Show HN: MindBase – an LLM that maintains a wiki from your notes and papers

MindBase, an AI research assistant that builds and maintains a persistent markdown wiki from user-supplied sources, is now in early access with beta feedback expected in Q3 2026. The tool implements Andrej Karpathy's LLM-Wiki pattern, using an LLM to read, cross-reference, and synthesize sources into structured wiki pages that compound knowledge across sessions, avoiding the re-derivation typical of RAG systems.

An AI research assistant that builds and maintains a wiki from your sources.Not RAG-in-a-vector-DB. A real markdown wiki on your disk, that an LLM gardens for you between conversations. MindBase implements Andrej Karpathy's LLM-Wiki pattern https://x.com/karpathy/status/1911080091498963196 as a product. You feed it sources papers, articles, thoughts . The LLM reads, cross-references, flags contradictions, and writes structured wiki pages. Later, when you ask a question, the wiki already has the synthesized answer — no vector search re-derivation at query time. Status: Early access. Beta for feedback 2026-Q3 . Data model + core loop stable; some UI features still in v1 → v2 migration. Why MindBase why-mindbase How it works 30 seconds how-it-works-30-seconds What makes it different what-makes-it-different Prerequisites prerequisites Install — choose your AI editor install--choose-your-ai-editor First project 2 minutes first-project-2-minutes Core workflows core-workflows Working with multiple projects working-with-multiple-projects Web UI optional companion web-ui-optional-companion Feature matrix by editor feature-matrix-by-editor Where your data lives where-your-data-lives Architecture at a glance architecture-at-a-glance Troubleshooting troubleshooting Roadmap roadmap Beta feedback beta-feedback License license You read a lot. Papers, articles, tweets, docs. You want to remember them, connect them, form opinions from them. Today you have two bad options: Notion / Obsidian / Roam: Passive containers. You do all the organizing. AI features are bolted-on generation, not maintenance. NotebookLM / Perplexity Pages / ChatGPT search: RAG-based. Nothing accumulates. Every question re-derives the answer from raw sources. MindBase is the third option: the LLM actively maintains a persistent, structured wiki as you feed it sources. Knowledge compounds. Your context.md gets sharper every time you contribute. The AI remembers you across sessions because your beliefs are written down in markdown files — not stored in a chat history that gets summarized away. Think of it as a personal Wikipedia that an AI intern writes for you , kept up to date, cross-referenced, and honest about what it doesn't know. Three physical layers on disk Karpathy's model : Layer 1 — sources/ You add these. Append-only. LLM reads, never rewrites. ├─ contributors/ Your thoughts, dated per-user like a lab notebook ├─ research/ Wiki pages the LLM writes concepts, entities, syntheses └─ raw/ PDFs, URL captures, pastes — original binaries Layer 2 — README.md The rules of your wiki. You edit. LLM reads at every op. context.md The synthesized current truth. LLM writes. You read. index.yaml Auto-generated file catalog. LLM maintains. Layer 3 — logs/ Chronological log of every operation. LLM appends. artifacts/ Generated outputs: daily briefs, exports, lint reports. Three operations the AI can run: | Operation | What happens | |---|---| Contribute | You feed a thought / PDF / URL. LLM reads, discusses key takeaways with you, updates 5-15 relevant wiki pages, appends log. | Ask | You ask a question. LLM reads your context.md first already-synthesized truth , then drills into cited source pages. Cited answers with wikilink provenance. | Lint | LLM audits the whole wiki for contradictions, stale claims, orphan pages, missing cross-references, gaps that need investigation. | They form a loop — good answers and lint findings flow back in as new contributions, so the wiki compounds: php flowchart LR C "contribute<br/ <small thought · PDF · URL</small " -- S "sources/<br/ <small append-only</small " S -- B "build<br/ <small LLM synthesizes</small " B -- W "context.md<br/ research/ .md" W -- Q "ask<br/ <small cited answers</small " W -- L "lint<br/ <small contradictions · orphans · gaps</small " Q -. "good answers filed back" .- C L -. "follow-up notes" .