I like org-roam but found it too slow, so I made quickroam. And that idea spun off into this package, a standalone thing. It may also be easier to pick up than org-roam.
- If you were using org-roam, there is nothing to migrate. You can use both packages. It’s the same on-disk format: “notes” are identified by their org-id.
In pursuit of being “just org-id”, this package has no equivalent setting to
org-roam-directory– it just looks up what org-mem knows, which by default includes every file inorg-id-locationsand more. - If you were not using org-roam, maybe think of it as somewhat like org-recent-headings tooled-up to the extent that you won’t need other methods of browsing, as long as you give IDs to all objects of interest.
If you were the sort of person to prefer ID-links over file links or any other type of link, you’re in the right place! Now you can rely on IDs, and—if you want—stop worrying about filenames, directories and subtree hierarchies. As long as you’ve assigned an ID to a heading or file, you can find it later.
My life can be divided into two periods ”before org-roam” and ”after org-roam”. I crossed a kind of gap once I got a good way to link between my notes. It’s odd to remember when I just relied on browsing subtrees and filesystem directories – what a strange way to work!
I used to lose track of things I had written, under some forgotten heading in a forgotten file in a forgotten directory. The org-roam method let me find and build on my own work, instead of recreating it all the time.
At the core, all the “notetaking packages” (orgrr/zk/zetteldeft/org-roam/denote/howm/minaduki/…) try to help you with this: make it easy to link between notes and explore them.
Right off the bat, that imposes two requirements: a method to search for notes, since you can’t link to something you can’t search for, and a design-choice about what kinds of things should turn up as search hits. What’s a “note”?
Just searching for Org files is too coarse. Just searching for any subtree anywhere brings in too much clutter.
Here’s what org-roam invented. It turns out that if you limit the search-hits to just those files and subtrees you’ve deigned to assign an org-id – which roughly maps to everything you’ve ever thought it was worth linking to – it filters out the noise excellently.
Once a subtree has an ID you can link to, it’s a “node” because it has joined the wider graph, the network of linked nodes. I wish the English language had more distinct sounds for the words “node” and “note”, but to clarify, I’ll say “ID-node” when the distinction matters (which it rarely does).
The original reason that org-node exists.
| org-roam | org-node | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to index my 3000 nodes | 2m 48s | 0m 02s |
| Time to save file w/ 400 nodes | 5–10s | instant |
| Time to display 20 backlinks | 5–10s | instant |
| Time to open minibuffer | 1–3s | instant |
A comparison of three systems that all permit relying on org-id and don’t lock you into the concept of “one-note-per-file”.
| Feature | org-roam | org-node | org-super-links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backlinks | yes | yes | yes |
| Node search and insert | yes | yes | – (suggests org-ql) |
| Node aliases | yes | yes | – |
| Node exclusion | yes | yes | not applicable |
| Refile | yes | yes | – |
| Rich backlinks buffer | yes | yes | – |
| Customize how backlinks shown | yes | yes | yes |
| Reflinks | yes | yes | – |
| Ref search | yes | yes (as aliases) | not applicable |
| Org 9.5 @citations as refs | yes | yes | not applicable |
| Support org-ref v3 | yes | limited | not applicable |
| Support org-ref v2 | yes | – | not applicable |
| Work thru org-roam-capture | yes | yes | ? |
| Work thru org-capture | – | yes | ? |
| Daily-nodes | yes | yes | – |
| Node sequences | – | yes | – |
| Show backlinks in same window | – | yes | yes |
| Cooperate with org-super-links | – | yes | not applicable |
| Fix link descriptions | – | yes | – |
| List dead links | – | yes | – |
| Rename file when title changes | – | yes | – |
| Warn about duplicate titles | – | yes | – |
| Principled “related-section” | – | yes | yes |
| Untitled notes | – | limited | – |
| org-protocol extension | yes | – | – |
Support roam: links | yes | – (wontfix) | – |
| Can have separate note piles | yes | – (wontfix) | not applicable |
| Some query-able cache | yes | yes | – |
| Async cache rebuild | – | yes | not applicable |
Go to the manual and close this tab.
- in a web browser: https://github.com/meedstrom/org-node/blob/main/org-node.org
- or in Emacs after installation: info:org-node
Many people on forums say that you should do a paper slip-box first before going digital.
I didn’t take this advice for a long time, but… they’re right.
So let me try to bootstrap you:
If you are inside the EU, you can order the pictured box and paper slips here:
- https://www.123ink.se/HAN-kortlada-A6-svart-HA-976-13-i23800-t76314.html
- https://www.123ink.se/123inkt-Kopieringspapper-A6-80g-vit-123ink-2-000-ark-3kg-i69137-t165367.html
- weirdly rare product
Once these presents have arrived, take them and a pen to the local café or library. (If you’re noise-sensitive, keep in mind that cafés are only quiet in the morning.)
Then lean back, have a warm coffee, and read https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/.