Org-mode

Author

Moinul Islam

Published

August 12, 2025

Preface

Using the Emacs platform and org-mode is an excellent means of taking daily notes and schedule.

Org-roam is a tool within Org-mode. Org-roam allows for effortless non-hierarchical note-taking: with Org-roam, notes flow naturally, making note-taking fun and easy. Org-roam augments the Org-mode syntax, and will work for anyone already using Org-mode for their personal wiki.

Org-roam leverages the mature ecosystem around Org-mode. For example, it has first-class support for org-ref for citation management, and is able to piggyback off Org’s excellent LaTeX and source-block evaluation capabilities.

Org-roam provides these benefits over other tooling:

  • Privacy and Security: Your personal wiki belongs only to you, entirely offline and in your control. Encrypt your notes with GPG.

  • Longevity of Plain Text: Unlike web solutions like Roam Research, the notes are first and foremost plain Org-mode files – Org-roam simply builds an auxiliary database to give the personal wiki superpowers. Having your notes in plain-text is crucial for the longevity of your wiki. Never have to worry about proprietary web solutions being taken down. The notes are still functional even if Org-roam ceases to exist.

  • Free and Open Source: Org-roam is free and open-source, which means that if you feel unhappy with any part of Org-roam, you may choose to extend Org-roam, or open a pull request.

  • Leverage the Org-mode ecosystem: Over the decades, Emacs and Org-mode has developed into a mature system for plain-text organization. Building upon Org-mode already puts Org-roam light-years ahead of many other solutions.

  • Built on Emacs: Emacs is also a fantastic interface for editing text, and Org-roam inherits many of the powerful text-navigation and editing packages available to Emacs.