roam

Roam builds a semantic graph of your codebase and lets AI agents query it with one shell command.

5 core commands · advanced tools when you need them

What is Roam?

Roam pre-indexes your codebase into a semantic graph -- symbols, dependencies, call graphs, architecture, and git history -- stored in a local SQLite DB. Agents query it via CLI instead of repeatedly grepping files and guessing structure.

Unlike LSPs (editor-bound and language-specific) or Sourcegraph (hosted search), Roam provides architecture-level graph queries -- offline, cross-language, and compact.

A semantic graph means Roam understands what functions call what, how modules depend on each other, which tests cover which code, and the overall architecture structure.

Codebase ──> [Index] ──> Semantic Graph ──> CLI ──> AI Agent
              │              │                │
           tree-sitter    symbols           one call
           17 languages   + edges           replaces
           git history    + metrics         5-10 tool calls

The problem

Coding agents explore codebases inefficiently: dozens of grep/read cycles, high token cost, no structural understanding. Roam replaces this with one graph query:

$ roam context Flask
Callers: 47  Callees: 3
Affected tests: 31

Files to read:
  src/flask/app.py:76-963              # definition
  src/flask/__init__.py:1-15           # re-export
  src/flask/testing.py:22-45           # caller: FlaskClient.__init__
  tests/test_basic.py:12-30            # caller: test_app_factory
  ...12 more files

Core commands

$ roam understand              # full codebase briefing
$ roam context <name>          # files-to-read with exact line ranges
$ roam preflight <name>        # blast radius + tests + complexity + architecture rules
$ roam health                  # composite score (0-100)
$ roam diff                    # blast radius of uncommitted changes

Best for

Agent-assisted coding -- structured answers that reduce token usage vs raw file exploration
Large codebases (100+ files) -- graph queries beat linear search at scale
Architecture governance -- health scores, CI quality gates, dependency cycle detection
Safe refactoring -- blast radius, affected tests, pre-change safety checks
Multi-repo projects -- cross-repo API edge detection between frontend and backend

When NOT to use Roam

Real-time type checking -- use an LSP (pyright, gopls, tsserver). Roam is static and offline.
Dynamic / runtime analysis -- Roam cannot trace reflection, eval, or dynamic dispatch.
Small scripts (<10 files) -- just read the files directly.
Pure text search -- ripgrep is faster for raw string matching.

Why use Roam

Speed. One command replaces 5-10 tool calls (in typical workflows). Under 0.5s for any query.

Dependency-aware. Computes structure, not string matches. Knows Flask has 47 dependents and 31 affected tests. grep knows it appears 847 times.

LLM-optimized output. Plain ASCII, compact abbreviations (fn, cls, meth), --json envelopes. Designed for agent consumption, not human decoration.

Fully local. No API keys, telemetry, or network calls. Works in air-gapped environments.

CI-ready. --json output, --gate quality gates, GitHub Action, SARIF 2.1.0.

	Without Roam	With Roam
Tool calls	8	1
Wall time	~11s	<0.5s
Tokens consumed	~15,000	~3,000

Measured on a typical agent workflow in a 200-file Python project (Flask). See benchmarks for more.

Table of Contents

Getting Started: What is Roam? · Best for · Why use Roam · Install · Quick Start

Using Roam: Commands · Walkthrough · AI Coding Tools · MCP Server

Operations: CI/CD Integration · SARIF Output · For Teams

Reference: Language Support · Performance · How It Works · How Roam Compares · FAQ

More: Limitations · Troubleshooting · Update / Uninstall · Development · Contributing

Install

pip install roam-code

# Recommended: isolated environment
pipx install roam-code
# or
uv tool install roam-code

# From source
pip install git+https://github.com/Cranot/roam-code.git

Requires Python 3.9+. Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Windows: If roam is not found after installing with uv, run uv tool update-shell and restart your terminal.

