Notes & knowledge · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Roam Research?

KINDA· weekend project

A single-user Roam is a tree of blocks in SQLite with page links, block references, backlinks and a daily-notes page, and an agent can wire that up in a weekend. The hard part is the editor: Enter, Tab and Shift-Tab, collapsing, zooming into a block and live-updating references that stay correct as you type. Real-time collaboration, a plugin store and mobile apps are well beyond one prompt, and Logseq or SiYuan already give you most of the model for free.

$15/moprice

$180you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; the editor behaviour is the slow part

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
Your Roam exportUse Export All with the JSON format; it keeps block uids.

Before you buildRoam has no free plan. Logseq and SiYuan are free and open source with the same block model; try them before building.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a personal block-based note outliner to replace Roam Research. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify API and a React front end built with Vite.
  `npm start` serves http://localhost:4870 and opens today's daily note.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/notes.db: pages (uid, title unique, created_at), blocks
  (uid of 9 characters, page_id, parent_id, position, text, collapsed, updated_at), a refs table
  (block_uid, target_page or target_block_uid) rebuilt whenever a block is saved, and an FTS5
  table over block text.
- Editor: each block is a plain-text textarea that renders to formatted text when unfocused
  (`markdown-it` plus inline rules for [[page]], #tag, #[[tag with spaces]], ((block-uid)) and
  key:: value). Enter splits a block, Tab and Shift-Tab indent, Backspace on an empty block
  merges, Alt-Up and Alt-Down move, and a bullet click zooms into that block.
- Autocomplete: typing [[ lists pages and creates a new one on Enter; typing (( searches block
  text and inserts a block reference that shows the referenced text inline and updates when the
  source changes.
- Pages: a daily-note page per day titled like "October 19th, 2026", a Linked References panel
  (blocks that mention this page, grouped by source page) and an Unlinked References panel
  (plain-text mentions of the title), each updating without a reload.
- Navigation: Ctrl/Cmd-K search over page titles and block text; a right sidebar opened with
  Shift-click on any link; {{[[TODO]]}} blocks with checkboxes and a list of all open ones.
- Import and export: read a Roam JSON export (title, children, uid, string, create-time) into
  pages and blocks, keeping block uids so ((references)) still resolve; export every page as
  Markdown with nested bullets, plus one JSON file.
- Single user, one password from .env. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first. Back up the
  SQLite file nightly into ./data/backups/ and keep 14 copies.
- Out of scope: real-time collaboration, a graph view, Roam queries, plugins, mobile apps.
- README: how to import a Roam export, and a warning that block references are rebuilt on
  import so the first run on a large graph can take a few minutes.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Roam Research.

Add simple queries to the outliner in this folder. Requirements:

- A block like {{query: {and: [[Project X]] [[TODO]]}}} shows a live list of blocks matching
  all the page references, with {or: ...} and {not: ...} supported.
- Results show the block text with its page and parent path, are editable in place, and update
  when the source blocks change.
- Reject malformed queries with a visible error inside the block.
- Unit-test at least 12 query strings. Update the README.

Add a graph view to the outliner in this folder. Requirements:

- /graph draws pages as nodes and links as edges with `d3-force`, sized by the number of
  references; clicking a node opens the page.
- A filter box that limits the graph to a page and its neighbours up to two hops away.
- Cap the drawn nodes at 800, keeping the most-linked, and say so on screen.
- Update the README.

Add a Markdown mirror to the outliner in this folder. Requirements:

- After every save, debounce by 5 seconds and write the changed page as ./data/mirror/<title>.md
  with nested bullets and block uids as trailing ^uid markers.
- Commit changes to a local git repository in that folder with `simple-git`, one commit per
  minute at most.
- A command `npm run rebuild-from-mirror` that restores the database from the folder.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Real-time collaboration with other people on one graph
The Roam Depot extension store and the community's scripts and SmartBlocks
Mobile access and offline use of your graph
The graph view, queries and the maintained import and export paths
Years of tuned editor behaviour around links, embeds and block references

Why people still pay

Roam made the block, not the page, the unit of note-taking: you link a single bullet from anywhere and see where it is used. People with years of daily notes and references inside Roam stay for the editor and its extensions, even though Logseq and Obsidian now cover much of the same ground.

