mindwendel

mindwendel is a web application for running structured brainstormings and prioritizing ideas with teams. It provides anonymous, real-time idea capture, upvoting and lightweight planning features built with Elixir and Phoenix.

Key Features

• Real-time brainstorming board with live updates and drag-and-drop lanes
• Anonymous or optional-username participation and upvoting for ideas
• Labeling, clustering and filtering of ideas; comments on items
• Encrypted file attachments stored on S3-compatible backends (example: MinIO)
• AI-powered idea generation via OpenAI-compatible APIs (configurable, disabled by default)
• Export ideas to HTML or CSV and configurable automatic deletion of sessions for GDPR compliance
• Docker compose deployment and production-ready configuration with PostgreSQL and background job runner

Use Cases

• Run quick team ideation sessions and capture prioritized suggestions during workshops
• Collect and cluster solutions or feature ideas for product planning and retrospectives
• Facilitate anonymous feedback or lean-coffee style decision-making with voting

Limitations and Considerations

• AI idea generation depends on external OpenAI-compatible APIs and may incur usage costs; features are disabled by default
• Default configuration removes brainstormings after a retention period (30 days) which may not suit long-term archival unless adjusted

mindwendel is focused on fast, low-friction group ideation with simple moderation and export capabilities. It is suitable for teams that need ephemeral, privacy-conscious brainstorming with optional AI assistance.