ThinkBoard

ThinkBoard is an Obsidian canvas editor overlay summoned with a global hotkey for desktop organization.

ThinkBoard opens your existing Obsidian vault boards or runs standalone as a dashboard-style overlay above your desktop. Summon it with a global hotkey or a gesture to access cards, links, markdown, and pictures saved directly to .canvas files. It features smart clustering to collapse groups of cards when zooming out and auto-layout options to tidy thoughts in one click. Users can connect AI providers like OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, Together AI, Fireworks AI, Mistral, DeepSeek, LM Studio, or Ollama to send card chains as prompts. It supports macOS, Windows, and Linux, and operates entirely on plain .canvas files.

ThinkBoard at a glance

Best for: Product manager, Software engineer, Researcher
Runs on: macOS, Windows, Linux
Pricing: Free
Released: October 2026
Category: AI productivity tool
Website: github.com/vestigecounty/thinkboard

Key features

Overlay above every window on a global hotkey or swipe
Smart clustering that collapses card groups when zooming out
Ask AI sends the entire chain of connected cards as a prompt
Auto-layout to tidy cards in left-to-right or top-to-bottom order
Command palette with quick access to functions and settings
Direct editing of Obsidian .canvas files in place
Support for local and hosted AI providers and models

Use it for

Brainstorm ideas on an infinite space canvas overlay
Chat with AI using connected cards as context
Organize thoughts and notes from an Obsidian vault
Tidy messy card boards with one-click auto-layout

Alternatives to ThinkBoard

Claudian — Turns an Obsidian vault into a functional directory for AI agents.
Obsidian Mind — It gives AI coding agents persistent memory so they never forget past context.
Obsidian Wiki — Compiles knowledge into markdown and carries context across agent sessions.
Obsidian Skills — Integrates AI agents directly with Obsidian vaults and markdown files.
Obsidian Local REST API — Connect scripts, browser extensions, and AI agents directly to your vault.
Editor AI SDK Playground — Explore AI-assisted editing tools for Thinkfree Word, Cell, and Show.
Obsidian Visual Skills — Generates multiple diagram formats directly from text via Claude Code.
MCP Obsidian — Connects Claude directly to read, search, and edit notes in an Obsidian vault.
Neural Creator Dashboard — It visualizes content nodes and connections locally in the browser with no backend service.
Claude Obsidian — Maintains user ownership of files in a local-first, source-cited vault.
AI Export Tools — Exports complete conversation histories, media, and files across multiple AI platforms.
Obsidian Second Brain — Agent memory as plain Markdown notes that keep themselves current

All ThinkBoard alternatives