Docs/What is a thoughtbase?/Thoughtbase operations

Thoughtbase operations

A thoughtbase is a folder on your disk, and the commands for handling one live at the top of the File menu — grouped there first because the natural first move is "open my thoughtbase" before doing anything in it. Each window holds one open thoughtbase at a time.

Creating and opening

New Thoughtbase…
File → New Thoughtbase… Choose a location and name; Minerva creates the folder and sets up an empty thoughtbase, ready for your first note.
Open Thoughtbase…
File → Open Thoughtbase… (⌘O). Pick an existing thoughtbase folder to open it in the current window. Opening any folder of markdown notes works — Minerva builds the graph for it the first time.

Switching between thoughtbases

Keep a thoughtbase per subject and move between them however suits you:

Recent Thoughtbases
File → Recent Thoughtbases lists the ones you've opened lately — pick one to jump straight back in.
Clear Recent Thoughtbases
File → Recent Thoughtbases → Clear Recent Thoughtbases empties that list. It only tidies the list of recently opened thoughtbases — none of your notes are touched.
New Window
File → New Window (⌘⇧N) opens a second window. Because each window holds one thoughtbase, this is how you keep two open side by side — open one thoughtbase in each.

Closing

Close Thoughtbase
File → Close Thoughtbase (⌘⇧W) closes the current thoughtbase and returns the window to an empty state, ready to open another. Your files are saved as you go, so nothing is lost.

The thoughtbase guide

Edit Thoughtbase Guide…
File → Edit Thoughtbase Guide… opens thoughtbase.md, a plain-English guide to this thoughtbase — its structure, intent, and conventions — that Minerva shows the assistant at the start of every conversation. It's created from a template the first time you open it. Keeping it up to date is the simplest way to make the AI's help fit how this thoughtbase is organized.

Renaming, moving, or deleting a thoughtbase

Because a thoughtbase is an ordinary folder, there's no separate command to rename or delete one — you do it in Finder or your file manager, like any folder. Rename or move the folder, then open it again from its new location; delete the folder to remove the thoughtbase. (Renaming, moving, and deleting individual notes is handled inside Minerva, from the sidebar.)

Once a thoughtbase is open, these cover what you do next:

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Ingest

Bring web pages, PDFs, and references in as sources.

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Export & publish

Publish a thoughtbase to the web, or export notes as documents and citations.

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Maintenance

Rebuild indexes and keep the graph and search in sync.