Notes on an infinite canvas, linked by lines, arrows and dashes.

jkboard is a free, minimal mind mapping and brainstorming board: drop notes anywhere, connect them with lines, arrows or dashed links, move, colour and search them — and keep everything in one open .jk file. Use AI too: click the AI button, describe your board, send the file to ChatGPT or Claude, then import the .jk it returns.

Notes & connections
Double-click to create a note, drag one onto another to link them: lines, arrows, dashes.
One open file
Your board is a plain XML .jk file: import, export, versions and lock included.
Fast, keyboard-friendly
Select, move (G), duplicate, zoom, full screen (F), hide the menus (Tab).

Why jkboard?

Simple by design. No account and no setup screen: open the board and start writing. Notes stay readable at any zoom, from 5 % to 800 %.

Select anything, change everything at once. Select several notes — or several connections — with Shift or a drag rectangle, then one tool changes the style of all of them.

Open .jk format. Boards are saved as plain XML that any text editor or AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT…) can read and write — ask your favourite AI to build you a board and import it.

Your language, your theme. 25 languages, from English, French and Spanish to Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese and Korean; dark, light or automatic theme.

Free to use. Premium mode shows no ads; Basic mode shows an ad space that helps keep jkboard free.

Mind mapping, brainstorming & concept maps

A mind map maker without the clutter. Put your central idea in the middle, add a note for every branch, then drag a note onto another to link them with an arrow. Colours, shapes (clouds, hearts, speech and thought bubbles) and line styles make each branch easy to recognise.

Brainstorming, your way. Jot ideas down as fast as you think on an infinite canvas, then group, move and connect them: a free-form mind map, a concept map, a spider diagram or a simple idea board — in a team workshop or alone.

Let an AI start your mind map. Describe your topic, send the file jkboard prepares to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, and import the map it returns. You can also convert maps from FreeMind, Freeplane, XMind, OPML or Obsidian Canvas, and export to PDF, PNG, SVG, Markdown or OPML. Carte mentale, mapa mental, Mindmap, mappa mentale: jkboard speaks 25 languages.

Shortcuts

2× clickCreate a note
Shift + clickSelect several notes or several connections
drag · Alt + dragRectangle: selects the notes it touches (and the connections if it touches no note); with Alt, only the connections
Shift + ASelect all connections (no notes)
Shift + NNew board
Shift + LDetach the selected notes from the chain: the notes before and after stay linked to each other
Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + LRemove all the links of the selected notes
ISwap the places of the selected notes (2 = exchange them; more = shuffled at random)
SScale the selected notes: size, text and positions, like PLIM (then X / Y = one axis, Alt = each note around its own centre)
Shift + SSpread the selected notes apart (positions only, sizes unchanged)
Shift + dragMove a note over another WITHOUT linking them (no line, no insertion into a link)
DeleteDelete the selection (notes or connections)
GMove the selected notes (Blender style)
Ctrl/⌘ + DDuplicate the selected notes (or Alt + drag)
TabHide / show the menus
FFull screen
Ctrl/⌘ + 0Fit the view to the selection
LLink the selected notes in order; press again: line → dashed → arrow → reverse arrow → double arrow → none
SpaceTap: fit the selection (again: back to the previous view); hold: hand tool