From a Visual Research Board to an Information Hub: Why I Rethought Bentowise

The original idea behind Bentowise was pretty simple.

I wanted to build a local-first visual workspace for research, a place where you could bring links, notes, images, files, and other reference materials together on a Bento Board. Instead of having everything scattered across folders, browser tabs, and different apps, you could arrange them side by side in a structured visual workspace.

At the time, I naturally thought of it as a visual research tool.

Collect → Arrange → Revisit.

Gather your materials, arrange them, and come back to the Board whenever you want to continue your research.

There was nothing wrong with that idea. Bentowise can still do all of those things today.

But after more than six months of development, and plenty of time using my own app, I gradually realized something:

The way I personally work doesn’t really represent a complete “professional research workflow.” What I actually need every day is just a small part of it.

I Don’t Need Another Knowledge Base

My actual day-to-day workflow is much messier.

There are websites open in my browser, files and folders on my computer, results generated by ChatGPT, Claude, or other AI agents, Markdown files produced by scripts, content stored in cloud services, and bits of information I need to keep an eye on for a while.

The problem isn’t how to collect and archive all of these things. And it certainly isn’t about building yet another knowledge base.

Some users have suggested adding indexes, categories, tags, and an entire personal knowledge management (PKM) system. But that was never what I set out to build.

When it comes to managing knowledge, I already have more mature solutions. Obsidian, with a few supporting tools or plugins, works perfectly well for me. And for people who prefer online tools, there are plenty of established platforms to choose from.

What I really want is much simpler:

A desk where I can see the things that currently matter to me.

• Which data has just been updated?
• Which AI agent has produced a new analysis?
• Which file matters most right now?
• Which websites do I still need to follow up on?
• And what do I actually think about all of this?

That’s quite different from building a “second brain.” I’ve never been particularly fond of that term. I still think the first brain is the one that matters most.

I used to assume that Bentowise should offer increasingly complete research workflows, perhaps even specialized processes for professional users.

But the truth is, much of that was outside my own experience.

Eventually, I realized this was a dangerous direction.

If I’m not familiar with a particular workflow myself, it’s easy to keep adding features for an imaginary user, only to end up with a system that looks comprehensive on paper but doesn’t reflect how anyone actually works.

So I started paying closer attention to how I was using Bentowise.

And the answer became increasingly simple:

I just want to put important things where I can see them.

Each Board is a way of arranging information around a particular topic or area of interest. Set it up once, and you can return to it later, quickly pick up where you left off, and get back into the right context.

You might use it for research, project management, or simply to organize your thoughts.

From Collecting to Bringing Things Together

This also changed how I think about Bentowise in relation to other tools.

Bookmark managers are good at keeping track of things you’ve saved.

Note-taking apps are good at organizing the knowledge you’ve accumulated.

Canvas tools are good at visualizing information and giving you the freedom to arrange things spatially.

But increasingly, I want Bentowise to answer a different question:

“What information belongs together?”

I think of it more as a desk, a hub, or a kind of live folder. You could also call it a local-first visual information hub.

The important part is that everything can stay where it already lives.

A URL remains a URL. A Markdown file can stay in another folder on your computer. A PDF doesn’t need to be duplicated just to appear on a Board. And an AI agent’s output can simply be a text file that gets updated over time.

Bentowise’s job is to bring these things into the same visual context, arranged and organized according to what matters to you.

It’s less free-form than a typical Canvas, so you don’t have to spend much time worrying about layout.

But it’s also more than a regular folder full of scattered files and shortcuts. You get to decide how the information is presented.

Eventually, I simplified the whole idea into two words:

Link + Memo

• Link connects you to the outside world: external information, files, and resources.

• Memo holds your own notes, observations, ideas, and judgments.

Put the two together on a Board, and you have a visual workspace you can keep coming back to.

AI Doesn’t Necessarily Need to Operate the Board

This shift became especially clear while we were experimenting with AI features.

Our original approach was fairly straightforward:

Teach an AI agent to understand Bentowise’s Board data structure, install a Skill, and let the agent read and modify Boards directly.

Technically, this was entirely possible. In fact, I had already implemented it.

But as development continued, something started to feel wrong.

Bentowise would need more and more interfaces and constraints to accommodate different AI workflows. The two sides would become increasingly dependent on each other.

