Commentarii Roamani

Hello Roamans! This edition is the first issue of a multi-part series on Roam MCP. We will cover how to set it up, and then the many workflows and ways you can expand Roam's capabilities with AI (and vice versa)

This is Part I.

What is MCP?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, and it works as a bridge between your apps and AI assistants. Roam has released an MCP connector that you can add in Claude or in ChatGPT, and once it is in place the assistant can read your graph directly.

Before this, you had to tediously copy and paste your notes into the chat by hand so the AI only had access to what you explicitly showed it. Now with the connector running, it can read your entire graph and connections, so a whole set of new workflows become possible.

Setup

Find Roam under Connectors (in Claude) or Plugins (in ChatGPT) and connect your graph:

During setup, you can add as many databases as you like and give each one a nickname, such as "work" or "personal", so your assistant can tell them apart.

​

Starter use cases

1. Self knowledge from your own journals

Roam's promise was that your notes reveal patterns in your thinking. However, doing the synthesis AND making it actionable took meta-awareness and willpower. Now, if you ask your assistant something like: What patterns of thinking do I have? What could I do to become better by [these standards]? Your own graph can call you out, like a friend who's read all the thoughts you ever put on paper 🥹​​

2. Supercharged learning and research with RoamxAI

What makes a graph useful is how its notes reference each other. This used to be built up slowly BUT NOW a simple conversation can be almost instantly turned into a permanent note with RoamxAI, and making more notes => making more connections (which is why we all got addicted to Roam in the first place!)​​

You can do even more with this by asking your AI to search your graph for connections to the new note.

🦇 With the connector running, your graph gets more useful with every conversation you have!

Change Log

Here is what changed in Roam recently!

Roam Depot extensions

We have SO MANY updates in depot, and we can't wait to introduce them in upcoming editions! Until then, go check out the newest extensions and see what changed in the ones you already use:

• Roam Grid
• Live Themes
• Date Randomizer
• Quick Switcher
• Custom Dark Mode
• Roam Places
• Roam Map
• Publora for Roam Research
• Contribution Graph
• Roam Remove Tag
• Roamoji
• Drag References
• QuickCuts
• Related Notes
• Roam Atlas
• RoamPrompt
• Nautilus Log
• Favicon Manager

Bug fixes 🐜

• The video component now works with YouTube short links.
• "Cycle namespace view" now works on nested page names.
• A rare bug that let two different PDFs share the same highlights is fixed.
• The desktop app setting "Ask before quitting" no longer stops your Mac from restarting.
• Moving blocks and pressing Tab now respect the filters you have applied.

⋆.𐙚 ̊۶ৎ Quality of life improvements 𝜗ৎ𐙚⋆

• Document Mode has a new design.
• Images that are too wide for their space now scale down to fit. They keep their set size for when there is room again, and you can resize them up to the full width of their column.
• Pages now remember your scroll position until you restart the app. If you had scrolled into Linked References, you come back to the top of them.
• The slash commands include a new option, /embed pdf.
• Mermaid Diagrams have a fullscreen view.

​Join our Slack channel here, and don’t forget to check out the Roam help graph for more news from us ♥︎ Until next time, Roamans!
​