iThoughts Redux - The ultimate MindMap Outliner PKMS

Building the next iThoughtsX in 2026

This site documents progress on building a file type compatible replacement for iThoughtsX that can 'run anywhere'

Click here to read my Blog Post explaining what this is and why I'm doing it. (and read the comments to find a link to the latest code proof of concept)

The entire contents of this page is being edited in 'the original' iThoughtsX on my Mac. This demo software reads the original format which is sitting in a shared folder. No importing or exporting needed.

Here are some test nodes to play with (try moving them around with keyboard commands (if you are a seasoned iThoughtsX user), try using number keys to open N levels. (mouse drag is now implemented but drop targets only work if you drop on the right hand side of the node. (work in progress)

The Goals for this project:

To keep the same file format (itmz) format for read and write (this means you dont lose anything since you don't need to export to a different format)

To reach feature parity with iThoughtsX for the features we use on a daily basis

To provide a framework on top of which I can add all sorts of goodies that I wished iThoughtsX had included

To be able to run as a Web App on my phone or as a Native App on my desktop - Craig Scott originally intended to do an Android App, but it never happened... well now it can!

To be able to run on 'old' devices. (I have a perfectly good iPad2 which I'd like to be able to use as a recipe book in the kitchen)

Blog of work currently In progress (June 2026)

BETA coming soon! - this is almost done.

Now the POC is 'proven' I'm working on getting the basic App skeleton up and running.

build environment, deployment scripts, basic menu system, self-updating pwa

Playing with PWA mode for the mobile app.

June 2026 - Very simple Proof of Concept to show how we can read / write to disk even on a mobile browser.

Old entries

About Me:

Simon Ryan on LinkedIn

My Very Terse text-only Homepage

Contact me by email: simon dot ryan at gmail.com

Please Leave Feedback

Thanks for those that have contacted me directly, its good to know that there are so many others wanting a solution to our current dilemma!

How I'm using AI to help me write this:

For the LLMs I'm using only local models. These models change on a weekly basis. Currently I'm using mostly GLM-5.2 and MiMo-V2.5-Pro but I’m also using Qwen-3.6-27B as a general all round workhorse

Most of the code is written by AI (ok wishful thinking, the reality is, AI writes the code (sometimes badly), and then I fix it or direct it towards specific fixes using test driven development

Update: As of June 2026 - Open source models have come a long way and are more than capable. I’ve been spending time writing my own agent harness as a first step and it is now completed and working well for this project

I'm finding that the AI is helping when it knows what I don't know, however as the project is getting larger, it is having issues with reusing existing code as I cant fit it all in the context. - I now have a working solution to this using a Knowledge Graph that has full repo understanding of the code

Roadmap

Short Term Roadmap:

Architectural considerations for multi-platform. Most of the code I have previously done puts a backend dependancy on python. I’m now exploring moving all of this code into the browser, this means I can run almost anywhere, but with a few caveats around filesystem access.... more to come.

Keep working on the POC - even as it is now, I'm finding it useful for reading mindmaps from my Android phone (POC gives read only at the moment)

Medium Term Roadmap:

Roadmap items Completed:

Manual tests I do before updating on this public demo site

New Features and differences to iThoughtsX

iThoughtsX Redux!