AI brainstorming
Think it through with AI that sees the whole board.
Ask for angles, objections, or a structure, with every note, image, and file on the board as context. Keep what helps.
Context you don’t have to paste.
A chat window only knows what you paste into it. Dia, Grein’s AI assistant, reads the board you’re on: the notes, images, links, and documents, and how they’re grouped and connected.
So you can ask “what’s missing here?” or “which of these ideas pull against each other?” and get an answer about your actual work, not a generic list.
Answers that land on the board.
Ask for more angles, an argument against your favorite idea, or a way to group what’s there, and Dia can put the answer on the canvas as notes, boards, and arrows. Keep the useful ones and delete the rest.
To talk about one thing, right-click a block and choose Ask AI. Dia then looks only at that block, or at a nested board and everything inside it.
You decide what stays.
Dia changes the board when you ask it to, and whatever it adds is an ordinary block. Anyone on the project can move it, edit it, comment on it, or delete it.
When a question depends on a link or document on the board, Dia can open it and read it. Ask about something current and it can search the web too.
How to brainstorm with AI in Grein
Put your own thinking down first. The AI is more useful when it has something to react to.
Start with the question
Write the problem in a note at the center of the board, with the constraints beside it.
Add what you already have
Drop in rough ideas, references, links, and files. Ten half-formed notes give the AI more to work with than a blank board.
Ask for what’s missing
Open the AI panel and ask for angles you haven’t tried, objections to the idea you like most, or a way to group what’s there.
Keep, cut, and develop
Delete what doesn’t help, move the strongest directions into their own boards, and ask again from there.
Getting better answers from the AI
Ask something specific
“Which three ideas here are closest to each other?” gets you further than “any thoughts?”
Ask it to disagree
An argument against your favorite idea is often more useful than ten more ideas.
Point at one block
Use Ask AI on a single block when the rest of the board would only get in the way.
Write your own take first
Note what you think before you ask, so you can tell your ideas from its suggestions later.
Questions, answered.
Dia is on Pro. On the free plan you can still build and share boards, and connect Claude, ChatGPT, or another MCP client to work with them.
Yes, when you ask it to. It can add notes, images, links, and nested boards, group and connect blocks, and rearrange them. Everything it adds is an ordinary block you can edit or delete.
The board you’re on: its blocks, their text, titles and links, and the images on it. With Ask AI on a single block, it sees only that block and anything inside it.
Yes, when your question needs it. Dia can open links and uploaded documents on the board, and search the web. Those requests go through a third-party reader service, as described in our privacy policy.
Yes. In the desktop app you can connect your own Claude or ChatGPT account. Claude, ChatGPT, and other MCP clients can also connect to Grein directly and work with your boards.
Your chat history with Dia is kept in your browser, not on Grein’s servers.
Who uses this workflow
Students & researchers
Bring readings, research, and your own thinking together. Build an argument you can see.
See how they use itWriters & creators
Gather the fragments, find the thread, and give your story a structure you can move around.
See how they use itCreative teams
Put the brief beside your concepts and collect client feedback on the work itself.
See how they use it
Create your first
board.
Start with a question or a few notes. Bring people in when it’s ready.