Everything in BrainSwitchs, explained.

Why BrainSwitchs exists

Most tools treat every task the same. But planning a budget and dreaming up a campaign ask for very different kinds of thinking. When we mix them, we either over-plan ideas until they die, or keep generating ideas and never decide. BrainSwitchs is built around one habit: before you start, choose the kind of thinking the task needs, work in a space shaped for it, and finish with something concrete.

Logical mode

Planning, analysis, studying, decisions, specs, budgets. A structured look and a 16 Hz focus tone.

Creative mode

Ideas, writing, sketching, exploring, naming. A softer look and a 10 Hz focus tone.

The loop

Pick a mode, think on a canvas or page, time the session, end with a decision or takeaway, then look back at your balance.

Who it is for

BrainSwitchs is for anyone whose work is thinking: founders and product people, students and researchers, writers and designers, consultants, and anyone who wants to notice how they spend their attention.

You plan and create

You switch between deciding and imagining many times a day and want a place for both.

You like visual thinking

You think better with notes, arrows and frames you can move around, not just lists.

You want reflection

You want to see, over weeks, whether you are neglecting one side of your thinking.

Getting started

Three ways in, depending on how you like to learn.

1. 1On the home page, tap the Logical or Creative half of the brain, name your project, and its canvas opens.
2. 2Or go to Projects and choose Load demo workspace to explore a project that is already filled with notes, tasks, pages, databases and charts.
3. 3Or replay the ten-step walkthrough from your profile menu inside the app.

Sign in with Google so your work is private to you and syncs across devices.

Projects and the canvas

Every project is an open canvas. Drag empty space to move around, scroll or use the zoom bar to zoom, and place blocks anywhere.

Blocks

Text, sticky notes, checklists, references (links), images, shapes and lines, sheets (spreadsheets with formulas like =SUM), embeds, databases, pages and sub-canvases.

Adding blocks

Pick a tool in the bottom toolbar and click the canvas, double-click anywhere for a note, paste an image or link, or drop files.

Connections

Select a block and use connect to draw an arrow to another. Add labels or dashed lines to show how ideas relate.

Frames

Group related blocks into a frame (Cmd/Ctrl+G). Moving the frame moves everything in it.

Pen and highlighter

Sketch and mark up directly on the canvas for spatial thinking.

Block details

The small i icon on a block shows when it was created and added, and its project, without cluttering the block.

Notes stay notes

Opening a note never turns it into a page. Converting is a separate action that asks first.

Sub-projects

A canvas block can open its own canvas. Sub-projects are labelled with their parent on the Projects page.

Commands

Cmd/Ctrl+K opens the command palette for anything on the canvas.

Undo

Cmd/Ctrl+Z and Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Z undo and redo canvas changes.

Export and share

Export a clean PNG, Markdown or a Word document; share a project with collaborators by email.

Thinking Protocols, templates and the Decision Gate

Ready structures for when you are stuck, and a habit that ends every sprint with something decided.

Thinking Protocols

First Principles, Inversion, 5 Whys and more. Pick one in the canvas toolbar and it is laid out as blocks ready to fill in. Protocols also work inside Pages from the Insert menu.

Templates

Starter layouts for common jobs, on canvases and in pages.

Sprint timer

Run a 25 or 50 minute focus sprint from the timer at the top of the canvas.

Decision Gate

When a sprint ends, write one decision or next step. It is stamped onto the project so ideas never pile up unfinished.

Pages

Documents for longer thinking, with everything a modern editor has, and live blocks you can place anywhere.

Writing

Headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, lists, checklists, quotes, code, dividers, links, text colours and highlights. Markdown shortcuts work: # for a heading, - for a list, [] for a checklist.

The / menu

Type / on an empty line, or use Insert, to add databases, charts, images, canvases, link previews, embeds (YouTube, Figma, Loom, Maps), templates and Thinking Protocols.

Cover, icon and look

Add a cover (presets, your own image or a link) and an icon (any emoji or your own image). The palette button sets the background and the width: standard, wide or full.

Blocks on the page

Every canvas, database, image and embed has a grip at the top: drag it to float the block anywhere on the page (hold Shift to slot it between paragraphs). The corner handle resizes it, and the settings button sets the layout: on its own line, wrapped by text, inline, behind or in front of text.

Undo blocks

Removed or moved a block by mistake? Cmd/Ctrl+Z brings it back.

Organise

Nest pages inside pages, group them into notebooks, filter by Logical or Creative, and collapse the Pages and Notebooks lists.

Focus mode

The Focus button shows only the page, full screen. Esc returns.

Details

Under the title: word count, reading time and who edited last. The i icon shows created and edited times, characters, notebook and linked canvases.

With canvases

Send any text to a canvas as a note, open pages beside a canvas in the side panel, or drag a page from the panel onto the canvas.

