Productivity · Weekend build
Build your own Roam Research
Every thought gets an address. Every note links back. Roam Research charges $13.75–$15 per month — that’s $165–$180 a year — for something you can replace with focused software of your own. Here is the honest scope, the honest timeline, and the exact prompt to hand your coding agent.
Who this replacement is for
This build targets one person thinking in linked daily notes. The goal: capture thoughts on daily pages and let links, backlinks, and search resurface them later. If you need more than that, keep paying — the point of building it yourself is owning a tool shaped exactly like your workflow, not re-implementing a venture-funded roadmap.
Same build, different logo: this v1 also replaces Tana, Reflect and Logseq — they all solve the same core job.
How long it actually takes
One number would be a lie, so here are three. Each tier is a real, usable product — pick the one that matches how much of Roam Research you actually use.
| Estimate | What you get |
|---|---|
| 12 hours | daily notes, links, backlinks, block references |
| 4 days | graph view, tags, sidebar, keyboard commands |
| 3 months+ | outliner engine, live queries, multiplayer graph database — the part you should probably skip |
What a minimal Roam Research alternative needs
- a daily notes page created automatically for each day
- [[wiki links]] that create pages on first use
- an automatic backlinks section on every page
- block references that embed a paragraph anywhere it’s needed
- full-text search across pages and blocks
Data model
Page, Block, Link, BlockReference
Integrations
Markdown import and export
Capability context
Astro, Alpine, D1
The guardrail
Autosave every block edit, keep edits recoverable, and never let a page rename break existing links or block references.
Deliberate non-goals
Do not build real-time collaboration, a graph visualization, a query language, a plugin API, or mobile apps.
The complete build prompt
Copy this into your coding agent of choice. It is scoped for a useful v1 — journeys, screens, business rules, data model, security, tests, and acceptance scenarios included. Pick your stack:
You are building a production-ready software product named “Loopnotes”, a deliberately focused alternative to Roam Research. Build a complete, usable vertical slice—not a landing page, static mockup, or disconnected collection of components. WORKING AGREEMENT Before writing implementation code, produce a short technical plan that names the routes or pages, server actions or endpoints, data tables, important state transitions, authorization boundaries, background jobs, and external adapters. Resolve contradictions in favor of the narrow audience and non-goals below. Prefer a small, legible architecture over speculative abstraction, but do not omit persistence, validation, error handling, or tests. PRODUCT BRIEF Primary user: one person thinking in linked daily notes. Primary outcome: capture thoughts on daily pages and let links, backlinks, and search resurface them later. Product principle: optimize the exact workflow below instead of copying the full breadth of Roam Research. A first-time user should understand what to do from the interface itself, without a tour or documentation. END-TO-END USER JOURNEYS Implement all of these flows through the real interface and persistent data layer: 1. The writer opens today’s daily page, types a thought containing [[a new topic]], and the linked page comes into existence the moment the note autosaves. 2. The writer visits that topic page later, reads the automatic backlinks gathered from daily notes, and embeds one useful paragraph elsewhere as a block reference. 3. Weeks later the writer searches a half-remembered phrase, lands on the right block, and follows links backward to reconstruct where the idea came from. SCREENS AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE Build these as coherent responsive views. Each screen must specify its primary action, secondary actions, visible status, validation feedback, empty state, loading or pending state, success confirmation, and recoverable failure state. 1. Daily note: today’s page front and center, an autosaving block editor, previous days below, and a jump-to-date control. 2. Page view: title, blocks, inline [[links]], a backlinks section grouped by source page, and a rename action that keeps every link intact. 3. Search: full-text results across pages and blocks with highlighted matches, a date-range filter, and keyboard navigation. 4. All pages: an index with title, block count, last-edited time, an orphan indicator, and a create-page action. CORE CAPABILITIES 1. a daily notes page created automatically for each day 2. [[wiki links]] that create pages on first use 3. an automatic backlinks section on every page 4. block references that embed a paragraph anywhere it’s needed 5. full-text search across pages and blocks DETAILED BEHAVIOR AND BUSINESS RULES Treat these as server-enforced product requirements, not interface suggestions: 1. Create a page automatically the first time a [[wiki link]] references it, and treat page titles as unique case-insensitive keys. 2. Derive the backlinks section from a link index updated on save; it is never stored as editable page content and therefore never goes stale. 3. Give every block a stable identifier; a block reference renders the live source block, and an edit made anywhere updates every embed. 4. Renaming a page must keep every existing link and block reference resolving through the stable page id, and autosave must never lose a block on navigation. DATA MODEL AND LIFECYCLE Design a small relational schema centered on Page, Block, Link, BlockReference. Before implementing it, document: 1. Each table’s purpose, primary key, ownership or tenant boundary, timestamps, status fields, and important attributes. 2. Foreign keys, uniqueness constraints, check constraints, indexes needed by the named screens, and transaction boundaries for multi-record changes. 3. The allowed lifecycle or state transitions, who may trigger each transition, which transitions are terminal or reversible, and what audit history must remain immutable. 4. Archive, retention, and deletion behavior, including what happens to dependent records and external files. 