# Show HN: Skill for your agent to visualize your gbrain and Obsidian

> Source: <https://github.com/vladignatyev/brain-map-skill>
> Published: 2026-06-13 06:43:42+00:00

Turn a folder of Markdown notes (an Obsidian vault or a

`gbrain export`

) intoone 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.

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.

```
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]]`

.

| Setup | Result |
|---|---|
Nothing (stdlib Python only) |
Builds anywhere; the browser computes the layout (Cytoscape `cose` ). |
`pip install -r requirements.txt` (networkx, numpy, scipy) |
Layout pre-computed → 1000-node maps open instantly and look cleaner. |

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

**Theme**= top-level folder (`Work/`

,`Study/`

,`Life/`

) → node & edge colour.**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.

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

**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.

**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.

```
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.

```
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
```