Quick Start

cd your-project
roam init                  # indexes codebase, creates config + CI workflow
roam understand            # full codebase briefing

First index takes ~5s for 200 files, ~15s for 1,000 files. Subsequent runs are incremental and near-instant.

Next steps:

Set up your AI agent: roam describe --write (auto-detects CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules, etc. — see integration instructions)
Explore: roam health → roam weather → roam map
Add to CI: roam init already generated a GitHub Action

Try it on Roam itself

git clone https://github.com/Cranot/roam-code.git
cd roam-code
pip install -e .
roam init
roam understand
roam health

Works With

Claude Code • Cursor • Windsurf • GitHub Copilot • Aider • Cline • Gemini CLI • OpenAI Codex CLI • MCP • GitHub Actions • GitLab CI • Azure DevOps

Commands

The 5 core commands shown above cover ~80% of agent workflows. 58 total commands are organized into 8 categories.

Full command reference

Getting Started

Command	Description
`roam index [--force] [--verbose]`	Build or rebuild the codebase index
`roam init`	Guided onboarding: creates `.roam/fitness.yaml`, CI workflow, runs index, shows health
`roam understand`	Full codebase briefing: tech stack, architecture, key abstractions, health, conventions, complexity overview, entry points
`roam tour [--write PATH]`	Auto-generated onboarding guide: top symbols, reading order, entry points, language breakdown. `--write` saves to Markdown
`roam describe [--write] [--force] [-o PATH] [--agent-prompt]`	Auto-generate project description for AI agents. `--write` auto-detects your agent's config file. `--agent-prompt` returns a compact (<500 token) system prompt
`roam map [-n N] [--full] [--budget N]`	Project skeleton: files, languages, entry points, top symbols by PageRank. `--budget` caps output to N tokens

Daily Workflow

Command	Description
`roam file <path> [--full] [--changed] [--deps-of PATH]`	File skeleton: all definitions with signatures, cognitive load index, health score
`roam symbol <name> [--full]`	Symbol definition + callers + callees + metrics. Supports `file:symbol` disambiguation
`roam context <symbol> [--task MODE] [--for-file PATH]`	AI-optimized context: definition + callers + callees + files-to-read with line ranges
`roam search <pattern> [--kind KIND]`	Find symbols by name pattern, PageRank-ranked
`roam grep <pattern> [-g glob] [-n N]`	Text search annotated with enclosing symbol context
`roam deps <path> [--full]`	What a file imports and what imports it
`roam trace <source> <target> [-k N]`	Dependency paths with coupling strength and hub detection
`roam impact <symbol>`	Blast radius: what breaks if a symbol changes
`roam diff [--staged] [--full] [REV_RANGE]`	Blast radius of uncommitted changes or a commit range
`roam pr-risk [REV_RANGE]`	PR risk score (0-100) + structural spread + suggested reviewers
`roam diagnose <symbol> [--depth N]`	Root cause analysis: ranks suspects by composite risk
`roam preflight <symbol\|file>`	Compound pre-change check: blast radius + tests + complexity + coupling + fitness
`roam safe-delete <symbol>`	Safe deletion check: SAFE/REVIEW/UNSAFE verdict
`roam test-map <name>`	Map a symbol or file to its test coverage

Codebase Health

Command	Description
`roam health [--no-framework]`	Composite health score (0-100): tangle ratio, god components, bottlenecks, layer violations
`roam complexity [--bumpy-road]`	Per-function cognitive complexity (SonarSource-compatible)
`roam weather [-n N]`	Hotspots ranked by churn x complexity
`roam debt`	Hotspot-weighted tech debt prioritization
`roam fitness [--explain]`	Architectural fitness functions from `.roam/fitness.yaml`
`roam alerts`	Health degradation trend detection
`roam snapshot [--tag TAG]`	Persist health metrics snapshot for trend tracking
`roam trend`	Health score history with sparkline visualization
`roam digest [--brief] [--since TAG]`	Compare current metrics against last snapshot