5. Idempotency strategy for submissions, jobs, imports, notifications, webhooks, or retries where applicable. Use migrations rather than ad-hoc schema creation. Store time instants consistently and retain named timezone context whenever local schedules or dates matter. Never rely on a counter, disabled button, or client-side check to preserve a business invariant. USERS, AUTHENTICATION, AND PERMISSIONS Implement only the roles required by the stated audience. Make the ownership and visibility model explicit before coding. Enforce authorization in every server-side query and mutation, including search, exports, attachments, live updates, and guessed URLs—not merely by hiding controls. Use secure session defaults, protect state-changing requests, and provide an understandable signed-out, expired-session, and forbidden state. Seed distinct users when multiple roles are required so permissions can be demonstrated and tested. INTERACTION AND VISUAL DIRECTION The product should feel fast, calm, focused, and credible rather than like a generic admin template. Use a clear visual hierarchy, restrained color, readable typography, generous hit targets, and consistent placement for primary actions. Start with server-rendered HTML and progressively enhance only the interactions that benefit from it. The core workflow must remain understandable if enhancement fails. Start with server-rendered Astro pages and ordinary HTML forms. Use HTMX for form submissions, partial navigation, and server-driven updates, then Alpine.js only for small local browser state. The core workflow must remain understandable if either enhancement layer fails. Design mobile layouts intentionally instead of simply stacking desktop panels. Support keyboard navigation, visible focus, semantic landmarks, explicit labels, useful page titles, reduced-motion preferences, and screen-reader announcements for asynchronous results. Never use color alone to communicate state. Destructive actions require clear scope and confirmation; safe repeated actions should be idempotent. TECHNICAL DIRECTION Build this version with the AHA stack: Astro for routing, layouts, and server-rendered pages; HTMX for interactions that benefit from HTML fragment responses; and Alpine.js for small, local interface state. Prefer Cloudflare D1 for relational persistence, R2 for object storage, Workers for server endpoints and scheduled work, Durable Objects only for coordinated real-time state, and Workflows or Queues for durable background jobs—but only when the product requirements call for them. Keep domain rules in testable server-side modules instead of route handlers or UI components. Separate persistence, external providers, and background work behind small interfaces without building a framework. Prefer ordinary HTML forms and URLs for durable navigation; use optimistic interaction only when failure can be reconciled clearly. The product brief currently identifies Astro, Alpine, D1 as capability context. Preserve any required native, browser-only, edge, storage, real-time, or background-processing capability through a narrow adapter appropriate to the selected framework. If the core workflow genuinely requires native or browser APIs, keep that runtime as the primary execution surface rather than simulating inaccessible capabilities or inventing an unnecessary web surface. Integrate with Markdown import and export. For every integration: - List required environment variables in an .env.example without real secrets. - Add a small adapter with timeouts, normalized errors, and a deterministic local fake or development path. - Verify inbound signatures and deduplicate provider events where supported. - Keep credentials server-side, encrypt long-lived provider tokens at rest, and redact secrets and sensitive payloads from logs. - Define retry, backoff, and idempotency behavior for any side effect that can be repeated. SECURITY AND PRIVACY Autosave every block edit, keep edits recoverable, and never let a page rename break existing links or block references. Validate, normalize, and length-limit all untrusted input on the server. Escape rendered content by default, sanitize any intentionally accepted markup, rate-limit public or abuse-prone actions, and use private object storage plus short-lived authorized URLs for sensitive files. Collect the minimum personal data necessary for the named workflow. Document retention and deletion behavior. Add specific protections for the riskier surfaces in this app, such as uploads, redirects, outbound requests, email delivery, OAuth, webhooks, CSV import or export, and real-time connections. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIOS Automate these app-specific scenarios at the most appropriate level: 1. Typing [[garden notes]] on a daily page creates the page, and its backlinks section immediately lists the daily note that mentioned it. 2. Editing a block that is referenced in three places changes the text in all four locations without touching their surrounding content. 3. Searching a phrase that appears only inside an embedded block reference finds the source block and opens it in its home page. TESTING Add focused unit tests for state transitions, authorization predicates, normalization, date or money calculations, and other risky domain rules. Add integration tests for persistence constraints and each external adapter’s success, timeout, retry, and rejection paths. Add at least one browser-level test for every end-to-end journey above, including one small-screen viewport. Tests must use isolated data and run through a documented single command. OPERATIONS AND FAILURE RECOVERY Add structured server logs with request, job, or event correlation IDs but no secrets or unnecessarily sensitive data. Make failures actionable in both the interface and logs. Background work must expose pending, succeeded, failed, and retrying states where relevant; do not silently swallow errors. Include safe database migration and rollback guidance, seed data, backup and restore notes, external-data cleanup behavior, and a basic health or diagnostic path appropriate to the stack. DELIVERABLES Ship the working application, migrations, representative seed data, tests, .env.example, and a concise README. The README must cover prerequisites, local setup, environment variables, migrations, seed and test commands, deployment, integration setup, backup and restore, security decisions, and known limitations. Seed data should exercise the happy path plus at least one empty, failed, overdue, expired, archived, or permission-restricted state relevant to the product. DEFINITION OF DONE The app is complete when a fresh developer can follow the README, create and migrate the database, run the app, sign in as each relevant role, complete every named journey using real persisted data, refresh without losing state, recover from common failures, and use the core interface on phone and desktop. All acceptance scenarios pass, permission boundaries are covered by tests, and no core screen is left as a placeholder. NON-GOALS Do not build real-time collaboration, a graph visualization, a query language, a plugin API, or mobile apps.
