CompareFacts checked 2026-11
MindMax works with your AI assistant
MindMax is not a replacement for the assistant you already use. It runs a local MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf or WorkBuddy can read the folder you have open, quote the page, and suggest edits you review. You keep the model you already pay for, and add MindMax's tools, library and review step. You do not have to choose between them.
- Your AI assistant
- The model and the chat you already use — Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf or WorkBuddy.
- MindMax
- A local MCP server on your folder: the documents, the reading map, the canvas and the review gate in front of anything written.
Use MindMax alone, connect your assistant, or both
Use MindMax alone if
- The work is documents: a folder of PDFs, books and notes you return to, read, annotate and write from.
- You want every answer to quote the page, and what you make to stay as files beside the sources.
Connect your assistant if
- You want your assistant’s own model working on your documents — not a second model you have to learn.
- You already live in that app for everything else, and want document work to happen there too.
- You want answers that reach across your whole library, not just the file you uploaded this turn.
Use both if
- You draft and brainstorm in the assistant, but keep sources, annotations and citations somewhere they persist.
- You connect them once, and the assistant calls MindMax’s tools on your folder whenever a document question comes up.
What connecting gives you, and what it does not
Facts you can check on your own machine in a few minutes. Each row says how.
| Topic | Your assistant + MindMax MCP | How to check for yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Carries over | ||
| Your folder | The desktop app opens the folder you already have — nothing imported, nothing copied, nothing locked in. Your folder, opened in place → | Open the folder in MindMax; the files in your file manager are unchanged. |
| Your model | Stays the one your assistant already runs. MindMax runs none of its own models on this path, so no second bill for the thinking. Bring your own key → | Ask which model answered; it is the one in your assistant, not a MindMax model. |
| Your files | Everything lives in your folder as plain files, and stays readable if you stop using MindMax. | Open a note MindMax wrote in any text editor. |
| Adds | ||
| Library search | The assistant searches your whole folder — PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Word, PowerPoint, Markdown — not just the file you uploaded this turn. Ask across a folder → | Ask a question that spans a dozen papers already in the folder. |
| Reading maps for long documents | A long book comes back as a map — two levels of structure and a note per chapter — so the assistant reads the chapter it picks, whole. | Ask about a 400-page book and watch it read by section, not as one upload. |
| Cited, reviewable edits | Changes arrive as tracked changes you accept or reject; comments land in the margin, addressed to the line they are about. Edits wait for you → | Comment on a sentence; the proposal comes back on that sentence, with a reason. |
| No credit cost for the link | The connection spends no MindMax credits — the assistant’s model does the work and bills as usual. | Connect, run a full job, and check that your MindMax credit balance is untouched. |
| Does not carry over | ||
| Phone or server-side reach | The server is local (127.0.0.1) and needs the desktop app running; a phone app or a server-side agent cannot reach your folder. | — |
| A smarter model | The connection lends tools and material, not intelligence. A weak model with a good map is still a weak model. | — |
MCP facts last checked 2026-11 against the shipped desktop app and the /mcp/ guide. Host support and the tool list change; if a row here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
The same question, two ways
Give both the same question across your folder: what does this field agree on, and where does it split?
- Upload the papers into a chat, a few at a time.
- Ask the question and get a fluent paragraph.
- Before it goes into anything, go back to the papers to check which parts are cited.
You end withAn answer in the chat — but it read only what you uploaded, and the quotes are yours to verify.
- Open the folder in MindMax and connect the assistant.
- Ask the same question; the assistant searches the whole folder, not just this turn’s files.
- Each claim in the answer quotes the sentence it came from, one click from the page.
You end withAn answer from your full library, each claim a click from its page, kept as a note beside the sources.
Where your AI assistant is genuinely better
- Anything that is not documents.
Your assistant is general. MindMax is not, and does not try to be — it is built for the document in front of you.
- Apps on your phone.
The connection is to a desktop app on this machine. For a one-off question on a phone, your assistant’s own app is the shorter path.
- You already pay for it.
A second tool has to earn its place for document work; the connection lets you keep the assistant for everything else.
- Its own connectors and cloud.
If your files live in the assistant’s own ecosystem, that is less friction than downloading them into a folder.
Questions people ask
Do I have to stop using my AI assistant?
No. MindMax MCP is a local server your assistant connects to. The assistant keeps doing everything it did, and gains access to your folder’s tools — reading, maps, canvas and a review step in front of anything it writes.
Does connecting upload my documents?
No. The connection is a server on 127.0.0.1 inside the desktop app; your files are not copied to MindMax or to us. What leaves the machine is what your assistant sends to its own model provider, exactly as it would for anything else in that app.
Which assistants can connect?
Claude, Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT desktop, Cursor, Windsurf and WorkBuddy are detected on your machine and connect in one click from Settings → External AI. ChatGPT desktop shares Codex’s configuration and needs a restart after connecting.
Does the connection cost MindMax credits?
No. Nothing on this path calls a MindMax model, so no credits are spent — the reading, writing and reasoning are done by the model your assistant is signed in to, and billed there.
Can I read more about the connection?
The /mcp/ page explains the local server, the tools an assistant gets, and the review step in front of anything written. The chatgpt-claude-gemini and workbuddy pages below go deeper on each host.
Starting without giving anything up
Keep the assistant you already use. MindMax adds a local server it can call — the folder you have, the reading map, the canvas, and a review step in front of anything written. Connect in one click from Settings → External AI; if it does not earn its place, disconnect it the same way. Nothing is imported, nothing is locked in.
Last verified: 2026-11. Found something inaccurate? Tell us — we would rather fix it than leave it.
Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf and WorkBuddy are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification only. MindMax is not affiliated with any of them.