Core Concepts

NeuralRepo is built around a few core concepts. Understanding them will help you get the most out of the platform.

Ideas

An idea is the atomic unit in NeuralRepo. Every idea has:

Field	Description
Title	A short, descriptive name (required)
Body	Longer description or notes in Markdown (optional)
Status	Current stage in your workflow
Source	Where the idea was captured from
Tags	User-defined labels for categorization
Relations	Connections to other ideas
Links	External URLs and attachments

Ideas are designed to be lightweight. Capture first, organize later.

Status Workflow

Every idea moves through a linear workflow with one optional exit:

captured → exploring → building → shipped
                                    ↗
               (any status) → shelved

Status	Meaning
captured	Just recorded — hasn’t been evaluated yet
exploring	Actively thinking about or researching this idea
building	Implementation is underway
shipped	The idea has been realized and delivered
shelved	Parked for later — not abandoned, just not active

Tip

You can move ideas to shelved from any status. Shelved ideas are not deleted — they remain fully searchable and can be reactivated at any time.

The web dashboard provides a kanban board view where you can drag and drop ideas between status columns.

Sources

The source field records where an idea was originally captured. It is set automatically and cannot be changed after creation.

Source	Origin
web	Created in the web dashboard
cli	Created via the nrepo CLI
claude-mcp	Created by Claude AI through MCP
siri	Created via Siri Shortcuts
email	Created by sending an email to idea@neuralrepo.com
api	Created via the REST API directly
shortcut	Created via an Apple Shortcut (non-Siri)

Sources are useful for filtering and understanding your capture habits. You can filter by source in both the web dashboard and the API.

Tags

Tags are user-defined labels that help you categorize and filter ideas. They are flexible and freeform — use whatever taxonomy makes sense for you.

• Tags are lowercase, alphanumeric, and may include hyphens
• Each idea can have up to 20 tags
• AI auto-classification can suggest tags when you create an idea (Pro)
• Filter by tags in the web dashboard, CLI, and API

Example tags: side-project, ai, mobile, revenue, devtools, ux-improvement

Relations

Relations create typed, directional connections between ideas. Every relation has a source idea, a target idea, and a type.

Type	Meaning	Example
related	General association	”Auth service” ↔ “OAuth provider research”
parent	Hierarchical grouping	”Mobile app” → “Push notifications feature”
blocks	Dependency	”Design system” blocks “Dashboard redesign”
inspires	One idea led to another	”Competitor analysis” inspires “Freemium pricing model”
duplicate	Same idea captured twice	Auto-detected or manually set
supersedes	Replaces an older idea	”Auth v2” supersedes “Auth v1”

Relations are directional — the source and target matter. For example, “A blocks B” means A must be completed before B can proceed. The related type is the exception; it is treated as bidirectional.

Note

When NeuralRepo detects a potential duplicate, it suggests creating a duplicate relation rather than deleting either idea. This preserves context from both captures.

Links

Links attach external resources to an idea. Each link has a type and a URL.

Type	Use Case
url	Any web URL — articles, docs, references
claude-chat	Link to a Claude conversation that relates to the idea
github-repo	Link to a GitHub repository
github-issue	Link to a specific GitHub issue or PR
attachment	File attachment (uploaded via web dashboard)

An idea can have multiple links. Links help bridge the gap between ideation and execution — connect your idea to the code, conversation, or research that supports it.

Duplicate Detection

NeuralRepo uses vector similarity to automatically detect potential duplicates when you create a new idea. Here is how it works:

1. When you save a new idea, NeuralRepo generates a vector embedding of the title and body
2. It compares this embedding against all existing ideas in your repository
3. If a match exceeds the similarity threshold, you are warned before saving (web) or notified after saving (CLI/API)
4. You can then merge, relate, or dismiss the duplicate

Duplicate detection is a Pro feature. On the free tier, you can still manually mark ideas as duplicates using relations.

Idea Graph

The idea graph is the network formed by all your ideas and their relations. NeuralRepo visualizes this as an interactive mind map in the web dashboard.

The mind map lets you:

• See clusters of related ideas at a glance
• Discover hidden connections between projects
• Identify blocking dependencies
• Navigate between ideas by clicking nodes

The idea graph is a Pro feature and is available in the web dashboard under the Mind Map tab.

Start Capturing

Now that you understand the concepts, head to the Quick Start to begin capturing ideas.

Explore the API

Build custom integrations using the REST API with full access to ideas, relations, and links.