You are building a production-ready software product named “Loopnotes”, a deliberately focused alternative to Roam Research. Build a complete, usable vertical slice—not a landing page, static mockup, or disconnected collection of components. WORKING AGREEMENT Before writing implementation code, produce a short technical plan that names the routes or pages, server actions or endpoints, data tables, important state transitions, authorization boundaries, background jobs, and external adapters. Resolve contradictions in favor of the narrow audience and non-goals below. Prefer a small, legible architecture over speculative abstraction, but do not omit persistence, validation, error handling, or tests. PRODUCT BRIEF Primary user: one person thinking in linked daily notes. Primary outcome: capture thoughts on daily pages and let links, backlinks, and search resurface them later. Product principle: optimize the exact workflow below instead of copying the full breadth of Roam Research. A first-time user should understand what to do from the interface itself, without a tour or documentation. END-TO-END USER JOURNEYS Implement all of these flows through the real interface and persistent data layer: 1. The writer opens today’s daily page, types a thought containing [[a new topic]], and the linked page comes into existence the moment the note autosaves. 2. The writer visits that topic page later, reads the automatic backlinks gathered from daily notes, and embeds one useful paragraph elsewhere as a block reference. 3. Weeks later the writer searches a half-remembered phrase, lands on the right block, and follows links backward to reconstruct where the idea came from. SCREENS AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE Build these as coherent responsive views. Each screen must specify its primary action, secondary actions, visible status, validation feedback, empty state, loading or pending state, success confirmation, and recoverable failure state. 1. Daily note: today’s page front and center, an autosaving block editor, previous days below, and a jump-to-date control. 2. Page view: title, blocks, inline [[links]], a backlinks section grouped by source page, and a rename action that keeps every link intact. 3. Search: full-text results across pages and blocks with highlighted matches, a date-range filter, and keyboard navigation. 4. All pages: an index with title, block count, last-edited time, an orphan indicator, and a create-page action. CORE CAPABILITIES 1. a daily notes page created automatically for each day 2. [[wiki links]] that create pages on first use 3. an automatic backlinks section on every page 4. block references that embed a paragraph anywhere it’s needed 5. full-text search across pages and blocks DETAILED BEHAVIOR AND BUSINESS RULES Treat these as server-enforced product requirements, not interface suggestions: 1. Create a page automatically the first time a [[wiki link]] references it, and treat page titles as unique case-insensitive keys. 2. Derive the backlinks section from a link index updated on save; it is never stored as editable page content and therefore never goes stale. 3. Give every block a stable identifier; a block reference renders the live source block, and an edit made anywhere updates every embed. 4. Renaming a page must keep every existing link and block reference resolving through the stable page id, and autosave must never lose a block on navigation. DATA MODEL AND LIFECYCLE Design a small relational schema centered on Page, Block, Link, BlockReference. Before implementing it, document: 1. Each table’s purpose, primary key, ownership or tenant boundary, timestamps, status fields, and important attributes. 2. Foreign keys, uniqueness constraints, check constraints, indexes needed by the named screens, and transaction boundaries for multi-record changes. 3. The allowed lifecycle or state transitions, who may trigger each transition, which transitions are terminal or reversible, and what audit history must remain immutable. 4. Archive, retention, and deletion behavior, including what happens to dependent records and external files. 5. Idempotency strategy for submissions, jobs, imports, notifications, webhooks, or retries where applicable. Use migrations rather than ad-hoc schema creation. Store time instants consistently and retain named timezone context whenever local schedules or dates matter. Never rely on a counter, disabled button, or client-side check to preserve a business invariant. USERS, AUTHENTICATION, AND PERMISSIONS Implement only the roles required by the stated audience. Make the ownership and visibility model explicit before coding. Enforce authorization in every server-side query and mutation, including search, exports, attachments, live updates, and guessed URLs—not merely by hiding controls. Use secure session defaults, protect state-changing requests, and provide an understandable signed-out, expired-session, and forbidden state. Seed distinct users when multiple roles are required so permissions can be demonstrated and tested. INTERACTION AND VISUAL DIRECTION The product should feel fast, calm, focused, and credible rather than like a generic admin template. Use a clear visual hierarchy, restrained color, readable typography, generous hit targets, and consistent placement for primary actions. Start with server-rendered HTML and progressively enhance only the interactions that benefit from it. The core workflow must remain understandable if enhancement fails. Render with React Server Components by default. Use Server Actions for authenticated form mutations and add Client Components only for interactions that genuinely require browser state, browser APIs, drag-and-drop, or live updates. The core workflow must remain understandable before client-side JavaScript finishes loading. Design mobile layouts intentionally instead of simply stacking desktop panels. Support keyboard navigation, visible focus, semantic landmarks, explicit labels, useful page titles, reduced-motion preferences, and screen-reader announcements for asynchronous results. Never use color alone to communicate state. Destructive actions require clear scope and confirmation; safe repeated actions should be idempotent. TECHNICAL DIRECTION Build this version with Next.js, the App Router, and TypeScript. Use Server Components by default, Server Actions for authenticated mutations, and Route Handlers for public APIs, OAuth callbacks, webhooks, feeds, uploads, and downloads. Use PostgreSQL through Drizzle ORM with versioned migrations and an isolated test database. Access S3-compatible object storage through a server-only adapter, and run slow or retryable work in a real job or workflow system instead of the request lifecycle. Keep domain rules in testable server-side modules instead of route handlers