Export

Download a page as a Word document or Markdown, or copy it as Markdown.

Databases and charts

Notion-style databases that live in your library and can appear on any page or canvas. Every copy shows the same data, so editing one updates all.

Creating

A new database starts empty and asks for a name. Choose a template from the dropdown (Task tracker, Reading list, Content calendar, Habit log) and optionally add example rows, or start blank. The table icon in the Pages sidebar makes a page that is just a database.

Properties

Text, number, select, status, multi-select, date with optional time, checkbox, link, formula and relation to another database. Rename or delete any column, and use Edit options to rename or remove status and tag choices.

Rows

Add rows with New, edit any cell in place, and click Open on a row for its own page: every property, a cover and icon, and rich notes.

Row templates

On a row page, Save as template keeps its values and notes. The arrow next to New creates rows from your templates.

Views

Table, Board (drag cards between statuses), Calendar, Timeline, List, Gallery (with images) and Chart. Each view keeps its own filters and sorting.

Table sizing

Drag a column edge or a row's bottom edge to resize. Double-click to reset.

Dates and times

Pick dates on the calendar and type times like 9:40 pm. Times follow your 12h or 24h setting.

Charts

Vertical or horizontal bars, line, area, donut and pie. Choose what to show (number of rows, total or average of a number column), what to group by, and the order. Values are printed on the chart, the sentence under it explains what it shows, and the handle changes its height.

Formulas

Use prop("Column") with + - * /, comparisons, & to join text, and SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, ROUND, ABS and IF.

Tracker

Log focus that happens anywhere, including away from the screen: reading, studying, writing by hand or a thinking walk.

1. 1Pick Logical or Creative and what you are doing.
2. 2Choose an open stopwatch or a countdown sprint, and turn on the focus sound if you like.
3. 3Start. When you stop (early is fine), write a one-line takeaway. The session feeds your Timeline and Living Brain.

Me: Timeline, Calendar, Living Brain, Brains and Network

Everything about how you think, grouped under Me in the top bar.

Me overview

Cards for each area and your recent sessions, newest first.

My Timeline

A scrollable day view with tasks you planned beside the sessions you recorded, a now line, zoom levels and a compact activity history that loads more as you go. Choose 12h or 24h time.

My Calendar

The month view of the same tasks, with focus time per day. Add any task to Google Calendar, or download open tasks for Apple Calendar or Outlook.

Scheduling tasks

Hover a checklist item on a canvas and use the calendar icon to set a date and optional time. It appears on the Timeline and Calendar.

Your Living Brain

Each half of the brain brightens with the time you give that mode, with your totals and a short read of your balance.

My Brains

The mini brain inside each project, showing how its content splits between logical and creative.

Network & Patterns

Normal shows projects as nodes and shared topics as pathways. Advanced shows your work on the brain map with zoom and pattern analysis.

Capture, Scratchpad and Split view

Tools that keep you in flow.

Capture

Cmd/Ctrl+Space from any page saves a thought in two seconds and files it where you choose.

Scratchpad

Alt+S opens a quick notepad. Later, turn a note into a project or clear it.

Split view

Open up to three canvases or pages side by side and drag the dividers to resize.

Focus sound

A gentle binaural-style tone matched to the mode: 16 Hz for Logical, 10 Hz for Creative. Use headphones.

One sound everywhere

Turning sound on or off anywhere (canvas, page, tracker, split view) changes it everywhere, and only one copy ever plays.

It keeps playing

Moving between pages and canvases never restarts it. Switching a project's mode moves it to that mode's tone.

If the browser blocks it

Some browsers need a click before playing sound. Press Sound on again.

The tone is a focus aid, not a medical treatment.

Archive: Later, Done and Bin

Clear your active list without losing anything.

Later and Done

Park a project for later or mark it done from its card. Drag items between shelves.

Bin

Deleted projects and pages wait in the Bin, where you can restore them. Delete all moves a shelf to the Bin; only Empty Bin deletes for good, after you confirm.

Quick page delete

The bin icon next to a page in the sidebar moves it to the Bin, with an Undo.

Settings, sharing and your data

Theme

Light or dark from the top bar, on every page.

Time format

12h or 24h from the Timeline, used everywhere times appear.

Sharing

Share a project with collaborators by email. Shared pages show who edited last.

Backups

Projects has Back up everything, Restore backup and Export as document.

Privacy

Your workspace is private to your account and syncs across your devices.

Keyboard shortcuts

Cmd/Ctrl+K

Command palette on a canvas

Cmd/Ctrl+Space

Capture a thought

Alt+S

Scratchpad

Cmd/Ctrl+Z

Undo (canvas, and removed or moved page blocks)

Cmd/Ctrl+G

Group selected canvas blocks into a frame

/

Insert menu on an empty line in a page

Esc

Close menus, cancel a drag, leave Focus mode

Arrow keys

Move through the walkthrough