Show HN: Concepticon – manage your team's domain language like source code

Concepticon, a new tool for managing team domain language as plain-text propositions, launches with a free Reader tier and a $50 Pro tier. The tool turns plain-text concept relationships into interactive graphs, supports AI-assisted generation via user API keys, and emphasizes privacy with local-only execution. It aims to help teams maintain a ubiquitous language for onboarding humans and AI agents.

Concepticon You might think your team has a ubiquitous language. You might want to check. A concept map isn't a single diagram, it's any diagram you need, just when you need it. Concepticon turns plain-text propositions about your team's domain into a graph you can navigate at the size you can grok. Files stay on your disk, in plain text any editor — or any AI agent — can read. Everything you need to map your team's domain Plain-text propositions in. An interactive graph out. AI assistance when you want it, driven by your own API key. - Plain Text Propositions Write concept relationships in plain English "Dog chases Cat" . No special syntax to learn — just words connected by words. - Visual Graph Rendering Propositions become an interactive force-directed graph. Pan, zoom, and explore your concept map with full mouse and keyboard support. - AI-Assisted Generation Bring your own API key — Claude or GPT. Point the AI at a PDF, a web page, or a topic description; propositions come back for you to review and refine. - Fully Keyboard Accessible Every feature is reachable without a mouse. Screen reader compatible. Designed by a legally blind developer who uses it daily. - Works with Any Text Editor Your proposition files are plain Markdown. Edit them in VS Code, Vim, Obsidian, or Notepad — Concepticon picks up changes automatically. - Rich Concept Descriptions Each concept can have a full Markdown description in a sibling file. View rendered descriptions as you navigate the map. - Focus Views Zoom into a subgraph around any concept to reduce clutter. Explore neighbourhoods without losing the bigger picture. - Import from Documents Generate concept maps from PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and web pages. The AI extracts key concepts and relationships for you. - Private by Default Runs entirely on your machine. API keys are encrypted with OS-level secure storage. No telemetry, no cloud required. How it works - Write propositions Write relationships between concepts in plain text. Each line is a proposition: two or more concepts connected by a plain English phrase. Use any text editor, or — in Pro — create and edit propositions directly inside Concepticon. Customer places Order Order contains Line Item Line Item references Product Product belongs to Catalogue - Open in Concepticon Point Concepticon at your propositions file. It reads the file and renders an interactive graph with automatic layout. Save the file and the graph updates instantly. - Explore and refine Pan and zoom the graph, click concepts to read their descriptions, use focus view to explore a neighbourhood, and add AI-generated propositions from documents or web pages. - Build snapshots Curate views of your map for onboarding new team members into the core concepts of your team's ubiquitous language. A new colleague — or a new AI agent — can self-serve their way into your domain in minutes. Snapshots can be defined in Pro, or hand-edited in any text editor. The proposition format Propositions follow a simple rule: one or more Concept Phrases connected by lowercase linking phrases. Concepts start with uppercase letters; linking phrases are lowercase. - Consecutive uppercase-starting words form a single concept Harry Potter , General Relativity - A lowercase word starts a linking phrase and ends the previous concept - Concepts can contain letters, digits, periods, and apostrophes F.B.I. , O'Connor Valid propositions Dog chases Cat Harry Potter attends Hogwarts Claude Code applies AI to Software Development F.B.I. investigates Organised Crime Michael O'Connor lives in Dublin Reader is free. Pro is $50 USD, once. Anyone you share a map with can view it for free in Concepticon Reader — no purchase, no account, no email. Concepticon Pro adds the in-app editor: write propositions directly, generate concept maps from documents and URLs using the AI of your choice, add rich concept descriptions, and save changes back to your files. One $50 USD payment for v1.x; no subscription.