Documentation

What is MinervaAI

MinervaAI is an AI-powered knowledge base that combines markdown note-taking with an AI assistant capable of creating, editing, and organizing your notes. Unlike traditional AI chatbots, MinervaAI's assistant lives inside your knowledge base and can take direct action on your files.

Your notes are stored as markdown, linked together with wiki-links, and visualized in a knowledge graph. The AI understands your entire vault and can help you write, research, organize, and build on your existing knowledge.

MinervaAI is available as a cloud app at minerva-ai.app and as a desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Quick Start

Cloud

1. Go to minerva-ai.app and create an account
2. Add your Claude API key in Settings (you bring your own key)
3. Create your first note with Ctrl+N

Desktop

1. Download the installer from the landing page
2. Run the installer and launch MinervaAI
3. Log in with your cloud account or create a new one
4. Your notes sync automatically between desktop and cloud

Your First Note

Press Ctrl+N to create a new note. Give it a title and start writing in markdown. The editor supports all standard markdown syntax plus several extensions:

• Wiki-links — type [[Note Name]] to link to another note
• Tags — add #tag anywhere in your note to categorize it
• Checkboxes — use - [ ] for interactive task checkboxes
• Callouts — use > [!note] for styled callout blocks

Switch between Edit, Split, and Preview modes using the toggle in the editor toolbar. Split mode shows the raw markdown on the left and the rendered preview on the right.

Using the AI Assistant

The AI chat panel sits on the right side of the editor. Type a message to start a conversation. The AI has access to your current note and can read other notes in your vault for context.

Try these to get started:

• "Summarize this note in three bullet points"
• "Create a new note about project planning"
• "Find all my notes related to machine learning"
• "Add a task list for this week's goals"

The AI can create, update, and search notes directly. It will always tell you what it did so you can review the changes.

Editor Modes

MinervaAI offers four editor modes, each suited to different workflows:

• Edit — raw markdown editing with syntax highlighting
• Split — side-by-side editor and live preview
• Preview — rendered view with WYSIWYG editing (click to edit in place)
• Kanban — turns your note's task lists into a Kanban board with draggable cards

Switch modes using the toolbar buttons or the keyboard shortcuts. Kanban mode works best with notes organized into sections with checkbox lists under each heading.

Wiki-links and Backlinks

Link notes together by typing [[Note Name]] in the editor. As you type, an autocomplete dropdown suggests matching notes.

You can link to a specific heading within a note using [[Note Name#Heading]]. Clicking a wiki-link opens the target note. If the linked note does not exist yet, clicking the link creates it.

The backlinks panel (available in the right sidebar) shows every note that links to the current note. This lets you discover connections you might not have noticed.

Markdown Support

MinervaAI supports standard markdown plus these extensions:

• Callouts — > [!info], > [!warning], > [!tip], etc.
• Mermaid diagrams — fenced code blocks with mermaid language render as diagrams
• LaTeX math — inline with $...$ and block with $$...$$
• Tables — advanced tables with tab navigation between cells and sortable column headers
• Interactive checkboxes — click checkboxes in preview to toggle them
• HTML widgets — embedded HTML renders in a sandboxed shadow DOM

Knowledge Graph

The graph view visualizes your entire vault as a 3D force-directed network. Each note is a node, and wiki-links are edges. Open it from the sidebar or with the Graph tab.

Nodes are colored by folder and sized by the number of connections. Hover over a node to see its title and highlight its connections. Click a node to open that note.

The graph updates in real time as you create notes and add links. It helps you see the structure of your knowledge and find clusters of related ideas.

Templates

MinervaAI includes 20 built-in templates to help you get started quickly. Use Ctrl+N and select a template, or ask the AI to create a note from a template.

General Templates

• Meeting Notes
• Project Plan
• Weekly Review
• Book Notes
• Decision Log
• Brainstorm
• Research Notes
• Goal Tracker
• Habit Tracker
• Journal Entry
• Bug Report
• Feature Request
• Retrospective
• 1-on-1 Agenda
• Learning Log

CRM Templates

• Contact
• Company
• Deal
• Activity
• Pipeline

Templates create pre-structured notes with headings, task lists, and metadata fields. You can modify any template after creation.

