A "World" is a folder on your computer or network. You create a folder, give it a name, and that becomes your nominated world. Everything lives in that folder as plain markdown files (you can rename the label in Filamental without touching the folder name itself). Filamental is essentially a super-clever file explorer with bells on, which is why your work is always yours and readable by (almost) any app. Your saved projects, browsed from the Projects window (top left), are essentially bookmarks to these folders, editing the name or removing one from the list doesn't touch the actual files, it's just a shortcut. If you move the world folder on disk, just relocate it via "fix" from the same window. A hidden .filamental folder inside it saves settings and other bits & bobs.
Controls for moving around this canvas are covered in Graph Navigation and the full key/mouse map in Shortcuts.
Bottom Panel
This is where you do things in the graph/canvas: insert nodes, connect them, change types, switch views, and trigger exports (image/drone video, see Graph Navigation). Most buttons here are covered in more detail under their own heading below.
2D vs 3D
2D, sometimes called "focus mode." Click 2D, then Dark Energy, to spread everything out flat. Good as a working surface.
3D, for when you want to consolidate and see the shape of your business or project. Powerful for understanding and visualisation, and it's also the clearest visual representation of how AI understands your knowledge.
We tend to alternate: 2D for working, 3D for understanding.
Web vs Layers
There are 4 variables you can combine: 2D/3D and Dark Energy/Layers, mapped to keys 1, 2, 3, 4.
Web (Dark Energy) is the default free-form view: nodes repel each other and settle into a natural web shape.
Layers is a different way to see the same system. It stacks nodes according to their classification hierarchy (set in Left Panel). Click it multiple times to cycle through layouts that suit you. By default, unclassified nodes sit at the top ready for you to allocate. The order of your classifications determines the layers' stacking order.
Try combining these live, the buttons are in the top and bottom bar.
Importing & Linking
Insert menu (bottom bar, + button) is the entry point for bringing things in:
- Files/docs: insert any file type as its own node. You can choose to move it into your World Folder or copy it there. Clicking the node launches it in its usual associated program. You can also just drop a file straight into the folder itself and it appears as a node automatically.
- Weblinks: copy a URL, Insert > Insert Link, paste, give it a short title. Done.
- Mermaid diagrams: if you've had an AI turn a conversation into Mermaid code (or generated one from scratch), paste it here to build a whole structure in one step. See AI Connections & Prompting for the actual prompts, that's the canonical home for anything mermaid/AI-generation related.
- Bridge to another project: creates a node that jumps you into a different project with a double-click. Free on every plan, and it's also the way round the free tier's 20-node cap, hit the limit on one project and bridge into a new one to keep going without losing or deleting anything. See Account & Billing for the full picture on limits.
Going the other way, the broadcast icon in this same bottom bar copies your whole world to the clipboard in a format AI understands, so you can paste it straight into a conversation. Also covered in full under AI Connections & Prompting.
Basic Connecting
Connect nodes using the connect button (bottom bar) or by holding ALT and clicking/dragging onto a target node.
This just makes the link. Two things people often go looking for elsewhere:
- Connector formatting (label, colour, arrowheads, changing type) lives in Left Panel.
- Connector attraction/strength (how hard Dark Energy pulls along that connector) lives in Right Panel (Notepad).
Creating & Changing Nodes
Nodes have unique identity numbers and sit in your master folder as simple markdown files (or other file types entirely, see Importing above). You can move them between folders on disk however you like and they'll stay connected, since the connections travel with the files rather than with their location.
- Change a node's type/classification: do this from the node itself, and it's reflected live in the left panel. A lot of functions are deliberately duplicated across the UI for convenience, you'll find more than one way to do most things.
- Node scaling: nodes visually grow from 100% to 200% size the more connections they have, if you have this turned on.
Node Labels on the Canvas
Filamental displays node titles in full on graph cards, no truncation. If your graph feels visually dense:
- Node Spacing (Forces popover, atom icon): increase to push cards apart.
- Zoom out: text scales down and the structure reads as shape.
- Shorten the title: detailed content belongs in the node's notes, not the name.
- Layers view (key 4): structured hierarchy instead of free-form web, easier to read at density.
Physics & Layout (bottom bar)
Not to be confused with the Projects window (top left), which is about switching between whole projects. These controls govern what happens inside your current graph/canvas, and live in the bottom bar rather than a settings menu since they're live adjustments you want to watch happen.
- Dark Energy: the physics engine of the graph. In astrophysics, dark energy is the mysterious force that accelerates the universe's expansion; here it repels all nodes from each other and works against your connectors. You can manually arrange nodes, but you'll increasingly lean on Dark Energy to do it for you. It doesn't always nail it first try, click it repeatedly until you find a layout you like, or multi-select a section (CTRL+drag) to rearrange just that part without disturbing the rest.
- Forces popover (atom icon, next to Grid): Gravity, Expansion, Node Spacing, and Branch Spread all live here, and drag live, you'll see the graph re-spread as you move each slider.
- Gravity: adjusts the distance between unconnected/unlinked structures and nodes. Good for balancing multiple structures or keeping tabs on stray nodes you haven't hooked up yet.
- Expansion: adjusts general connector length, in conjunction with the Dark Energy physics.
- Node Spacing: keeps node cards from overlapping, higher pushes long labels further apart.
- Branch Spread: fans branches out around a shared hub so they don't clump or cross.
- Grid: anchors the up/down of the graph, it's your visual "floor." Press G to toggle. Useful to leave on while building since it gives you a reference point without being prescriptive.
- Backgrounds: covered under Top Bar, not here.
- Performance Mode: the last resort, toggled in Account & Billing (Settings > General). If your machine is struggling, this saves the app and gives you time to exit on your own terms. If you've hit this point, it's a sign your structure has probably gotten too big, consider breaking it up into folders, or asking an AI to do that for you (see AI Connections & Prompting).
