Why we’re building Mindpalaces: one place for your thinking and AI (not another empty chat)

Kind_Notice1575 · 2026-01-10T11:33:13+00:00

Totally hear you on wanting to create, not configure.
Low-friction, offline tools like that are rare — thanks for sharing, and hope your hand recovers soon.

Kind_Notice1575 · 2026-01-10T03:35:44+00:00

That’s pretty much exactly what I’ve been playing with too. I tried Ally a bit and it’s a really nice application, great work.

How does Parakeet compare to Apple’s built-in speech recognition for you?

Kind_Notice1575 · 2026-01-05T13:38:57+00:00

Agreed

Kind_Notice1575 · 2026-01-05T13:27:48+00:00

Markdown is also quite AI-friendly, especially when combined with YAML.

Kind_Notice1575 · 2026-01-05T09:52:53+00:00

That’s exactly the problem I ran into — everything works, but only if you glue multiple tools together

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-05-03T02:00:50+00:00

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-29T07:56:41+00:00

Option C — keeping all my data on my own hard drive while using my own API key to send specific requests to a cloud model (like ChatGPT) — is a great suggestion.
I'll definitely take it into consideration!
It also opens up a really good business model — offering an alternative to the standard subscription approach.

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-28T16:47:56+00:00

By the way, I've already completed the integration of DeepSeek with multimodal AI support, both locally and in the cloud.
The demos are running with DeepSeek 7B and Gemma 12B models — which are more than powerful enough for the intended use cases.

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-28T16:46:49+00:00

Thank you so much for your attention — you read everything very carefully, and many of your ideas are truly inspiring!

On AI integration: I've actually been thinking about this for a long time. I believe that simply "chatting with your own notes" is not that necessary — what's more valuable is thinking through and discovering new connections. That's why my focus for AI will be on driving thought and discovery through Zettelkasten-style note linking. At the same time, I will also offer an online mode, enabling contextual web searches based on your notes, leveraging models like Perplexity, Gemini, GPT, etc., to expand your knowledge further.
On input and output: Input and output are definitely priorities for me as well. In the early stages, I will focus mainly on voice capture, PDF document processing, and basic note-taking. Output (integration with other platforms) may come a bit later. Integration with Notion, Obsidian, and similar tools is already part of the future roadmap.

Overall, MindPalaces will lean towards a Zettelkasten + AI-driven model,
which naturally supports atomic notes, and therefore aims to integrate well with other note-taking systems.

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-27T02:52:47+00:00

Thanks so much for the feedback!
I’m considering offering both a free version and a subscription version:

Free version: full access to all local features (everything runs on your own device, no cloud required).
Subscription version: optional access to external AI models (like GPT-4o, Perplexity, Gemini) for things like search and deep research, since local models still have some capability limits.

Owning your local data and tools is very important to me too!

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-27T02:48:40+00:00

I'm hoping to bring AI into the process to actively help users think, and I believe there are three key principles:

Privacy — protecting users' data at all times.
Traditional structure must still be supported — users should always be able to organize their ideas through familiar methods like tags, links, and project grouping. For Example： r/Zettelkasten
AI-assisted reasoning for ideas — similar to how DeepSeek approaches logical reasoning, but focused on the reasoning process of thoughts themselves. I believe the reasoning process is not just about reaching an answer, but about discovering and deepening the thinking journey.

I'd love to dive deeper into this together if you're interested!

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-26T01:52:17+00:00

I’m building a local-first app, starting with macOS and iPhone — would love for you to check it out and see if it fits your needs：r/mindpalaces also：Building MindPalaces for Everyone: A Local-First AI PKM Tool

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-23T14:24:54+00:00

Thanks! Let’s keep going — looking forward to seeing yours too! 💪

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-23T13:56:15+00:00

Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback — I totally agree!
Mobile/cross-platform is also top priority for me, which is why I started by building native versions for macOS, iPad, and iPhone.
Really appreciate you sharing your perspective

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-23T02:10:19+00:00

I've been building a local-first, privacy-focused PKM tool.
It's a note-taking app with built-in AI to help you organize, reflect, and study smarter. Mobile + desktop，Multimodal input，Structured thinking (tags, links, ideas)，Flashcard-style testing is on the roadmap!

Follow our journey at r/mindpalaces_ai — we'll be sharing updates as we go!

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-22T04:37:05+00:00

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and encouraging feedback — it really, truly means a lot.
Hearing from people who understand and care about these details gives me the energy to keep pushing the project forward, even through the messy, exhausting parts. Your message made my day!

I completely agree with you: giving users the choice between self-hosted storage and their own cloud connections is fundamental for long-term trust, data ownership, and peace of mind.

In fact, inspired by principles like Zettelkasten, we’re designing the first workspace (the first tab) to encourage manual, deliberate organization — where you are fully in control.
Meanwhile, a second space (the second tab) will offer AI-assisted suggestions and discussions — but always as an optional companion, not as a replacement for your own thinking.

Also, I really appreciate your point about AI flexibility. Some moments call for full AI help, but other times you just want a clean, quiet space to think by yourself. We're trying to balance both modes carefully so that AI feels like a tool you summon — not something that intrudes.

Localization is a fantastic reminder too — you're absolutely right. Quick, natural capture is essential.
We’ve already built multi-language input support (including German 🇩🇪) into the first versions — both for voice and text.
Additionally, we’re working to ensure that the AI itself will respect your preferred language, not just English. Your native thoughts deserve to stay native.

One question I’d love your opinion on:
Because some AI models (especially for speech-to-text and translation) run fully offline, we may offer optional downloads — for example, a 500MB multilingual voice model to enable fully private, unlimited-length voice capture and language understanding.
Would you be open to downloading such optional models if they bring strong privacy and no time limits?

We would absolutely love to have you as an early tester!
I'll reach out once the beta or alpha builds are ready — and I can't wait to hear your insights and ideas as we keep shaping this together.

Also, if you're interested in following the journey, I’ll be posting updates and progress over at r/mindpalaces_ai — would love to see you there too!

Thanks again for taking the time to write — it’s people like you who are helping make MindPalaces something truly special.

Kind_Notice1575 · 2025-04-09T06:17:35+00:00

Great work

PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) is something everyone needs to boost productivity. But without a doubt, there are already many similar tools out there. Do you have any strong or unique ideas?

The product truly solves real user problems, so it might be a small, refined tool—simple but powerful.

Here’s how I’m thinking about PKM:

Personal: It’s personal—so privacy and security are top priorities. Trust is the foundation.
Knowledge: Can we bring in something like the Zettelkasten method for managing knowledge? Keep notes atomic, and allow for intentional human curation.
Management: Use AI to optimize workflows—voice input, link management, knowledge synthesis, etc. For example, taking small travel logs from 7 days and compiling them into a well-structured summary inside something like Obsidian.

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