Terra Cognita Atlas

Turn your markdown notes into an explorable map of the people, events, ideas, and connections inside them. Local-first, on-device, and yours.

Your notes already form a map. Terra Cognita lets you see it.

Point Terra Cognita at a folder of markdown notes and it becomes a living graph — the people, events, institutions, works, and ideas in your notes, and the connections between them, laid out as a map you can explore, query, and reshape.

Not a static diagram. A work surface. Pan and zoom across the whole territory, follow a thread from one node to its neighbors, pull a single concept into focus, or let the layout settle into the shape your knowledge actually has.

Built for different kinds of territory: • Continuity — track people, events, and relationships across a life, a history, or a long-running story. • Worldbuild — grow characters, factions, places, and lore into a coherent world for fiction or games. • Project Archaeology — map the structure of a project: dependencies, references, and how the pieces actually connect.

What you get, free: • Full local graph storage, editing, and traversal — your atlas is always fully usable • Every mode, lens, and layout • Import and export in markdown and GEXF • On-device AI to capture notes, suggest links, and enrich entries — nothing leaves your device • Optional per-atlas soundtracks via Apple Music

Yours, on your device. Terra Cognita is local-first. Your atlas lives in plain markdown files you own and can take anywhere — no lock-in, no account required, no data leaving your device unless you ask it to.

Terra Cognita Pro unlocks a high-performance Metal renderer that keeps large maps fast and fluid as your graph grows into the thousands of nodes. Pro speeds up how you see your atlas — it never gates your data; the free edition stays fully capable at any size.

Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

What's New (release notes for this build)

Welcome to Terra Cognita! This build adds the Pro Metal renderer for large maps, smoother zoom-out framing on big graphs, and import fixes. We'd love your feedback — tap the in-app contact or email info@terra-cognita.app.

When you open the app you'll land on a built-in demo atlas, so there's something to explore immediately. There's no account and nothing to sign up for.

Please report anything confusing or broken — even "this label is unclear" is genuinely useful at this stage. Email info@terra-cognita.app or use the in-app contact, and include your device + OS version.

What to try

1. First launch — does the demo graph load and feel responsive? Try pan, pinch-zoom, tapping nodes, the info panel, Find (search), and Fit.
2. Make it yours — create or import your own atlas and add a few notes and connections. Does building your own graph feel clear?
3. press and hold on a node, or on the background, and explore the context sensitive radial menus.