Moatswitching costs execution polish

Do the math

Roam Research or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Roam Research, 1 yr$180

Your own copy, 1 yr$46running + build session

You keep$134pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Runs on your own machine for nothing; a small VPS at about $5 a month if you want it on your phone. The build itself is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Roam Research

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Roam Research

1Click the ••• menu in the upper right of a graph and choose Export All.
2Pick JSON as the export format to keep block uids and the full tree; Markdown loses block references and backlinks.
3Roam also has an EDN backup format and a scheduled local-backup setting in the app; there is no public documentation of the EDN format that we could find.
4Obsidian's Importer plugin reads the Roam JSON file and converts it to Markdown files; Logseq can import Roam JSON as well.

2 · Cancel Roam Research

1Sign in, open the Billing page (roamresearch.com/#/billing) and press Manage Subscription.
2Roam's own help pages, which live inside a Roam graph and can't be read without the app, were not available to us; the exact cancel button and what happens to the graph afterwards are unconfirmed.
3A Believer plan is a one-off five-year payment, so there is nothing to cancel on a schedule; check with support what happens to access when it ends.
4A 31-day trial charges you automatically afterwards, so cancel before day 31 if you only wanted to test.

Export the graph as JSON and again as Markdown before you cancel, and keep both.
Check a few ((block references)) and embeds in the importer's preview before trusting the migration; Obsidian's page doesn't say how they are handled.
Import into Logseq or SiYuan if block references matter to you, since Markdown folders flatten them.
Don't delete the Roam graph until you've lived in the new tool for a few weeks.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Roam Research's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

LogseqOpen sourceAGPL outliner with daily journals, [[links]], ((block references)), queries and plugins; keeps notes as local files.★ 45k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, AndroidVisit ↗SiYuanOpen sourceAGPL block-based notes with block references and embeds; runs as a desktop app or a Docker server.★ 47k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, AndroidVisit ↗ObsidianFreeClosed-source app, free to use, with backlinks and block links over a folder of Markdown files; Sync and Publish are paid extras.one-click install
Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, AndroidVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Roam Research ›

The numbers

Roam Research pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Pro (monthly)	$15	—	Unlimited private or public graphs, unlimited collaborators, API access and apps.
Pro (yearly)	—	$13.75	Same as Pro monthly.
Believer	—	$8.33	Everything in Pro plus first access to new features, community calls with the team and priority support.

Free tier: No free plan; the trial is the only free access.
Billing: Pro is monthly ($15) or yearly ($165); Believer is a single $500 payment covering five years. The plan screen says you are charged after 31 days when you start a trial, and every month or year after that. The pricing lives inside the app (roamresearch.com/#/billing), not on a marketing page, so we read it from the app's own code.
Hidden costs: None found on the plan screen. Plugins from the Roam Depot extension store are separate community projects.
Source: roamresearch.com

Also on the list

Obsidian Sync$5/mo · Notes & knowledgeKINDA

Notion$12/mo · Notes & knowledgeKINDA

Craft$8/mo · Notes & knowledgeKINDA

Questions

Roam Research, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

No free plan. A 31-day trial applies only to an account that has never had a plan.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Real-time collaboration with other people on one graph, The Roam Depot extension store and the community's scripts and SmartBlocks.

About $15 a month on the Pro plan, $180 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Real-time collaboration with other people on one graph; The Roam Depot extension store and the community's scripts and SmartBlocks; Mobile access and offline use of your graph; The graph view, queries and the maintained import and export paths; Years of tuned editor behaviour around links, embeds and block references. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.