or UI components. Separate persistence, external providers, and background work behind small interfaces without building a framework. Prefer ordinary HTML forms and URLs for durable navigation; use optimistic interaction only when failure can be reconciled clearly. The product brief currently identifies Astro, Alpine, D1 as capability context. Preserve any required native, browser-only, edge, storage, real-time, or background-processing capability through a narrow adapter appropriate to the selected framework. If the core workflow genuinely requires native or browser APIs, keep that runtime as the primary execution surface rather than simulating inaccessible capabilities or inventing an unnecessary web surface. Integrate with Markdown import and export. For every integration: - List required environment variables in an .env.example without real secrets. - Add a small adapter with timeouts, normalized errors, and a deterministic local fake or development path. - Verify inbound signatures and deduplicate provider events where supported. - Keep credentials server-side, encrypt long-lived provider tokens at rest, and redact secrets and sensitive payloads from logs. - Define retry, backoff, and idempotency behavior for any side effect that can be repeated. SECURITY AND PRIVACY Autosave every block edit, keep edits recoverable, and never let a page rename break existing links or block references. Validate, normalize, and length-limit all untrusted input on the server. Escape rendered content by default, sanitize any intentionally accepted markup, rate-limit public or abuse-prone actions, and use private object storage plus short-lived authorized URLs for sensitive files. Collect the minimum personal data necessary for the named workflow. Document retention and deletion behavior. Add specific protections for the riskier surfaces in this app, such as uploads, redirects, outbound requests, email delivery, OAuth, webhooks, CSV import or export, and real-time connections. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIOS Automate these app-specific scenarios at the most appropriate level: 1. Typing [[garden notes]] on a daily page creates the page, and its backlinks section immediately lists the daily note that mentioned it. 2. Editing a block that is referenced in three places changes the text in all four locations without touching their surrounding content. 3. Searching a phrase that appears only inside an embedded block reference finds the source block and opens it in its home page. TESTING Add focused unit tests for state transitions, authorization predicates, normalization, date or money calculations, and other risky domain rules. Add integration tests for persistence constraints and each external adapter’s success, timeout, retry, and rejection paths. Add at least one browser-level test for every end-to-end journey above, including one small-screen viewport. Tests must use isolated data and run through a documented single command. OPERATIONS AND FAILURE RECOVERY Add structured server logs with request, job, or event correlation IDs but no secrets or unnecessarily sensitive data. Make failures actionable in both the interface and logs. Background work must expose pending, succeeded, failed, and retrying states where relevant; do not silently swallow errors. Include safe database migration and rollback guidance, seed data, backup and restore notes, external-data cleanup behavior, and a basic health or diagnostic path appropriate to the stack. DELIVERABLES Ship the working application, migrations, representative seed data, tests, .env.example, and a concise README. The README must cover prerequisites, local setup, environment variables, migrations, seed and test commands, deployment, integration setup, backup and restore, security decisions, and known limitations. Seed data should exercise the happy path plus at least one empty, failed, overdue, expired, archived, or permission-restricted state relevant to the product. DEFINITION OF DONE The app is complete when a fresh developer can follow the README, create and migrate the database, run the app, sign in as each relevant role, complete every named journey using real persisted data, refresh without losing state, recover from common failures, and use the core interface on phone and desktop. All acceptance scenarios pass, permission boundaries are covered by tests, and no core screen is left as a placeholder. NON-GOALS Do not build real-time collaboration, a graph visualization, a query language, a plugin API, or mobile apps.
You are building a production-ready software product named “Loopnotes”, a deliberately focused alternative to Roam Research. Build a complete, usable vertical slice—not a landing page, static mockup, or disconnected collection of components. WORKING AGREEMENT Before writing implementation code, produce a short technical plan that names the routes or pages, server actions or endpoints, data tables, important state transitions, authorization boundaries, background jobs, and external adapters. Resolve contradictions in favor of the narrow audience and non-goals below. Prefer a small, legible architecture over speculative abstraction, but do not omit persistence, validation, error handling, or tests. PRODUCT BRIEF Primary user: one person thinking in linked daily notes. Primary outcome: capture thoughts on daily pages and let links, backlinks, and search resurface them later. Product principle: optimize the exact workflow below instead of copying the full breadth of Roam Research. A first-time user should understand what to do from the interface itself, without a tour or documentation. END-TO-END USER JOURNEYS Implement all of these flows through the real interface and persistent data layer: 1. The writer opens today’s daily page, types a thought containing [[a new topic]], and the linked page comes into existence the moment the note autosaves. 2. The writer visits that topic page later, reads the automatic backlinks gathered from daily notes, and embeds one useful paragraph elsewhere as a block reference. 3. Weeks later the writer searches a half-remembered phrase, lands on the right block, and follows links backward to reconstruct where the idea came from. SCREENS AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE Build these as coherent responsive views. Each screen must specify its primary action, secondary actions, visible status, validation feedback, empty state, loading or pending state, success confirmation, and recoverable failure state. 1. Daily note: today’s page front and center, an autosaving block editor, previous days below, and a jump-to-date control. 2. Page view: title, blocks, inline [[links]], a backlinks section grouped by source page, and a rename action that keeps every link intact. 