What is ThinkTray?
ThinkTray is a tool for thinking with cards and arrows. Select a .tt.svg file in the tree to open it.
Write a keyword on a card, then draw an arrow to connect it. That’s all there is to it.
ThinkTray supports two broad approaches to thinking.
- Think freely — Scatter keywords onto cards and explore connections with arrows (KJ method, mind mapping, model-based thinking, and more)
- Think in frameworks — Visualize established frameworks like PDCA, SWOT, or 2-Axis Analysis
Whether you’re filling in a framework or letting your ideas roam freely, the toolset is the same: place cards, draw lines.
The idea is to make model-based thinking — visualizing and reasoning about relationships between concepts — as accessible as possible. It’s also inspired by category theory in mathematics, with its world of “objects and morphisms.”
If text files are tools for “writing and organizing,” ThinkTray is a tool for “arranging and thinking.”
Four tools
Switch between tools using the toolbar buttons on the left, or with keyboard shortcuts.
| Tool | Key | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 🤚 Pan | H | Drag to scroll the canvas |
| 🖱️ Select | V | Select cards or lines; rubber-band to select multiple |
| 🔲 Card | R | Click on empty space to add a card |
| ➡️ Line | L | Click on empty space or drag from a card to add an arrow |
Regardless of which tool is active, you can always click any existing card or line to select it.
Place cards, draw lines
ThinkTray’s workflow comes down to two essential actions.
Place a card — Take a keyword or thought from your head and give it a physical form, one card at a time.
Draw a line — Declare “there is a relationship between these two cards” by connecting them.
Open the demo from the tree. You’ll see cards and lines already laid out.
Why does this count as “thinking”?
When you think inside your head, ideas drift like fog — hard to grasp.
Writing an idea on a card makes it a fixed, concrete object. Drawing a line makes the fact “A and B are related” visible.
When you try to draw a line and hesitate — “wait, which direction should this arrow go?” — that moment of hesitation is thinking. The line you draw is analysis.
ThinkTray is the place where you work through that hesitation with your hands.
Don’t try to organize from the start
First, scatter keywords onto cards as they come to you. Rearrange them later, form groups, draw lines. This order is the natural flow of card-based thinking.
This act of “placing cards and drawing lines” is the core shared by many card-based thinking methods: KJ method, mind mapping, Zettelkasten, and more.
Embedding SVG
You can paste icon or shape assets in SVG format from the web into your diagram.
Copy SVG code to your clipboard, then right-click on empty space and choose ”📋 Paste SVG,” or press Ctrl+V (Mac: ⌘V).
Pasted SVGs can be moved, deleted, and duplicated just like cards. Double-click to add a text label. Because they’re vector graphics, they stay sharp at any zoom level.
TextTree doesn’t ship with any icon assets of its own, but pairing it with a free SVG icon site makes it easy to bring icons into your diagrams. See the Related Apps & Sites page for a few examples.
Creating a file
Right-click a folder in the tree → New File → give the file a name ending in .tt.svg, such as notes.tt.svg, and it will open in ThinkTray.
First steps
- Card tool (
R) → click empty space → add a card. Double-click to type text. - Line tool (
L) → drag from a card → add an arrow. Release over another card to connect them.
For other operations, check the ? (Help) button in the top-right of the editor. Changes are saved automatically.
Duplicate to explore different angles
You don’t have to settle for one analysis. When you want to try the same theme from a different perspective, right-click the file in the tree → Duplicate to create a new version while keeping the original intact.
The demo’s “How to Use ThinkTray 2” is an example — the same theme explored from a different angle. Layering iterations often reveals things a single pass misses.
What loops reveal
As you draw relationships, you may find arrows circling back to form a loop.
If you found a loop while thinking through personal or organizational growth, it might represent a positive cycle — a virtuous circle of improvement.
If you were analyzing a difficult situation, it might be a warning sign of a negative spiral.
Where the name comes from
A “tray” is a vessel for holding things — a place to set something down. ThinkTray is named for exactly that: a vessel for your thinking, a place to set down whatever’s on your mind, just as it is.