- C That's the entire product. Everything else is UX. vs. Notion: You own the data markdown files, not a proprietary DB . The AI is a maintainer , not a bolt-on generator. context.md evolves; Notion pages don't. vs. Obsidian: You get the same local-first markdown vault, but with an AI that actively writes the wiki — you don't have to hand-craft every note. Comes with wikilinks cross-referencing done for you. vs. NotebookLM / Perplexity: Knowledge compounds . Ask "what's my view on RAG?" and the answer already exists in context.md . NotebookLM re-derives it from raw sources every time — nothing accumulates. vs. any RAG tool: RAG is stateless retrieval. MindBase is stateful synthesis . The wiki gets richer with every ingest. Answers get faster and more consistent over time. Node.js 20+ that's it for Cursor / Windsurf / Cline / Continue — the MCP server installs itself via npx - One of: Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue.dev, or another MCP-compatible AI editor pnpm 10+ only if you install the Claude Code plugin or the web UI from source- Optional A modern browser, if you want the web UI MindBase runs entirely on your machine . No cloud upload, no signup, no telemetry. MindBase ships as an MCP Model Context Protocol server — published on npm as mindbase-mcp https://www.npmjs.com/package/mindbase-mcp . Every MCP-compatible AI editor can use its tools with a one-line config; no clone, no build. Claude Code gets an extra layer of polish slash commands, sub-agents via the plugin. Get the full Karpathy 8-step ingest with sub-agents, slash commands, auto-context, and per-agent tool boundaries. Install the plugin — two commands inside Claude Code, no clone, no build: /plugin marketplace add frankchu91/mindbase /plugin install mb@mindbase Restart Claude Code when prompted. The plugin launches its MCP server via npx -y mindbase-mcp , so npm delivers the server automatically. Developing the plugin from a clone? git clone https://github.com/frankchu91/mindbase.git cd mindbase && pnpm install claude --plugin-dir apps/plugin Verify: Open Claude Code, type / . You should see /mb:contribute , /mb:ask , /mb:build , /mb:status , and 8 others. Run /mcp — you should see mb connected with 49 tools. What you get: - 12 slash commands /mb: - 5 sub-agents with security boundaries contributor , builder , curator , researcher , migrator — each has a strict tool allowlist - SessionStart hook — every new Claude Code session auto-injects your project's README + context + recent log entries - The full Karpathy 8-step ingest: read → discuss takeaways → propose plan → wait for approval → execute Skip to First project first-project-2-minutes . Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json create the file if missing : { "mcpServers": { "mindbase": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "mindbase-mcp" } } } Restart Cursor. Open Cursor Chat → the tool picker should list mindbase contribute , mindbase ask wiki , and 47 others. Optional but recommended: teach Cursor's LLM about MindBase conventions by adding to ~/.cursor/rules.md or per-project .cursorrules : MindBase conventions When the user mentions "mindbase", "mb", "my wiki", "记一下", or "记忆", the following MCP tools are available: mindbase contribute, mindbase ask wiki, mindbase status, mindbase load project, and more. Rules: 1. When user says "add to mindbase X" or "记一下 X", ALWAYS call mindbase contribute with text=X. Never just acknowledge without calling the tool. 2. When user says "ask mindbase X" or "问问我的 wiki", call mindbase ask wiki with query=X. 3. When ingesting a PDF/URL, follow the 8-step Karpathy loop: read → discuss 3 key takeaways with user → propose plan → wait for approval → then call mindbase contribute with the summary. 4. Default project comes from config.json currentProjectId. If the user says "for project X" or "在 X 项目里", pass projectId=X to the tool call. Skip to First project first-project-2-minutes . Windsurf uses the same MCP config format. Open Cascade settings → MCP → add: { "mcpServers": { "mindbase": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "mindbase-mcp" } } } Restart Windsurf. Same rules-file approach as Cursor works — put a MindBase conventions block in your Cascade rules. Skip to First project first-project-2-minutes . Open VSCode → Cline extension settings → MCP Servers . Add: { "mcpServers": { "mindbase": { "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "mindbase-mcp" } } } Cline auto-detects. Every tool call gets a confirmation dialog by default transparency win . Skip to First project first-project-2-minutes . Open ~/.continue/config.json . Add under experimental.modelContextProtocolServers : { "experimental": { "modelContextProtocolServers": { "transport": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": "-y", "mindbase-mcp" } } } } Restart