We were essentially building an entire protocol just to let AI generate or update some content.

That wasn’t the direction I wanted to go.

More importantly, AI already has an environment where it can do plenty of useful work.

It can write Markdown, edit files, run scripts, generate reports, update data on a schedule, and even produce charts.

So why force it to “learn how to use Bentowise” in the first place?

I’ve come to prefer a different model:

AI / Script / Human → File or External Resource → Bentowise Board

AI produces and updates information.

The original tools continue to store that information.

Bentowise puts the important parts in front of you.

For example, an AI agent could update several Markdown files every day:

market-overview.md

competitor-watch.md

weekly-metrics.md

These aren’t proprietary Bentowise files. They’re just ordinary Markdown documents.

The only thing worth keeping in mind is how you structure them. Since a Bento-style card can only preview part of a document, depending on its size, it helps to put the most important information near the beginning.

Even if you stop using Bentowise someday, your data remains ordinary Markdown files or images.

But inside Bentowise, you can link these files as separate Blocks on a Board.

You can place related websites, PDFs, folders, images, or frequently used resources alongside them.

And then add your own Memo:

“This number looks unusual. Double-check it on Friday.”

Or:

“No action for now. Wait until the next meeting.”

With this approach, the AI doesn’t need to know what a Board is.

And Bentowise doesn’t need to become an AI platform.

The two simply communicate through ordinary files and links.

To me, this is actually much closer to the principles Bentowise has followed from the beginning:

Local-first, open, loosely coupled, and designed to avoid creating unnecessary lock-in.

A Board Is No Longer the Destination for Content. It’s a View.

This has also changed how I understand the Board itself.

Previously, I tended to think of a Board as a container. I wanted more and more content to actually live inside it.

Now I think it should be more of a view layer.

A Board might contain:

• A website
• A local file
• A folder
• An image
• A continuously updated Markdown document
• An AI-generated report
• A short Memo you’ve written yourself

Some information belongs to Bentowise and is stored in its local Vault.

But much of what you see is simply being viewed through Bentowise.

I like to think of it as opening a series of windows in a wall.

Behind those windows might be different apps, files, agents, and information sources.

But you shouldn’t have to move the entire world into a single database just to see what’s happening.

Why “Memo” Feels More Appropriate Than “Note”

There’s another small change that matters quite a lot to me.

I’ve started thinking less about the text on a Board as a “Note.”

I prefer calling it a “Memo.”

A Note often comes with the expectation of knowledge management.

A Memo feels much less demanding. You can jot down whatever comes to mind. It draws meaning from the information around it on the Board, and it doesn’t need to stand on its own as a complete piece of knowledge.

External resources provide the information.

Memos capture human judgment.

That’s why Link + Memo increasingly feels like a better description of what Bentowise is actually good at than “visual note-taking.”

Bentowise Hasn’t Become a Different Product

On the surface, this might look like a change in positioning.

But from my perspective, it doesn’t undo what Bentowise was originally built to do.

• Boards are still local.
• The Bento layout is still there.
• Links, files, images, notes, templates, and Restore Points all remain useful.

What’s changed is that I no longer want Bentowise to take over the entire workflow.

It doesn’t need to replace folders, Markdown editors, or bookmark managers. Nor does it need to keep building increasingly complicated internal protocols around AI Skills, MCP, or APIs.

It just needs to organize these things into a space you’ll actually want to revisit every day.

And that’s the direction we want to explore next:

Bentowise is a visual hub that connects the information systems you already use, not just another PKM system.

The original Bento idea hasn’t gone away. We’re simply clearer now about what matters:

It’s not about filling those Bento compartments with more content. It’s about deciding what’s worth connecting and putting right in front of you.

What’s Next

Starting with V2.5, Bentowise will gradually reflect this change in direction.

Existing features will remain, but some functions that aren’t part of the core workflow will no longer occupy the most prominent positions on the toolbar.

Our focus going forward will be much more clearly centered on Link + Memo.

• Link connects you to the outside world.

• Memo captures your thoughts and judgments.

Files, websites, Markdown documents, AI outputs, images, and other resources can all stay where they already are.

Bentowise’s job is to bring the things that truly matter together on one Board, arranging them into a space you’ll want to return to again and again.