3. Search: full-text results across pages and blocks with highlighted matches, a date-range filter, and keyboard navigation. 4. All pages: an index with title, block count, last-edited time, an orphan indicator, and a create-page action. CORE CAPABILITIES 1. a daily notes page created automatically for each day 2. [[wiki links]] that create pages on first use 3. an automatic backlinks section on every page 4. block references that embed a paragraph anywhere it’s needed 5. full-text search across pages and blocks DETAILED BEHAVIOR AND BUSINESS RULES Treat these as server-enforced product requirements, not interface suggestions: 1. Create a page automatically the first time a [[wiki link]] references it, and treat page titles as unique case-insensitive keys. 2. Derive the backlinks section from a link index updated on save; it is never stored as editable page content and therefore never goes stale. 3. Give every block a stable identifier; a block reference renders the live source block, and an edit made anywhere updates every embed. 4. Renaming a page must keep every existing link and block reference resolving through the stable page id, and autosave must never lose a block on navigation. DATA MODEL AND LIFECYCLE Design a small relational schema centered on Page, Block, Link, BlockReference. Before implementing it, document: 1. Each table’s purpose, primary key, ownership or tenant boundary, timestamps, status fields, and important attributes. 2. Foreign keys, uniqueness constraints, check constraints, indexes needed by the named screens, and transaction boundaries for multi-record changes. 3. The allowed lifecycle or state transitions, who may trigger each transition, which transitions are terminal or reversible, and what audit history must remain immutable. 4. Archive, retention, and deletion behavior, including what happens to dependent records and external files. 5. Idempotency strategy for submissions, jobs, imports, notifications, webhooks, or retries where applicable. Use migrations rather than ad-hoc schema creation. Store time instants consistently and retain named timezone context whenever local schedules or dates matter. Never rely on a counter, disabled button, or client-side check to preserve a business invariant. USERS, AUTHENTICATION, AND PERMISSIONS Implement only the roles required by the stated audience. Make the ownership and visibility model explicit before coding. Enforce authorization in every server-side query and mutation, including search, exports, attachments, live updates, and guessed URLs—not merely by hiding controls. Use secure session defaults, protect state-changing requests, and provide an understandable signed-out, expired-session, and forbidden state. Seed distinct users when multiple roles are required so permissions can be demonstrated and tested. INTERACTION AND VISUAL DIRECTION The product should feel fast, calm, focused, and credible rather than like a generic admin template. Use a clear visual hierarchy, restrained color, readable typography, generous hit targets, and consistent placement for primary actions. Start with server-rendered HTML and progressively enhance only the interactions that benefit from it. The core workflow must remain understandable if enhancement fails. Start with server-rendered Blade views and ordinary forms. Use Livewire for focused server-driven interactions and Alpine.js only for small local interface state. The core workflow must remain understandable without relying on a client-side application shell. Design mobile layouts intentionally instead of simply stacking desktop panels. Support keyboard navigation, visible focus, semantic landmarks, explicit labels, useful page titles, reduced-motion preferences, and screen-reader announcements for asynchronous results. Never use color alone to communicate state. Destructive actions require clear scope and confirmation; safe repeated actions should be idempotent. TECHNICAL DIRECTION Build this version with Laravel, PHP, Blade, Livewire, and Alpine.js. Use controllers and Blade forms for durable navigation, Livewire for focused interactions, Form Requests for validation, Policies and Gates for authorization, and small application actions or services for domain transitions. Use Eloquent with migrations, database constraints, and transactions; Laravel Storage for private S3-compatible files; queued Jobs for retryable work; the Scheduler for recurring work; and Notifications or Mail for email. Keep domain rules in testable server-side modules instead of route handlers or UI components. Separate persistence, external providers, and background work behind small interfaces without building a framework. Prefer ordinary HTML forms and URLs for durable navigation; use optimistic interaction only when failure can be reconciled clearly. The product brief currently identifies Astro, Alpine, D1 as capability context. Preserve any required native, browser-only, edge, storage, real-time, or background-processing capability through a narrow adapter appropriate to the selected framework. If the core workflow genuinely requires native or browser APIs, keep that runtime as the primary execution surface rather than simulating inaccessible capabilities or inventing an unnecessary web surface. Integrate with Markdown import and export. For every integration: - List required environment variables in an .env.example without real secrets. - Add a small adapter with timeouts, normalized errors, and a deterministic local fake or development path. - Verify inbound signatures and deduplicate provider events where supported. - Keep credentials server-side, encrypt long-lived provider tokens at rest, and redact secrets and sensitive payloads from logs. - Define retry, backoff, and idempotency behavior for any side effect that can be repeated. SECURITY AND PRIVACY Autosave every block edit, keep edits recoverable, and never let a page rename break existing links or block references. Validate, normalize, and length-limit all untrusted input on the server. Escape rendered content by default, sanitize any intentionally accepted markup, rate-limit public or abuse-prone actions, and use private object storage plus short-lived authorized URLs for sensitive files. Collect the minimum personal data necessary for the named workflow. Document retention and deletion behavior. Add specific protections for the riskier surfaces in this app, such as uploads, redirects, outbound requests, email delivery, OAuth, webhooks, CSV import or export, and real-time connections. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIOS Automate these app-specific scenarios at the most appropriate level: 1. Typing [[garden notes]] on a daily page creates the page, and its backlinks section immediately lists the daily note that mentioned it. 2. Editing a block that is referenced in three places changes the text in all four locations without touching their surrounding content. 