Architecture

Command	Description
`roam clusters [--min-size N]`	Community detection vs directory structure
`roam layers`	Topological dependency layers + upward violations
`roam dead [--all] [--summary] [--clusters]`	Unreferenced exported symbols with safety verdicts
`roam fan [symbol\|file] [-n N] [--no-framework]`	Fan-in/fan-out: most connected symbols or files
`roam risk [-n N] [--domain KW] [--explain]`	Domain-weighted risk ranking
`roam why <name> [name2 ...]`	Role classification (Hub/Bridge/Core/Leaf), reach, criticality
`roam split <file>`	Internal symbol groups with isolation % and extraction suggestions
`roam entry-points`	Entry point catalog with protocol classification
`roam patterns`	Architectural pattern recognition: Strategy, Factory, Observer, etc.
`roam visualize [--format mermaid\|dot] [--focus NAME] [--limit N]`	Generate Mermaid or DOT architecture diagrams. Smart filtering via PageRank, cluster grouping, cycle highlighting
`roam safe-zones`	Graph-based containment boundaries
`roam coverage-gaps`	Unprotected entry points with no path to gate symbols

Exploration

Command	Description
`roam module <path>`	Directory contents: exports, signatures, dependencies, cohesion
`roam sketch <dir> [--full]`	Compact structural skeleton of a directory
`roam uses <name>`	All consumers: callers, importers, inheritors
`roam owner <path>`	Code ownership: who owns a file or directory
`roam coupling [-n N] [--set]`	Temporal coupling: file pairs that change together
`roam fn-coupling`	Function-level temporal coupling across files
`roam bus-factor [--brain-methods]`	Knowledge loss risk per module
`roam doc-staleness`	Detect stale docstrings
`roam conventions`	Auto-detect naming styles, import preferences. Flags outliers
`roam breaking [REV_RANGE]`	Breaking change detection: removed exports, signature changes
`roam affected-tests <symbol\|file>`	Trace reverse call graph to test files

Reports & CI

Command	Description
`roam report [--list] [--config FILE] [PRESET]`	Compound presets: `first-contact`, `security`, `pre-pr`, `refactor`
`roam describe --write`	Generate agent config (auto-detects: CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules, etc.)

Multi-Repo Workspace

Command	Description
`roam ws init <repo1> <repo2> [--name NAME]`	Initialize a workspace from sibling repos. Auto-detects frontend/backend roles
`roam ws status`	Show workspace repos, index ages, cross-repo edge count
`roam ws resolve`	Scan for REST API endpoints and match frontend calls to backend routes
`roam ws understand`	Unified workspace overview: per-repo stats + cross-repo connections
`roam ws health`	Workspace-wide health report with cross-repo coupling assessment
`roam ws context <symbol>`	Cross-repo augmented context: find a symbol across repos + show API callers
`roam ws trace <source> <target>`	Trace cross-repo paths via API edges

Global Options

Option	Description
`roam --json <command>`	Structured JSON output with consistent envelope
`roam --compact <command>`	Token-efficient output: TSV tables, minimal JSON envelope
`roam <command> --gate EXPR`	CI quality gate (e.g., `--gate score>=70`). Exit code 1 on failure

Walkthrough: Investigating a Codebase

10-step walkthrough using Flask as an example (click to expand)

Here's how you'd use Roam to understand a project you've never seen before. Using Flask as an example:

Step 1: Onboard and get the full picture

$ roam init
Created .roam/fitness.yaml (6 starter rules)
Created .github/workflows/roam.yml
Done. 226 files, 1132 symbols, 233 edges.
Health: 78/100

$ roam understand
Tech stack: Python (flask, jinja2, werkzeug)
Architecture: Monolithic — 3 layers, 5 clusters
Key abstractions: Flask, Blueprint, Request, Response
Health: 78/100 — 1 god component (Flask)
Entry points: src/flask/__init__.py, src/flask/cli.py
Conventions: snake_case functions, PascalCase classes, relative imports
Complexity: avg 4.2, 3 high (>15), 0 critical (>25)

Step 2: Drill into a key file

$ roam file src/flask/app.py
src/flask/app.py  (python, 963 lines)

  cls  Flask(App)                                   :76-963
    meth  __init__(self, import_name, ...)           :152
    meth  route(self, rule, **options)               :411
    meth  register_blueprint(self, blueprint, ...)   :580
    meth  make_response(self, rv)                    :742
    ...12 more methods

Step 3: Who depends on this?

