Core Concepts
MindWiki turns the knowledge you save into a workspace you and your agents can build on. Pages hold the work, links connect the ideas, metadata makes it easier to find, and authorized agents help you use it.
Understand the concepts below and you can start simply, then add structure as your vault grows.
1. The vault is your shared collection
Your vault holds Markdown pages, folders, and supporting attachments. The web, Mac, and iPhone experiences connect to your account's knowledge. Compatible agents use authorized tools to work with that same vault.
One agent can save a project brief and another can retrieve it. That continuity comes from saved content and deliberate retrieval. A connection does not automatically give an agent every past conversation or every page at once.
2. A page is a readable file
A note, meeting record, project brief, decision, or source summary is a Markdown page. It can contain headings, lists, links, tables, code examples, and references to attachments.
The underlying .md file remains readable outside MindWiki. Optional YAML frontmatter adds metadata without moving your knowledge into a separate proprietary document format.
3. Capture separates saving from organizing
capture/ is your inbox. Use it when you have something worth saving but do not want to decide its permanent home yet.
Email capture, web Quick Capture, and agent capture feed this inbox. Creating a page directly in another folder is also available when you already know where it belongs.
A captured page is a normal page. You can edit it, link it, or organize it later.
4. Folders, tags, and links solve different problems
| Use | When it helps |
|---|---|
| Folders | Give files a primary home, such as a project or research area. |
| Tags | Gather a theme across folders, such as onboarding or customer-research. |
| Wikilinks | Connect one specific page to another inside your writing. |
| Backlinks | See which pages already reference the current page. |
| Properties | Describe structured facts such as status, type, date, or priority. |
You can combine them. A source can live in sources/, carry the tag onboarding, and link to the project that uses it.
5. Metadata gives knowledge a useful shape
Frontmatter is a YAML block at the top of a page. Properties are its fields. For example:
---
title: Website Launch
type: project
status: in-progress
tags: [website, launch]
---These fields help with filtering, sorting, browsing, and agent interpretation. In the Mac app, the Properties panel provides typed controls. On the web, you can edit the YAML directly.
Start with fields you will actually use. A short useful schema is easier to maintain than a long list of empty properties.
6. Search and the graph offer different paths back
Search helps you locate material from a phrase, topic, or question. Hybrid search through the API and supported agent tools combines keyword and semantic matching.
The graph helps you inspect relationships among pages. Explicit wikilinks are deliberate references. Shared tags, folders, and other graph signals offer additional structural context. A graph relationship is not automatically evidence that two claims are true or causally related.
7. Agents work through tools and permissions
MCP is the connection standard that lets compatible clients discover MindWiki tools. Those tools can retrieve pages, save captures, write content, load Context Packs, inspect graph data, and create supported change proposals.
The connection's scope and vault permissions determine which operations are available. Read access retrieves knowledge; capture access includes read and adds inbox capture; write access includes both and permits broader supported writes. None of these grants owner-level credential recovery authority.
Each connected platform has its own credentials. Revoking one grant does not require disconnecting the others.
8. Context Packs collect knowledge for recurring work
A Context Pack is a named selection of pages, such as a project brief, requirements, decisions, and writing guidelines. An agent loads it when you request that context. The pack refers to current page content rather than a permanently frozen copy. Goal-based context preparation can choose an appropriate pack, supplement it with retrieval, or ask you to clarify when several packs fit.
Use a pack when you know which pages a task needs. Use search or relevant-context retrieval when you want to discover them.
9. Saved changes and AI actions remain visible
Saved content syncs between your connected apps. The Mac app's Agents workspace exposes sessions, activity, proposals, and vault health. Supported structural proposals have review requirements, while direct writes depend on the granted permissions and operation.
Make a habit of reviewing important changes. Ask agents to read current content before editing and to identify the source pages behind their answers.
Next: Vault Structure, Wikilinks & Backlinks, and Frontmatter & Metadata.