3. Searching a phrase that appears only inside an embedded block reference finds the source block and opens it in its home page. TESTING Add focused unit tests for state transitions, authorization predicates, normalization, date or money calculations, and other risky domain rules. Add integration tests for persistence constraints and each external adapter’s success, timeout, retry, and rejection paths. Add at least one browser-level test for every end-to-end journey above, including one small-screen viewport. Tests must use isolated data and run through a documented single command. OPERATIONS AND FAILURE RECOVERY Add structured server logs with request, job, or event correlation IDs but no secrets or unnecessarily sensitive data. Make failures actionable in both the interface and logs. Background work must expose pending, succeeded, failed, and retrying states where relevant; do not silently swallow errors. Include safe database migration and rollback guidance, seed data, backup and restore notes, external-data cleanup behavior, and a basic health or diagnostic path appropriate to the stack. DELIVERABLES Ship the working application, migrations, representative seed data, tests, .env.example, and a concise README. The README must cover prerequisites, local setup, environment variables, migrations, seed and test commands, deployment, integration setup, backup and restore, security decisions, and known limitations. Seed data should exercise the happy path plus at least one empty, failed, overdue, expired, archived, or permission-restricted state relevant to the product. DEFINITION OF DONE The app is complete when a fresh developer can follow the README, create and migrate the database, run the app, sign in as each relevant role, complete every named journey using real persisted data, refresh without losing state, recover from common failures, and use the core interface on phone and desktop. All acceptance scenarios pass, permission boundaries are covered by tests, and no core screen is left as a placeholder. NON-GOALS Do not build real-time collaboration, a graph visualization, a query language, a plugin API, or mobile apps.
You are building a production-ready software product named “Loopnotes”, a deliberately focused alternative to Roam Research. Build a complete, usable vertical slice—not a landing page, static mockup, or disconnected collection of components. WORKING AGREEMENT Before writing implementation code, produce a short technical plan that names the routes or pages, server actions or endpoints, data tables, important state transitions, authorization boundaries, background jobs, and external adapters. Resolve contradictions in favor of the narrow audience and non-goals below. Prefer a small, legible architecture over speculative abstraction, but do not omit persistence, validation, error handling, or tests. PRODUCT BRIEF Primary user: one person thinking in linked daily notes. Primary outcome: capture thoughts on daily pages and let links, backlinks, and search resurface them later. Product principle: optimize the exact workflow below instead of copying the full breadth of Roam Research. A first-time user should understand what to do from the interface itself, without a tour or documentation. END-TO-END USER JOURNEYS Implement all of these flows through the real interface and persistent data layer: 1. The writer opens today’s daily page, types a thought containing [[a new topic]], and the linked page comes into existence the moment the note autosaves. 2. The writer visits that topic page later, reads the automatic backlinks gathered from daily notes, and embeds one useful paragraph elsewhere as a block reference. 3. Weeks later the writer searches a half-remembered phrase, lands on the right block, and follows links backward to reconstruct where the idea came from. SCREENS AND INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE Build these as coherent responsive views. Each screen must specify its primary action, secondary actions, visible status, validation feedback, empty state, loading or pending state, success confirmation, and recoverable failure state. 1. Daily note: today’s page front and center, an autosaving block editor, previous days below, and a jump-to-date control. 2. Page view: title, blocks, inline [[links]], a backlinks section grouped by source page, and a rename action that keeps every link intact. 3. Search: full-text results across pages and blocks with highlighted matches, a date-range filter, and keyboard navigation. 4. All pages: an index with title, block count, last-edited time, an orphan indicator, and a create-page action. CORE CAPABILITIES 1. a daily notes page created automatically for each day 2. [[wiki links]] that create pages on first use 3. an automatic backlinks section on every page 4. block references that embed a paragraph anywhere it’s needed 5. full-text search across pages and blocks DETAILED BEHAVIOR AND BUSINESS RULES Treat these as server-enforced product requirements, not interface suggestions: 1. Create a page automatically the first time a [[wiki link]] references it, and treat page titles as unique case-insensitive keys. 2. Derive the backlinks section from a link index updated on save; it is never stored as editable page content and therefore never goes stale. 3. Give every block a stable identifier; a block reference renders the live source block, and an edit made anywhere updates every embed. 4. Renaming a page must keep every existing link and block reference resolving through the stable page id, and autosave must never lose a block on navigation. DATA MODEL AND LIFECYCLE Design a small relational schema centered on Page, Block, Link, BlockReference. Before implementing it, document: 1. Each table’s purpose, primary key, ownership or tenant boundary, timestamps, status fields, and important attributes. 2. Foreign keys, uniqueness constraints, check constraints, indexes needed by the named screens, and transaction boundaries for multi-record changes. 3. The allowed lifecycle or state transitions, who may trigger each transition, which transitions are terminal or reversible, and what audit history must remain immutable. 4. Archive, retention, and deletion behavior, including what happens to dependent records and external files. 