$ roam deps src/flask/app.py
Imported by:
file                        symbols
--------------------------  -------
src/flask/__init__.py       3
src/flask/testing.py        2
tests/test_basic.py         1
...18 files total

Step 4: Find the hotspots

$ roam weather
=== Hotspots (churn x complexity) ===
Score  Churn  Complexity  Path                    Lang
-----  -----  ----------  ----------------------  ------
18420  460    40.0        src/flask/app.py        python
12180  348    35.0        src/flask/blueprints.py python

Step 5: Check architecture health

$ roam health
Health: 78/100
  Tangle: 0.0% (0/1132 symbols in cycles)
  1 god component (Flask, degree 47, actionable)
  0 bottlenecks, 0 layer violations

=== God Components (degree > 20) ===
Sev      Name   Kind  Degree  Cat  File
-------  -----  ----  ------  ---  ------------------
WARNING  Flask  cls   47      act  src/flask/app.py

Step 6: Get AI-ready context for a symbol

$ roam context Flask
Files to read:
  src/flask/app.py:76-963              # definition
  src/flask/__init__.py:1-15           # re-export
  src/flask/testing.py:22-45           # caller: FlaskClient.__init__
  tests/test_basic.py:12-30            # caller: test_app_factory
  ...12 more files

Callers: 47  Callees: 3

Step 7: Pre-change safety check

$ roam preflight Flask
=== Preflight: Flask ===
Blast radius: 47 callers, 89 transitive
Affected tests: 31 (DIRECT: 12, TRANSITIVE: 19)
Complexity: cc=40 (critical), nesting=6
Coupling: 3 hidden co-change partners
Fitness: 1 violation (max-complexity exceeded)
Verdict: HIGH RISK — consider splitting before modifying

Step 8: Decompose a large file

$ roam split src/flask/app.py
=== Split analysis: src/flask/app.py ===
  87 symbols, 42 internal edges, 95 external edges
  Cross-group coupling: 18%

  Group 1 (routing) — 12 symbols, isolation: 83% [extractable]
    meth  route              L411  PR=0.0088
    meth  add_url_rule       L450  PR=0.0045
    ...

=== Extraction Suggestions ===
  Extract 'routing' group: route, add_url_rule, endpoint (+9 more)
    83% isolated, only 3 edges to other groups

Step 9: Understand why a symbol matters

$ roam why Flask url_for Blueprint
Symbol     Role          Fan         Reach     Risk      Verdict
---------  ------------  ----------  --------  --------  --------------------------------------------------
Flask      Hub           fan-in:47   reach:89  CRITICAL  God symbol (47 in, 12 out). Consider splitting.
url_for    Core utility  fan-in:31   reach:45  HIGH      Widely used utility (31 callers). Stable interface.
Blueprint  Bridge        fan-in:18   reach:34  moderate  Coupling point between clusters.

Step 10: Generate docs and set up CI

$ roam describe --write
Wrote CLAUDE.md (98 lines)  # auto-detects: CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules, etc.

$ roam health --gate score>=70
Health: 78/100 — PASS

Ten commands. Complete picture: structure, dependencies, hotspots, health, context, safety checks, decomposition, and CI gates.

Integration with AI Coding Tools

Roam is designed to be called by coding agents via shell commands. Instead of repeatedly grepping and reading files, the agent runs one roam command and gets structured output.

