Build Mindmaps with Local AI: Ollama, Apple Shortcuts, and Mindnode
⚡️ This article is part of my AI education series, where I simplify advanced AI concepts and strategies for nontechnical professionals. If you want to read more posts like this one, visit my AI Glossary via the button below to see the full resource list.
Hello friend. Today I am giving away my Apple Shortcut for AI-powered mind mapping using only local AI on Mac, for FREE. Woo!
If you want an easy experiment for testing the power of local AI on your Mac computer, grab my Shortcut URL here and try it yourself.
🤖 How it works 🤖
You might think developing AI Apps is hard. But for personal productivity, it's very easy to build custom AI workflows and automations for anything you want.
"But Shep, I can't even code – what do you mean it's easy?"
I'd like to introduce you to Apple Shortcuts.
Shortcuts is a deeply integrated no-code automation tool that comes standard on all Apple devices.
When you combine Shortcuts with local AI tools like Ollama, you can start building your own suite of AI automations on Mac, no coding expertise needed. Plus you can even add them to your home dock or right-click menu for easy access.
In this Shortcut, I'm using using Ollama, MindNode, and the Mistral NeMO AI model from Mistral AI & NVIDIA.
When you run the Shortcut, it will ask you for a topic. This topic is filled in as a variable in the user prompt that is sent to the AI model via Ollama. I've already written the system & user prompts that do the heavy lifting – all it needs is your topic.
The model then responds with code that maps out your topic/concept, and a new mindmap is created for you in MindNode.
Voila! What will you map with this?
*Please note: If you want this to work on iPhone or iPad as well, it requires additional configuration. You need to create a home server for Ollama and tweak the URLs for your Ollama API Calls.
Definitely doable, but requires more steps than the plug-and-play shortcut I've shared for desktop use here.
🛒 Grocery List 🛒
You need the following things to be installed on your desktop/laptop prior to running the shortcut:
Ollama (visit https://ollama.com/ to download and then double click the app to run it in the background)
Mistral Nemo or type "ollama run mistral-nemo" in your terminal after downloading ollama)
The Shortcuts app should already be installed on your device, but if you've deleted it then visit the App Store to download.
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