Turn a folder of Markdown notes (an Obsidian vault or a gbrain export) into one self-contained, interactive HTML knowledge map — a force-directed graph coloured by theme, a timeline you can scrub to watch the base grow, and a click-to-inspect panel.

Works with: Claude Code · OpenAI Codex · Cursor · Gemini CLI · OpenClaw · or just run the script.

See it in 5 seconds (no setup)

A prebuilt demo ships in this repo — no notes to generate, no embeddings, no gbrain, no Python. Open the file:

open demo/brain-map.html        # macOS
xdg-open demo/brain-map.html    # Linux
start demo/brain-map.html       # Windows

992 fictional notes across three themes (work · study · life). Scrub the timeline, press ▶ Play growth, click nodes, toggle filters.

Build from your own notes

python3 scripts/build_map.py <notes_dir> out.html --title "My Second Brain"
open out.html

<notes_dir> = your Obsidian vault, or a gbrain export --dir <out> directory. The map reads plain Markdown: YAML frontmatter (tags, created) + [[wikilinks]].

Dependencies are optional

The builder auto-detects networkx and picks the better path. No gbrain, no embeddings, no server required either way.

What it reads

• Theme = top-level folder — your folders, whatever they are → node & edge colour. Colours are assigned automatically from a palette (no fixed taxonomy); Work/, Study/, Life/ keep their legacy colours if present, root-level notes are Other.
• Type = subfolder / tags → node shape (person, meeting, journal, lecture, project, link, todo, index, note).
• Edges = resolved [[wikilinks]]. Node size scales with link count; hubs get labels.
• Timeline = created timestamps, bucketed by month, stacked by theme. No created in the frontmatter? It falls back to the file's own timestamp, so plain vaults still get a timeline.

The richer your cross-linking (people cards, meeting attendees, index pages), the more legible the map. Designed to pair with the save-note skill, which writes exactly this shape.

In the HTML

• Scrub / Play the timeline → the graph reveals notes up to that month; Play animates the whole base growing from empty to today.
• Filter by theme and type (live counts); search highlights matches.
• Click a node → dim the rest, light its neighbourhood, open a detail panel (summary, tags, date, connected notes).
• Responsive down to a phone.

Install as an agent skill

Claude Code

git clone https://github.com/vladignatyev/brain-map-skill ~/.claude/skills/brain-map

OpenAI Codex

git clone https://github.com/vladignatyev/brain-map-skill ~/.agents/skills/brain-map

Cursor / others — paste SKILL.md into your agent's instructions; it's self-contained.

Regenerate the demo corpus

python3 scripts/generate_demo_notes.py /tmp/demo-vault   # 992 invented notes
python3 scripts/build_map.py /tmp/demo-vault demo.html

All demo people, orgs and events are fictional — no real data.

Layout

brain-map-skill/
├── SKILL.md                      # agent skill spec
├── scripts/
│   ├── build_map.py              # the builder (Markdown dir → interactive HTML)
│   └── generate_demo_notes.py    # writes the fictional demo vault
├── demo/
│   ├── brain-map.html            # PREBUILT — open it, zero setup
│   ├── vault/                    # 992 source Markdown notes
│   └── preview.png
├── requirements.txt              # optional: networkx, numpy, scipy
└── LICENSE

License

MIT