to break? We want to test it.

There's a free plan (50 AI credits a month, no card needed) if you want to try it. I'll be in the comments answering questions.

Hey everyone, I'm part of the small team behind MindMap AI (mindmapai.app). We just shipped two features that a lot of people asked for, and I'd really like to hear what you think.

1. LaTeX formulas in nodes
   You can now write math, physics, and chemistry formulas, equations, and scientific notation directly in a node. They render on the canvas and in your exports. Formula rendering only loads when a map actually uses it, so your other maps stay fast.

2. Notes on nodes
   Any node can now hold a longer written note, so the map stays clean while the details stay one click away. Notes support Markdown, and math between $ signs renders inside notes too, like F=ma.

The idea: map out a topic and keep the explanations, derivations, and equations in the same place, instead of jumping to a separate doc.

Two questions for you:
- What would you put in a note vs. directly on the node?
- Is there any notation you'd expect to break? We want to test it.

There's a free plan (50 AI credits a month, no card needed) if you want to try it. I'll be in the comments answering questions.

For anyone using MCP connectors with Claude or other assistants: we just updated the MindMap AI connector.

What's new:
- Assistants can read and write notes on any node (Markdown, with math between $ signs rendering inside notes)
- Assistants can read and write LaTeX or Markdown markup in node text, so you can ask for a physics or chemistry map and get real rendered formulas
- Assistants can cleanly remove images, tags, notes, and style values from a node without recreating it

Inside the app, the AI Copilot also now edits long text in place, changing only the part you asked for instead of rewriting the whole note. That makes edits to long notes faster and uses fewer credits.

Example prompt: "Make a mind map of the Krebs cycle, put the reaction for each step on the node and a short explanation in its note."

Disclosure: I'm on the MindMap AI team. Feedback welcome, especially on anything the connector still can't do that you'd want.

For anyone using MCP connectors with Claude or other assistants: we just updated the MindMap AI connector.

What's new:
- Assistants can read and write notes on any node (Markdown, with math between $ signs rendering inside notes)
- Assistants can read and write LaTeX or Markdown markup in node text, so you can ask for a physics or chemistry map and get real rendered formulas
- Assistants can cleanly remove images, tags, notes, and style values from a node without recreating it

Inside the app, the AI Copilot also now edits long text in place, changing only the part you asked for instead of rewriting the whole note. That makes edits to long notes faster and uses fewer credits.

Example prompt: "Make a mind map of the Krebs cycle, put the reaction for each step on the node and a short explanation in its note."

Disclosure: I'm on the MindMap AI team. Feedback welcome, especially on anything the connector still can't do that you'd want.