Open source · Local-first · v1.0.0-beta.14

Connect ideas. Build understanding

A desktop app for learning, with a personal knowledge graph that grows with you. Connect ideas, work through them in notes, and review what you’ve learned.

Try the demo

Available for macOS, Windows, and LinuxMIT licensed

Nesso showing a learning graph where concepts sharing a relation are grouped, with the selected concept’s notes, connections, and views in the Inspector. — Explorer
Browse the whole graph or the views you’ve made.

Workspace
Build the graph on the canvas, or open plugins like Notes and Review.

Inspector
Edit the selection, manage views, or chat with AI on desktop.

Why Nesso

We understand and remember by connecting new ideas to what we already know.

Nesso lets you map those associations in one graph that grows with your understanding. Add new ideas and connect them to the ones you’ve already collected.

How it works

Just a few key elements

Concepts

Ideas, with a color, bold or italic labels, and Markdown notes.

Relations

Directed connections with a type that says how two ideas relate, like “sparks” or “builds on”. Use the built-in ones or name your own.

Views

Focus on a project, question, or theme. A concept can sit in several views, with edits shared across them.

Plugins

A small core. The rest is plugins

Plugins add vocabularies, themes, and actions. They can also work as mini-apps inside Nesso, with their own interface and data saved between sessions, like Notes and Review.

Nesso’s built-in plugins use the same SDK available for external plugins, which can only be installed in the desktop app.

Have an idea in mind? Describe it to your agent, such as Claude Code or Codex, to create a local plugin through Nesso’s MCP server. You’ll find a ready-to-copy prompt below.

SDK guide

View prompt

Help me create a Nesso plugin. First ask what I want it to do. Through Nesso MCP, read read_docs for plugin and plugin-example and follow the documented workflow, then propose a local installation for my approval in Nesso. If MCP is not connected, help me set it up using https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nesso-how/nesso/main/packages/plugin/README.md.

Built in

Review: FSRS spaced repetition over a view’s concepts.; action
Notes: Live-preview Markdown for each view’s project notes and brainstorming.; action
Export · Import: Export a graph or view as JSON-LD or PNG, and merge a JSON-LD file back in.; action
Base vocabulary: The default set of relation types.; vocabulary
Kernel · Paper · Mist: Neutral graphite, warm ivory, or cool misty blue.; theme

Explore ideas with AI

Ask questions, look for connections between concepts, or get help organizing your graph. You can review the results and undo the changes.

AI and the MCP server are available in the desktop app.

Chat with: Your own API key, a local model, or ChatGPT sign-in.
Connect: External assistants, through the local MCP server.
Private: Credentials are encrypted on your device. Requests go straight to your chosen endpoint.
Undoable: AI edits are validated and share your undo history.

Your data

One graph, on your device, in an open format

Your graph is stored locally as JSON-LD, an open format you can export and take with you.

Nesso validates every change to your graph, including those made by AI or plugins. Changes land together or not at all, and share the same undo and redo history.

On desktop, Nesso automatically keeps the latest 10 copies of your data, so you can recover your work if something goes wrong.

JSON-LD

{
  "@context": {
    "rdf": "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#",
    "rdfs": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#",
    "position": {
      "@id": "urn:uuid:af4fb77d-c82c-5e04-bf5c-68588670d18b",
      "@type": "@json"
    },
    "sparks": {
      "@id": "urn:nesso:example:sparks",
      "@type": "@id"
    }
  },
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@id": "urn:nesso:example:sparks",
      "@type": "rdf:Property",
      "rdfs:label": "sparks"
    },
    {
      "@id": "urn:nesso:example:curiosity",
      "rdfs:label": "Curiosity",
      "sparks": {
        "@id": "urn:nesso:example:questions"
      }
    },
    {
      "@id": "urn:nesso:example:questions",
      "rdfs:label": "Questions"
    }
  ]
}

Open source

The project is on GitHub

Nesso is MIT licensed and early. If you’ve used concept maps or knowledge graphs for learning, tell us what kept them navigable as they grew, and what got in the way.

Join the discussion View on GitHub

Start with one idea

Download Nesso for macOS, Windows, or Linux, or try the graph editor in your browser.

Try the demo

AI, plugin installation, and the MCP server are desktop only