What the AI Can Do

The AI assistant has access to a set of tools that let it take action inside your knowledge base:

• Create notes — generate new notes with titles, content, tags, and folder placement
• Update notes — edit existing notes by appending, replacing, or rewriting sections
• Search notes — find notes by content, title, or tag using natural language
• Build widgets — create interactive HTML widgets (weather, trackers, calculators) embedded in your notes
• Web search — look up current information on the web and incorporate it into your notes
• Calendar — read and create Google Calendar events
• Email — read Gmail messages and compose replies
• Memory — remember facts and preferences across conversations

Chat Examples

Here are practical examples of what you can ask:

• "Create a meeting notes template for my standup with the engineering team"
• "Update my project plan — move the design phase to next week"
• "Search my notes for anything about the Q3 roadmap"
• "Build me a habit tracker widget with checkboxes for each day"
• "What's on my calendar this week?"
• "Draft an email to Sarah about the proposal deadline"
• "Summarize my last 5 meeting notes into key action items"
• "Find notes I haven't updated in over a month"

Inline Editing

Select any text in a note and a floating toolbar appears with AI actions: Rewrite, Expand, Summarize, Simplify, Formal, and Casual. The AI rewrites just the selected text without touching the rest of the note.

Conversation Actions

After a chat exchange, click the zap button to extract tasks, memories, and calendar events from the conversation automatically.

Memory and Context

MinervaAI maintains long-term memory across all your conversations. When you tell the AI something important ("I work at Acme Corp", "My project deadline is March 15"), it stores that information and uses it in future chats.

The AI also reads context from related notes. When you open a note, the AI pulls in content from linked notes and recently edited notes to provide more relevant responses.

You can pin specific notes as AI context by clicking the pin icon in the note header. Pinned notes are always included in the AI's context window.

Web Search

The AI can search the web to find current information. Ask it to research a topic, look up a fact, or find documentation for a library. Search results are summarized and can be saved directly into your notes.

Calendar Integration

Connect your Google Calendar in Settings to enable calendar features. Once connected, you can:

• Ask the AI "What's on my calendar today?" to see your schedule
• Create events with "Schedule a meeting with Alex on Friday at 2pm"
• Delete events with "Cancel my 3pm meeting tomorrow"
• Your daily briefing note includes a calendar summary automatically

Gmail Integration

Connect your Gmail in Settings to read and compose emails from within MinervaAI. The Inbox tab shows your messages filtered to direct emails. You can:

• Read email summaries in the Inbox tab
• Ask the AI to draft a reply to any email
• Copy rich-text AI responses directly into Gmail compose

Automations

Set up scheduled tasks that run automatically. Go to Settings and configure automations with cron-style schedules:

• Daily Briefing — creates a note each morning with your calendar, tasks, and insights
• Weekly Digest — summarizes your week's activity, new notes, and completed tasks
• Custom automations — define your own scheduled prompts (e.g., "every Monday, create a weekly plan note")

Automations use the format daily@09:00 or weekly@monday-09:00.

Folders and Drag-Drop

Organize notes into folders using the sidebar. Create folders with the folder icon, then drag notes into them. You can also drag notes between folders to reorganize.

Bulk operations are supported: select multiple notes and delete or move them at once. The folder picker modal lets you choose a destination folder for any note.

Tags and Filtering

Add tags to any note by typing #tag-name in the content. Tags appear in the collapsible tag bar above the note list. Click a tag to filter the note list to only notes with that tag.

The AI can also auto-tag your notes. When you create or update a note, the AI suggests relevant tags based on the content.

Bookmarks

Bookmark frequently accessed notes by clicking the bookmark icon. Bookmarked notes appear in a dedicated section at the top of the sidebar for quick access.

Sort Modes

The note list supports four sort modes:

• Folders First — groups notes by folder, then alphabetically
• By Date — most recently created notes first
• A-Z — alphabetical by title
• Recently Edited — most recently modified notes first

File Import

Drag and drop files directly into MinervaAI to import them. Supported formats:

• Documents — .docx, .pdf, .txt, .md
• Spreadsheets — .xlsx, .csv
• Presentations — .pptx
• Images — .png, .jpg, .gif, .svg
• Code — .py, .js, .ts, .html, .css, .json, and more

Imported files are converted to markdown notes. Images and PDFs are processed with text extraction where possible.

Installation

Download the MinervaAI desktop app from the landing page. Installers are available for:

• Windows — .msi installer
• macOS — .dmg disk image
• Linux — .AppImage (works on most distributions)

The desktop app is built with Tauri, which means it uses your system's native webview instead of bundling Chromium. This keeps the download small (under 20MB) and the memory footprint low.

