Feature

MindBoard

The investigation canvas, where evidence becomes a story you can defend. If Reports answer what happened, MindBoard answers what do we believe, and why.

What MindBoard is for¶

MindBoard is the fourth feature in the left rail, alongside Home, Scenarios, and Reports. You can maintain multiple boards per project; one board is active at a time. Boards store name, description, status, tags, template, and viewport pan/zoom.

Collect evidence

Keep Report evidence together instead of losing it in chat history.

Write hypotheses

Put your thinking directly next to real references.

Assert relationships

Connect findings so your reasoning becomes visible and reviewable.

Organize and persist

Use groups and templates on a board that survives Editor restarts.

Nodes¶

Note

Investigation notes on the canvas: title, body (plain or Markdown), tags, status, color, and icon. Select a Note to interact with Markdown (links, tasks, code blocks). Resize and position freely.

Reference

Live links to TraceMind evidence: Report, Scenario, Scope, Watch, WatchChange, Probe, ProbeObservation, Exception, Method, ProbeGroup, TimelineEvent. References show type-specific previews with metrics and charts; select a node to hover chart details.

Relationships¶

Relationships are your assertions. TraceMind does not silently invent causality, which keeps reasoning transparent. Custom relationships can be configured in Preferences when your team needs richer vocabulary.

Related Caused By Triggered Supports Contradicts Depends On Suspected Confirmed Reference

Board organization tools¶

Groups Align and distribute Search Fit and focus Undo and redo Clipboard actions Board properties

Board status values such as Investigating, Confirmed, Resolved, and Archived help you close the loop.

The right Sidebar is a compact developer workspace with three tabs. Its visibility and width persist with the board.

Notes

Scratchpad Markdown with preview toggle: quick thoughts while arranging the canvas. Persists with the board.

Tasks

A source-marker explorer for developer comments, which turns code debt markers into investigation material.

Markers TODO, FIXME, HACK, BUG, NOTE, REVIEW, OPTIMIZE, INVESTIGATE
Actions Search, marker filtering, refresh and rescan
Navigation Double-click to open in your IDE
Context Add to MindBoard directly from a marker

Sketch

A lightweight freehand canvas for quick diagrams while you think. It is a whiteboard for developers, not an illustration suite.

Tools Pen and eraser, color and stroke width
History Undo and redo, clear with confirmation
Persistence Stroke data is stored with the board

Getting evidence onto the board¶

Use Add to MindBoard from Reports and related surfaces, Reveal in MindBoard when the item already exists, create Notes and References directly on the canvas, or add Tasks from the Sidebar.

A strong MindBoard session¶

Apply a template

Match it to the kind of investigation you are running.

Drop in key references

Bring the important Report evidence onto the board.

Write one hypothesis

State it in plain language as a Note.

Connect and conclude

Link evidence with Supports, Contradicts, or Caused By, then update board status when the conclusion is real.

One theme per board

Keep boards focused. One theme per board usually beats one infinite board for everything.

Reports Daily Workflow Core Concepts Preferences