VSCode. In Continue chat, MCP tools appear under @ . Skip to First project first-project-2-minutes . If your editor supports MCP Zed, Aider, Goose, ChatGPT Desktop's future MCP support, custom Claude Agent SDK apps , the pattern is identical: point it at npx -y mindbase-mcp as a stdio server. See your client's MCP docs for the exact config location. Once your editor has the MCP server connected, create your first project. /mb:init my-research --mission "Study transformer attention mechanisms" Claude will scaffold ~/mindbase-data/projects/my-research/ with README.md , context.md , index.yaml , and empty sources/ , logs/ , artifacts/ directories, and set it as your current project. Type in chat: Create a new mindbase project called my-research about transformer attention mechanisms. The LLM will call mindbase init project { name: "my-research", mission: "..." } and confirm. /mb:status in Claude Code Or ask any other IDE: what's the status of my mindbase? You should see: MindBase — Project: my-research Location: ~/mindbase-data/projects/my-research README 28 lines context.md 8 lines last built: never index.yaml 5 lines Contributors: 0 users, 0 entries Sources: 0 research, 0 raw Logs: 1 day Artifacts: 0 outputs You're ready. The four things you'll do every day. Add a short observation, a decision, or a hot take. Goes straight into today's contributor file, no ceremony. Claude Code: /mb:contribute "Attention is basically a soft dictionary lookup — each query retrieves a weighted average of values based on similarity to keys." Any other IDE: Add to my mindbase: Attention is basically a soft dictionary lookup — each query retrieves a weighted average of values based on similarity to keys. Result: appends to ~/mindbase-data/projects/my-research/sources/contributors/<you /2026-07-11.md and logs the operation. For a real source, MindBase walks through Karpathy's 8-step ingest. Claude Code flagship — with sub-agent : /mb:contribute /Downloads/attention-is-all-you-need.pdf The contributor sub-agent will: - Read the PDF fully - Come back to you with 3 key takeaways - Propose which wiki pages to create/update - Wait for your approval - Execute — creating sources/research/attention-mechanism.md , updating context.md , appending log - Confirm: ✓ Created 4, updated 3, logged. Any other IDE lite mode — no sub-agent : Read this paper /Downloads/paper.pdf and ingest it into my mindbase. Walk me through the 3 key takeaways before committing anything. You get most of the value but the sub-agent's structured approval flow is a Claude Code exclusive. The LLM in Cursor/Windsurf/Cline will typically call mindbase contribute directly — you can steer the ritual manually via your prompt. Query with cited answers. Claude Code: /mb:ask "how did I resolve the attention scaling factor question?" Any other IDE: Search my mindbase — how did I resolve the attention scaling factor question? The LLM calls mindbase ask wiki graph-aware retrieval: top hits + wikilink neighbors then synthesizes a cited answer: You resolved this on 2026-06-15 context.md:42-51 . The 1/√d k scaling prevents dot products from growing too large in high dimensions, which would push softmax into low-gradient regions attention-mechanism.md:23-28 . Sources: - context.md - attention-mechanism.md - sources/research/scaled-attention.md After a few contributions, regenerate the curated context.md so it reflects your current thinking. Claude Code flagship — with sub-agent : /mb:build The builder sub-agent: - Validates project structure - Gathers all unbuilt sources since last build - Synthesizes them into a fresh context.md - Writes atomically snapshots the old one first so you can rollback - Rebuilds the index Any other IDE: Rebuild my mindbase context.md — synthesize all unbuilt sources. The LLM will orchestrate the equivalent MCP tool calls. Slightly less structured than the sub-agent flow but functionally equivalent. Ask MindBase to audit itself. Claude Code: /mb:lint Any other IDE: Run a health check on my mindbase — find contradictions, orphans, gaps. Output looks like: Found: - 1 contradiction: attention-mechanism.md:15 says "scaling by √d" but context.md:32 says "scaling by 1/√d". Same claim, different notation. - 2 orphan pages: legacy-transformer-note and old-benchmark have no inbound wikilinks. - 1 gap: "positional encoding" is mentioned 4 times across the wiki but has no dedicated page. - 3 suggested cross-links: scaled-attention ↔ transformer-architecture co-mentioned in 3 sources . Want to file follow-up notes for any of these? You