First-Time Setup

When you first launch the desktop app:

1. Log in with your MinervaAI account (or create one)
2. Choose a local vault folder where your notes will be stored as .md files
3. Your cloud notes sync down automatically
4. Add your Claude API key in Settings if you haven't already

Syncing with Cloud

The desktop app syncs your local markdown files with the cloud every 30 seconds. Changes made locally (even from external editors like VS Code) are detected and synced. Changes made on the cloud are pulled down to your local vault.

Sync is bidirectional and conflict-aware. If the same note is edited in both places, the most recent version wins.

System Tray

MinervaAI minimizes to the system tray. Right-click the tray icon to quickly create a new note, open the app, or check sync status. You can configure the app to start automatically when you log in.

Vault Folder

Your local vault is a regular folder of markdown files. You can open it in any text editor, file manager, or terminal. The folder structure mirrors your MinervaAI folder hierarchy.

Each note is a .md file with YAML frontmatter containing metadata (title, tags, created date). This means your notes are fully portable and never locked into the MinervaAI format.

Teams Overview

MinervaAI Teams lets multiple people collaborate in shared workspaces. Each team member keeps their Personal Vault (private) alongside shared Team Workspaces. Switch between them using the workspace switcher at the top of the sidebar.

Create a team in Settings > Teams, share the invite code, and team members join instantly. Roles: Owner (full control), Admin (manage members, bypass restrictions), Member (create and edit team notes).

Features include: shared notes and folders, real-time presence (see who's viewing a note), edit locking (prevent conflicts), comments on team notes, activity feed, shared automations, and team document workspaces.

Access Control

Restrict team notes to specific members using the Lock icon in the editor header. Toggle "Restrict to specific people" and select which members can see the note. Note creators and team admins always have access regardless of restrictions. A lock badge appears on restricted notes in the sidebar.

Team Analytics

Click the chart icon in the activity feed header or use Ctrl+P > Team Analytics. View total notes, weekly activity, 14-day trend sparkline, top contributors with bar chart, most active notes (clickable), and comment count.

AI Director

Ask the AI to summarise team member activity: "What has Sarah been working on this week?" or "Summarise team activity for the last 7 days". The Director respects role hierarchy -- members cannot view owner/admin activity, but owners can view everyone's.

Document Workspaces

Document Workspaces are custom document generation pipelines (Pro/Team plan). Define processing instructions and templates once, then generate professional Word documents from any case note. Create workspaces from the Workspaces nav item. Each workspace has instructions (how the AI should process), templates (document structure), and optional intake templates (forms for new cases).

File Attachments

Drag files onto the editor area to attach them to the current note. Files appear in an Attachments section at the bottom. The document generator reads attached PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets, and text files. Click any attachment to open it in an in-app viewer (PDFs display inline, images show centered). Drag files onto the sidebar to import them as separate notes instead.

Generating Documents

Create a case note (from a workspace template or manually), attach reference documents, then click Generate Docs. The AI reads your note content, attached files, and workspace instructions, then generates a ZIP file containing formatted Word documents. Generation takes 30-60 seconds.

Web Clipper Installation

The MinervaAI Web Clipper is a Chrome extension (also works on Edge, Brave, Arc). Download it from Settings, then load it in chrome://extensions with Developer mode enabled. A Chrome Web Store version is coming soon. After loading, click the extension icon and enter your MinervaAI credentials to connect.

Using the Clipper

Click the clipper icon on any web page. Choose Full Page (saves everything as markdown), AI Summary (AI writes a 3-5 paragraph summary), or Key Points (AI extracts bullet points). Select text before clicking to clip just the highlight. Right-click for quick clips: selection, page, link, or image. All clips go to a "Web Clips" folder with source URL and auto-tags.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The command palette (Ctrl+P) gives access to all actions including switching themes, running automations, and triggering the weekly digest.

API Reference

MinervaAI exposes a REST API for advanced users who want to integrate with external tools or build automations.

Notes

List all notes. Returns title, ID, tags, folder, and timestamps.

Create a new note. Body: {"title", "content", "folder", "tags"}

Get a single note by ID, including full content.

Update a note. Body: {"title", "content", "folder", "tags"}

Delete a note by ID.

Chat

Send a message to the AI assistant. Body: {"message", "note_id"}. Returns a streaming response.

Search

Search notes by content and title. Returns matching notes ranked by relevance.

Graph

Get the full graph of notes and links for the graph view.

All API endpoints require authentication via the session cookie or an API token passed in the Authorization header.