5. Idempotency strategy for submissions, jobs, imports, notifications, webhooks, or retries where applicable. Use migrations rather than ad-hoc schema creation. Store time instants consistently and retain named timezone context whenever local schedules or dates matter. Never rely on a counter, disabled button, or client-side check to preserve a business invariant. USERS, AUTHENTICATION, AND PERMISSIONS Implement only the roles required by the stated audience. Make the ownership and visibility model explicit before coding. Enforce authorization in every server-side query and mutation, including search, exports, attachments, live updates, and guessed URLs—not merely by hiding controls. Use secure session defaults, protect state-changing requests, and provide an understandable signed-out, expired-session, and forbidden state. Seed distinct users when multiple roles are required so permissions can be demonstrated and tested. INTERACTION AND VISUAL DIRECTION The product should feel fast, calm, focused, and credible rather than like a generic admin template. Use a clear visual hierarchy, restrained color, readable typography, generous hit targets, and consistent placement for primary actions. Start with server-rendered HTML and progressively enhance only the interactions that benefit from it. The core workflow must remain understandable if enhancement fails. Start with server-rendered Rails views and ordinary forms. Use Turbo for navigation, submissions, and server-driven updates, then Stimulus only for small browser-side behavior. Do not turn the product into a client-side SPA, and keep the core workflow usable when enhancement fails. Design mobile layouts intentionally instead of simply stacking desktop panels. Support keyboard navigation, visible focus, semantic landmarks, explicit labels, useful page titles, reduced-motion preferences, and screen-reader announcements for asynchronous results. Never use color alone to communicate state. Destructive actions require clear scope and confirmation; safe repeated actions should be idempotent. TECHNICAL DIRECTION Build this version with Ruby on Rails and Hotwire: Turbo for navigation, form submissions, and server-driven updates, and Stimulus for small browser-side behavior. Use RESTful controllers with strong parameters and explicit authorization, with domain transitions in testable models or small application services. Use Active Record migrations plus database-level constraints and transactions; Active Storage with an S3-compatible service for private files; Active Job with a durable queue backend for retryable work; Action Mailer for email; and Action Cable only when live updates are required. Keep domain rules in testable server-side modules instead of route handlers or UI components. Separate persistence, external providers, and background work behind small interfaces without building a framework. Prefer ordinary HTML forms and URLs for durable navigation; use optimistic interaction only when failure can be reconciled clearly. The product brief currently identifies Astro, Alpine, D1 as capability context. Preserve any required native, browser-only, edge, storage, real-time, or background-processing capability through a narrow adapter appropriate to the selected framework. If the core workflow genuinely requires native or browser APIs, keep that runtime as the primary execution surface rather than simulating inaccessible capabilities or inventing an unnecessary web surface. Integrate with Markdown import and export. For every integration: - List required environment variables in an .env.example without real secrets. - Add a small adapter with timeouts, normalized errors, and a deterministic local fake or development path. - Verify inbound signatures and deduplicate provider events where supported. - Keep credentials server-side, encrypt long-lived provider tokens at rest, and redact secrets and sensitive payloads from logs. - Define retry, backoff, and idempotency behavior for any side effect that can be repeated. SECURITY AND PRIVACY Autosave every block edit, keep edits recoverable, and never let a page rename break existing links or block references. Validate, normalize, and length-limit all untrusted input on the server. Escape rendered content by default, sanitize any intentionally accepted markup, rate-limit public or abuse-prone actions, and use private object storage plus short-lived authorized URLs for sensitive files. Collect the minimum personal data necessary for the named workflow. Document retention and deletion behavior. Add specific protections for the riskier surfaces in this app, such as uploads, redirects, outbound requests, email delivery, OAuth, webhooks, CSV import or export, and real-time connections. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIOS Automate these app-specific scenarios at the most appropriate level: 1. Typing [[garden notes]] on a daily page creates the page, and its backlinks section immediately lists the daily note that mentioned it. 2. Editing a block that is referenced in three places changes the text in all four locations without touching their surrounding content. 3. Searching a phrase that appears only inside an embedded block reference finds the source block and opens it in its home page. TESTING Add focused unit tests for state transitions, authorization predicates, normalization, date or money calculations, and other risky domain rules. Add integration tests for persistence constraints and each external adapter’s success, timeout, retry, and rejection paths. Add at least one browser-level test for every end-to-end journey above, including one small-screen viewport. Tests must use isolated data and run through a documented single command. OPERATIONS AND FAILURE RECOVERY Add structured server logs with request, job, or event correlation IDs but no secrets or unnecessarily sensitive data. Make failures actionable in both the interface and logs. Background work must expose pending, succeeded, failed, and retrying states where relevant; do not silently swallow errors. Include safe database migration and rollback guidance, seed data, backup and restore notes, external-data cleanup behavior, and a basic health or diagnostic path appropriate to the stack. DELIVERABLES Ship the working application, migrations, representative seed data, tests, .env.example, and a concise README. The README must cover prerequisites, local setup, environment variables, migrations, seed and test commands, deployment, integration setup, backup and restore, security decisions, and known limitations. Seed data should exercise the happy path plus at least one empty, failed, overdue, expired, archived, or permission-restricted state relevant to the product. DEFINITION OF DONE The app is complete when a fresh developer can follow the README, create and migrate the database, run the app, sign in as each relevant role, complete every named journey using real persisted data, refresh without losing state, recover from common failures, and use the core interface on phone and desktop. All acceptance scenarios pass, permission boundaries are covered by tests, and no core screen is left as a placeholder. NON-GOALS Do not build real-time collaboration, a graph visualization, a query language, a plugin API, or mobile apps.