can have as many projects as you want ai-research , insurance , dissertation . One is the "current" project — everything defaults to it. To switch, or to route a single operation to a specific project without switching, use flags. Claude Code: /mb:load ai-research Any other IDE: Switch my mindbase to the ai-research project. Writes {"currentProjectId": "ai-research"} to ~/mindbase-data/config.json . Persists across sessions. Every command that takes a project supports -p <project-id or --project <project-id : /mb:contribute -p ai-agents "GPT-5 rumored 2026-Q4" /mb:build -p insurance /mb:ask -p ai-agents "my stance on agent marketplaces" /mb:lint -p dissertation /mb:daily-brief -p ai-agents --date 2026-07-05 The -p flag does not change your current project . It only routes this one operation. Just mention the project in natural language: Add "GPT-5 rumored 2026-Q4" to my mindbase's ai-agents project. The LLM passes projectId: "ai-agents" to the MCP tool call. Current project unchanged. MindBase includes a browser-based viewer at http://localhost:4321 . It's not required — the plugin/MCP path is the primary interface — but useful for browsing what the LLM has written. Cmd+I from anywhere — a thought goes straight into today's contributor file. Dark mode included. pnpm --filter @mindbase/server dev then open http://localhost:4321 You'll see: LeftRail tree: Contributors, Research, Logs, Artifacts, README, Context, Raw — organized as a file tree Article view: click any file to read it; edit inlinequick capture that appends to today's contributor file works in any browser tab Cmd+I AddEntry: Search keyword search across your wiki Cmd+K : Project switcher: dropdown at the top What the Web UI can't do yet : - Run /mb:ask , /mb:build , /mb:lint , /mb:research — these need an LLM in the loop, which lives in your AI editor - The Rebuild button in the Web UI just tells you to run /mb:build in Claude Code Think of the Web UI as a Finder for your wiki , and your AI editor as where you talk to it . | Feature | Claude Code | Cursor / Windsurf / Cline / Continue | Web UI | |---|---|---|---| Slash commands /mb: | ✅ | ❌ use natural language | ❌ | | MCP tools directly | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Karpathy 8-step ingest with sub-agents | ✅ | ❌ | | | Auto-context via SessionStart hook | ✅ | ✅ Cursor supports MCP hooks | N/A | | Contribute short thought | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ Cmd+I | | Ingest PDF / URL / paste | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Ask wiki with cited answers | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ planned | Build regenerate context.md | ✅ | ✅ | | | Health check / lint | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ planned | | Deep research web + wiki | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Wiki tree browsing | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | | Rich file editor | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | | Cross-project search | ✅ | ✅ | | -p project-id routing flag | ✅ | N/A | Legend: ✅ works · Everything is under ~/mindbase-data/ override with MINDBASE DATA DIR env var . ~/mindbase-data/ ├── config.json { currentProjectId, ... } └── projects/ └── my-research/ ├── README.md Ops manual — you edit, LLM reads ├── context.md Synthesized truth — LLM writes, you read ├── index.yaml Auto-generated catalog ├── sources/ │ ├── contributors/ Your dated entries append-only │ │ └── <you / │ │ └── 2026-07-11.md │ ├── research/ LLM-authored wiki pages │ │ └── attention-mechanism.md │ └── raw/ PDFs, HTML captures, binary sources │ └── 2026-07-11/ │ └── paper.pdf ├── logs/ Chronological operation log │ └── 2026-07-11.md ├── artifacts/ Generated outputs │ ├── briefs/ Daily briefs │ ├── exports/ Bundle exports │ └── attachments/ Images pasted into notes └── state/ LLM working state └── builder/snapshots/ context.md snapshots for rollback Everything is markdown. Open in vim, VSCode, Obsidian — all work. No proprietary database. No SQLite of secret sauce. What you see on disk is what MindBase knows. Git-friendly. cd ~/mindbase-data && git init — every change auditable and rollbackable. Delete freely. rm -rf ~/mindbase-data/projects/foo — nothing else needs cleanup. Backups: if you use iCloud / Time Machine / Dropbox, they'll pick this up automatically since it's just files. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Your AI editor any MCP-compatible : │ │ Claude Code · Cursor · Windsurf · Cline · │ │ Continue.dev · Zed · Aider · ... │ └───────────────────┬────────────────────────┘ │ MCP stdio JSON-RPC ▼ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MindBase MCP server Node.js │ │ — 49 tools: contribute, ask wiki, │ │ build, lint, research, ... │ │ — reads/writes ~/mindbase-data/ │ └───────────────────┬────────────────────────┘ │ file I/O ▼ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ~/mindbase-data/projects/… │ │ Your markdown wiki on disk │ └───────────────────┬────────────────────────┘ │ read-only http ▼ optional ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Web UI at localhost:4321 React + Vite │ │ Tree browser, editor, Cmd+I add-entry │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ — TypeScript strict library; storage adapters, LLM adapters, wiki index, graph, compile pipeline packages/core — MCP server JSON-RPC over stdio ; tools + prompts; framework-agnostic apps/mcp — Express server; serves the Web UI + apps/server /api/tree/ REST endpoints— React 19 + Zustand + Tailwind frontend apps/web — Claude Code plugin bundle slash commands + sub-agents + hooks + bundled MCP server apps/plugin Cause: malformed config JSON, or the server binary can't start. Fix: - Run it manually: npx -y mindbase-mcp < /dev/null — should print mindbase-mcp connected · dataDir=… on stderr and exit 0. - If that works, the issue is in your editor's config typo, wrong file, trailing comma . - Claude Code plugin users: verify the bundle exists — ls /path/to/mindbase/apps/plugin/mcp-server/dist/cli.js — and rebuild with pnpm --filter @mindbase/plugin build if missing. - Restart your editor after fixing config. Cause: You haven't run /mb:init yet, or config.json is missing currentProjectId . Fix: /mb:init my-first-project Or manually: echo '{"currentProjectId": "my-project"}' ~/mindbase-data/config.json Cause: you have a legacy v1 project directory from before the 2026-06 refactor . Fix Claude Code only : /mb:migrate --project <legacy-project-name Or delete it and start fresh: rm -rf ~/mindbase-data/projects/<legacy-project-name then /mb:init . Cause: MCP handshake didn't complete. Fix: Restart your editor. Check that no other MCP server is failing a crash in one can block others in some clients . Cause: the LLM didn't recognize the intent as a tool call opportunity. Fix: Add the .cursorrules block from the Cursor cursor section. Being explicit "call mindbase contribute with text=..." works too. Cause: a pre-existing server-side route gap. Non-blocking — some tab count badges show 0 until fixed. Fix: known issue, coming in the next patch release. Track it on the issues page https://github.com/frankchu91/mindbase/issues . Open a GitHub issue: github.com/frankchu91/mindbase/issues https://github.com/frankchu91/mindbase/issues Now 2026-Q3 beta : - Multi-editor MCP support ✅ - Karpathy 8-step ingest via sub-agents Claude Code ✅ - Cross-project routing -p flag ✅ - Web UI tree browser + Cmd+I add-entry ✅ - Wiki v2 layout ✅ Next Q4 : - Web UI Ask panel skip Claude Code roundtrip for queries - Web UI Lint cards visual health check inbox - Audio input via Whisper /mb:contribute --audio recording.m4a - Browser extension for one-click "save this page to MindBase" - Anthropic marketplace listing /plugin install mindbase@mindbase-official mindbase command unified meta-tool slash-like UX in Cursor/Windsurf Later: - Team brain multi-contributor projects with human-in-the-loop review - Audio Overview NotebookLM-style podcast digests - Marp slide-deck answers - Tauri desktop app one-click install for non-technical users - Mobile quick-capture apps I'm running MindBase as a private beta through 2026-Q4. If you're using it: Bug reports / feature requests: github.com/frankchu91/mindbase/issues https://github.com/frankchu91/mindbase/issues Direct feedback / 30-min interview: haobing0304@gmail.com mailto:haobing0304@gmail.com I read every issue and reply within 24 hours during beta. If you tried MindBase and gave up — please tell me why. The blockers you hit are gold. What kind of feedback is most useful? - What happened the first minute after install? - Which command / workflow do you use every day, if any? - Which command / workflow did you try once and never again? - What did you expect to work that didn't? - What broke your trust in the LLM's synthesis? - Would you pay for this? What's the shape of the pricing that would feel fair? MIT /frankchu91/mindbase/blob/main/LICENSE — do what you want, no warranty. If you build something interesting on top, I'd love to hear about it. Built with the belief that AI's most valuable gift is not "generation on demand" but "gardening of a persistent artifact you own."