org-roam/doc/configuration.md

To ensure that Org-roam remains manageable, the number of configuration options is deliberately kept small. However, we have attempted to accommodate as many usage styles as possible.

In this section, we'll go over the main customization options available to Org-Roam. This section is crucial. We need to exploit the flexibility of Emacs, and mould our tools exactly to our liking.

All of Org-roam's customization options can be viewed via M-x customize-group org-roam.

Setting the Org-roam Directory

Perhaps the single most important variable to set is org-roam-directory. Set org-roam-directory to the folder containing all your Org files:

(setq org-roam-directory "/path/to/org/")

Every Org file, at any level of nesting, within /path/to/org/ is considered part of the Org-roam ecosystem.

Org-roam Buffer

The Org-roam buffer defaults to popping up from the right. You may choose to set it to pop up from the left with (setq org-roam-buffer-position 'left).

The Org-roam buffer name can also be renamed: e.g. (setq org-roam-buffer "*my-buffer-name*").

The Org-roam buffer width is adjustable via org-roam-buffer-width. The value of org-roam-buffer-width set as a percentage of the total frame width. For example:

(setq org-roam-buffer-width 0.4)

Will result in the Org-roam buffer taking up 40% of the screen width. I have found this to be a good number.

Org-roam Links

By default, links are inserted with the title as the link description. This can make them hard to distinguish from external links. If you wish, you may choose add special indicators for Org-roam links by tweaking org-roam-link-title-format, for example:

(setq org-roam-link-title-format "R:%s")

You may also choose to simply style the link differently, by customizing org-roam-link-face (M-x customize-face org-roam-link).

Org-roam Files

These customization options revolve around the Org files created and managed by Org-roam.

Automatically Creating Files Using Timestamp

A common hassle is ensuring that files are uniquely named within the Org-roam directory. Org-roam's default workflow utilizes the title of Org files in all of its main commands (org-roam-insert, org-roam-find-file). Hence, having any unique file name is a decent option, and the default workflow uses the timestamp as the filename.

Org-roam provides templating functionality via org-roam-templates. org-roam-templates maps a template string key to a template. Each template consists of two parts: (1) a function that takes the title, and generates a filename. (2) the template content. The templated content accepts two special fields: ${title} and ${slug}, which are substituted with the title and slug respectively. Org-roam ships with the default template, which inserts the title of the note.

Here's an example of customizing templates:

(defun jethro/org-roam-title-private (title)
    (let ((timestamp (format-time-string "%Y%m%d%H%M%S" (current-time)))
          (slug (org-roam--title-to-slug title)))
      (format "private-%s_%s" timestamp slug)))
      
(setq org-roam-templates
    (list (list "default" (list :file #'org-roam--file-name-timestamp-title
                                :content "#+SETUPFILE:./hugo_setup.org
#+HUGO_SECTION: zettels
#+HUGO_SLUG: ${slug}
#+TITLE: ${title}"))
          (list "private" (list :file #'jethro/org-roam-title-private
                                :content "#+TITLE: ${title}"))))

Here, I define a file-name function jethro/org-roam-title-private, which forms titles like private-20200202000000-note_name. The content string is simply the title. For the default template, I have extended it to include more boilerplate content for publishing purposes.

If you wish to be prompted to change the file name on creation, set org-roam-filename-noconfirm to nil:

(setq org-roam-filename-noconfirm nil)

It is then the user's responsibility to ensure that the file names are unique.

If you prefer just the title slug as the filename (with no timestamp), you can use the following template:

(defun my-org-roam-no-timestamp-in-title (title)
    (let ((slug (org-roam--title-to-slug title)))
      (format "%s" slug)))

(setq org-roam-templates
    (list (list "default" (list :file #'my-org-roam-no-timestamp-in-title
:content "#+TITLE: ${title}"))))

Autopopulating Titles

The default workflow uses the title of the Org file in several commands. The title is specified via the #+TITLE: attribute, typically near the top of the file. The option org-roam-autopopulate-title defaults to t. When true, the title attribute is automatically inserted into the files created via Org-roam commands. Setting it to nil will disable this behaviour.

Encryption

Encryption (via GPG) can be enabled for all new files by setting org-roam-encrypt-files to t. When enabled, new files are created with the .org.gpg extension and decryption are handled automatically by EasyPG. Note that this causes Emacs to ask for password when the cache is built (if you have an encrypted file in org-roam-directory) as well as each time a new file is created. It might be a good idea to cache the password in order to make this more managable.

Org-roam Graph Viewer

Org-roam generates an SVG image using Graphviz. To setup graph navigation, see the Graph Setup page.

Org-roam tries its best to locate the Graphviz executable from your PATH, but if it fails to do so, you may set it manually:

(setq org-roam-graphviz-executable "/path/to/dot")

Org-roam also attempts to use Firefox (located on PATH) to view the SVG, you may choose to set it to any compatible program:

(setq org-roam-graph-viewer "/path/to/image-viewer")