roamresearch-client-py

Roam Research client. Programmable. CLI. SDK. MCP.

For developers who automate. For LLMs that need graph access. Smart diff keeps UIDs intact. References survive. Minimal API calls.

Install

pip install roamresearch-client-py

# standalone
uv tool install roamresearch-client-py

Setup

export ROAM_API_TOKEN="your-token"
export ROAM_API_GRAPH="your-graph"

Or rr init creates ~/.config/roamresearch-client-py/config.toml:

[roam]
api_token = "your-token"
api_graph = "your-graph"

[mcp]
host = "127.0.0.1"
port = 9000
topic_node = ""

[batch]
size = 100
max_retries = 3

[logging]
level = "WARNING"
httpx_level = "WARNING"

Env vars take precedence.

CLI

Get

rr get "Page Title"
rr get "((block-uid))"
rr get "Page Title" --debug

Search

rr search "keyword"
rr search "term1" "term2"
rr search "term" --tag "#TODO"
rr search --tag "[[Project]]"
rr search "term" --page "Page" -i -n 50

Save

Create or update. Preserves UIDs.

rr save -t "Page" -f content.md
echo "# Hello" | rr save -t "Page"

Refs

rr refs "Page Title"
rr refs "block-uid"

Todos

rr todos
rr todos --done
rr todos --page "Work" -n 100

Query

rr q '[:find ?title :where [?e :node/title ?title]]'
rr q '[:find ?t :in $ ?p :where ...]' --args "Page"

MCP

rr mcp
rr mcp --port 9100
rr mcp --token <T> --graph <G>

Endpoints (default host 127.0.0.1, port 9000):

• Streamable HTTP: http://127.0.0.1:9000/mcp
• SSE:
  • Event stream: http://127.0.0.1:9000/sse
  • Client messages: http://127.0.0.1:9000/messages

Optional OAuth 2.0 (config-only; no users/DB):

• Protected Resource Metadata (RFC 9728):
  • http://127.0.0.1:9000/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
  • http://127.0.0.1:9000/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp
  • http://127.0.0.1:9000/mcp/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
• Authorization Server Metadata (RFC 8414):
  • http://127.0.0.1:9000/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server
  • http://127.0.0.1:9000/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server/mcp
  • http://127.0.0.1:9000/mcp/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server
• Token endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:9000/oauth/token
• Authorization endpoint (for authorization_code + PKCE): http://127.0.0.1:9000/authorize

Enable in ~/.config/roamresearch-client-py/config.toml:

[oauth]
enabled = true
require_auth = true
allow_access_token_query = false
signing_secret = "change-me-long-random"

[[oauth.clients]]
id = "claude"
secret = ""  # empty for public client (authorization_code + PKCE)
scopes = ["mcp"]
redirect_uris = ["https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback"]

Notes:

• Disable/skip OAuth: set [oauth].enabled = false (default). No oauth.clients needed.
• oauth.clients is a static allowlist of OAuth2 clients; secret is required for client_credentials and optional for authorization_code (PKCE public clients).
• Multiple clients are supported by adding multiple [[oauth.clients]] sections.

Browser CORS / preflight:

• Some browser MCP clients will send OPTIONS /sse preflight requests. Configure allowed origins via:
  • mcp.cors_allow_origins (comma-separated) or mcp.cors_allow_origin_regex
  • mcp.cors_auto_allow_origin_from_host = true (default) allows same-origin requests based on the request Host (recommended when behind nginx that sets Host/X-Forwarded-Proto).

SDK

Connect

from roamresearch_client_py import RoamClient

async with RoamClient() as client:
    pass

async with RoamClient(api_token="...", graph="...") as client:
    pass

Write

async with client.create_block("Root") as blk:
    blk.write("Child 1")
    blk.write("Child 2")
    with blk:
        blk.write("Grandchild")
    blk.write("Child 3")

Read

page = await client.get_page_by_title("Page")
block = await client.get_block_by_uid("uid")
daily = await client.get_daily_page()

Search

results = await client.search_blocks(["python", "async"], limit=50)
todos = await client.search_by_tag("#TODO", limit=50)
refs = await client.find_references("block-uid")
refs = await client.find_page_references("Page Title")
todos = await client.search_todos(status="TODO", page_title="Work")

Update

await client.update_block_text("uid", "New text")

result = await client.update_page_markdown("Page", "## New\n- Item", dry_run=False)
# result['stats'] = {'creates': 0, 'updates': 2, 'moves': 0, 'deletes': 0}
# result['preserved_uids'] = ['uid1', 'uid2']

Query

result = await client.q('[:find ?title :where [?e :node/title ?title]]')

Batch

Atomic operations.

from roamresearch_client_py.client import (
    create_page, create_block, update_block, remove_block, move_block
)

actions = [
    create_page("New Page"),
    create_block("Text", parent_uid="page-uid"),
    update_block("uid", "Updated"),
    move_block("uid", parent_uid="new-parent", order=0),
    remove_block("old-uid"),
]
await client.batch_actions(actions)

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
save_markdown	Create/update page
get	Fetch as markdown
search	Text + tag search
query	Raw Datalog
find_references	Block/page refs
search_todos	TODO/DONE items
update_markdown	Smart diff update

{"title": "Notes", "markdown": "## Topic\n- Point"}
{"terms": ["python"], "tag": "TODO", "limit": 20}
{"identifier": "Page", "markdown": "## New", "dry_run": true}

Internals

Smart Diff — Match by content. Preserve UIDs. Detect moves. Minimize calls.

Markdown ↔ Roam — Bidirectional. Headings, lists, tables, code, inline.

Task Queue — SQLite. Background. Retry. JSONL logs.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Roam API token

License

MIT