Build just one piece
Not ready to replace all of Roam Research? Fine. These are the peculiar sub-problems hiding inside it — the parts that are actually interesting to build. Each one is a standalone prompt, scoped to an evening, no strings attached to the full build.
The backlinks section nobody ever writesA derived index, rebuilt on save, that cannot go stale.
Build an automatic backlink index for a linked note-taking app. Every page shows which other pages mention it, derived, never hand-written. On each block save, parse the block for [[wiki links]], resolve each to a page id, and update a link index of (source block, source page, target page) rows: insert new links, delete removed ones, scoped to just that block so one save never rescans the whole graph. The backlinks section is then a query, all blocks whose links target this page, grouped by source page and rendered with enough surrounding text to be useful. The correctness trap is staleness: deleting a block must delete its index rows, deleting a page must remove it as a source everywhere, and editing [[garden]] to [[gardening]] must move the link atomically. Store links against page ids, not titles, so renames don't orphan anything. Done when: mentioning a page makes it appear in backlinks immediately after save, removing the mention removes it, and a full index rebuild from scratch produces exactly the same rows as the incremental updates did.
The paragraph that lives in four places at onceBlock references render the live source. Edit once, update everywhere.
Build block references for a note-taking app, one source block embedded live in many pages. Every block gets a stable unique id at creation, surviving edits, moves, and page renames. A block reference is a special node storing just the target block id; at render time it displays the live content of the source block, so an edit made anywhere, in the source or through any embed, updates all of them. Style embeds subtly differently and link each back to its home page. Handle the failure states: a reference to a deleted block renders a visible tombstone rather than vanishing or crashing, and self-referencing or circular embed chains need a depth limit so rendering terminates. Full-text search should find content that appears only via an embed and open the source block in its home page. Copying a block reference elsewhere copies the pointer, not the text. Done when: editing a block referenced in three places updates all four locations, deleting the source leaves honest tombstones, and a circular reference renders with a depth cutoff instead of hanging the page.
The rename that breaks zero linksTitles are display strings. Ids are forever. Links point at ids.
Build rename-safe wiki links for a note-taking app. Typing [[some topic]] links to that page, creating it on first use. The design decision that makes renames safe: resolve the title to a page id at save time and store the link as the id, keeping the title as a display property. Renaming a page then updates one row, and every existing link and block reference resolves correctly through the id, nothing to rewrite, nothing to break. Treat titles as unique case-insensitive keys: [[Garden Notes]] and [[garden notes]] are the same page, so normalize on lookup and creation. Guard the rename path: renaming to a title that already exists must be blocked or offered as an explicit merge, never allowed to create a silent duplicate key. Autocomplete existing titles as the user types a link to keep near-duplicate pages from breeding. When links render, show the target's current title, so old mentions display the new name automatically. Done when: renaming a page with fifty inbound links breaks none of them, case-variant links resolve to one page, and a rename collision is caught instead of corrupting the key space.
The autosave that never eats a thoughtDebounced writes, flush on blur, and a local safety net for the tab that dies mid-sentence.
Build a lossless autosave engine for a block-based note editor. No save button exists, so every keystroke's survival is your problem. Debounce saves per block, a pause of a second or so triggers a write, but flush immediately on the dangerous events: blur, switching blocks, navigating between pages, and the tab closing, using the page lifecycle events and a keepalive-friendly request so the final flush survives the tab dying. Track dirty state per block; navigation waits on pending flushes or hands them to the keepalive path, and never simply drops them. Add a local safety net: mirror unsaved edits to localStorage keyed by block, clear the mirror on confirmed save, and on next load offer recovery for anything left behind by a crash. Show a quiet saved indicator that flips honestly, since a checkmark that lies is worse than none. Failed writes retry with backoff while preserving the dirty flag. Done when: typing then immediately closing the tab loses nothing, a killed process offers recovery on restart, and rapid edits across many blocks all land exactly once.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to build your own Roam Research?
A basic version — daily notes, links, backlinks, block references — takes about 12 hours. Roughly 4 days gets you a solid v1 with graph view, tags, sidebar, keyboard commands. Matching everything Roam Research really does (outliner engine, live queries, multiplayer graph database) is closer to 3 months+, which is exactly why you should scope down instead.
How much does Roam Research cost if I keep subscribing?
Roam Research runs $13.75–$15 per month on public paid plans, which is $165–$180 per year. A focused self-built replacement costs your build time plus close-to-zero hosting.
What stack should I use to build a Roam Research alternative?
The build prompt on this page ships in four flavors: the AHA stack (Astro, HTMX, Alpine.js), Next.js, Laravel, and Ruby on Rails. The capability context for this product is Astro, Alpine, D1. Pick the stack you already know — the scope matters more than the framework.
What features does a minimal Roam Research replacement need?
A useful v1 needs: a daily notes page created automatically for each day; [[wiki links]] that create pages on first use; an automatic backlinks section on every page; block references that embed a paragraph anywhere it’s needed; full-text search across pages and blocks. Everything else is scope creep until you personally miss it.
What should I deliberately not build?
Do not build real-time collaboration, a graph visualization, a query language, a plugin API, or mobile apps.
Does this build also replace Tana, Reflect and Logseq?
Yes. Roam Research, Tana, Reflect and Logseq all solve the same core job — capture thoughts on daily pages and let links, backlinks, and search resurface them later. The scoped v1 on this page covers what most people use any of them for, so one focused build replaces whichever you currently pay for.