Decision order for agents:

Situation	Command
First time in a repo	`roam understand` then `roam tour`
Need to modify a symbol	`roam preflight <name>` (blast radius + tests + fitness)
Debugging a failure	`roam diagnose <name>` (root cause ranking)
Need files to read	`roam context <name>` (files + line ranges)
Need to find a symbol	`roam search <pattern>`
Need file structure	`roam file <path>`
Pre-PR check	`roam pr-risk HEAD~3..HEAD`
What breaks if I change X?	`roam impact <symbol>`

Fastest setup:

roam describe --write               # auto-detects your agent's config file
roam describe --write -o AGENTS.md  # or specify an explicit path
roam describe --agent-prompt        # compact ~500-token prompt (append to any config)

Copy-paste agent instructions

## Codebase navigation

This project uses `roam` for codebase comprehension. Always prefer roam over Glob/Grep/Read exploration.

Before modifying any code:
1. First time in the repo: `roam understand` then `roam tour`
2. Find a symbol: `roam search <pattern>`
3. Before changing a symbol: `roam preflight <name>` (blast radius + tests + fitness)
4. Need files to read: `roam context <name>` (files + line ranges, prioritized)
5. Debugging a failure: `roam diagnose <name>` (root cause ranking)
6. After making changes: `roam diff` (blast radius of uncommitted changes)

Additional: `roam health` (0-100 score), `roam impact <name>` (what breaks),
`roam pr-risk` (PR risk), `roam file <path>` (file skeleton).

Run `roam --help` for all commands. Use `roam --json <cmd>` for structured output.

Where to put this for each tool

Tool	Config file
Claude Code	`CLAUDE.md` in your project root
OpenAI Codex CLI	`AGENTS.md` in your project root
Gemini CLI	`GEMINI.md` in your project root
Cursor	`.cursor/rules/roam.mdc` (add `alwaysApply: true` frontmatter)
Windsurf	`.windsurf/rules/roam.md` (add `trigger: always_on` frontmatter)
GitHub Copilot	`.github/copilot-instructions.md`
Aider	`CONVENTIONS.md`
Continue.dev	`config.yaml` rules
Cline	`.clinerules/` directory

Roam vs native tools

Task	Use Roam	Use native tools
"What calls this function?"	`roam symbol <name>`	LSP / Grep
"What files do I need to read?"	`roam context <name>`	Manual tracing (5+ calls)
"Is it safe to change X?"	`roam preflight <name>`	Multiple manual checks
"Show me this file's structure"	`roam file <path>`	Read the file directly
"Understand project architecture"	`roam understand`	Manual exploration
"What breaks if I change X?"	`roam impact <symbol>`	No direct equivalent
"What tests to run?"	`roam affected-tests <name>`	Grep for imports (misses indirect)
"What's causing this bug?"	`roam diagnose <name>`	Manual call-chain tracing
"Codebase health score for CI"	`roam health --gate score>=70`	No equivalent

MCP Server

Roam includes a Model Context Protocol server for direct integration with tools that support MCP.

pip install fastmcp
fastmcp run roam.mcp_server:mcp

19 read-only tools and 2 resources. All tools query the index -- they never modify your code.

MCP tool list

Tool	Description
`understand`	Full codebase briefing
`health`	Health score (0-100) + issues
`preflight`	Pre-change safety check
`search_symbol`	Find symbols by name
`context`	Files-to-read for modifying a symbol
`trace`	Dependency path between two symbols
`impact`	Blast radius of changing a symbol
`file_info`	File skeleton with all definitions
`pr_risk`	Risk score for pending changes
`breaking_changes`	Detect breaking changes between refs
`affected_tests`	Find tests affected by a change
`dead_code`	List unreferenced exports
`complexity_report`	Per-symbol cognitive complexity
`repo_map`	Project skeleton with key symbols
`tour`	Auto-generated onboarding guide
`diagnose`	Root cause analysis for debugging
`visualize`	Generate Mermaid or DOT architecture diagrams
`ws_understand`	Unified multi-repo workspace overview
`ws_context`	Cross-repo augmented symbol context

Resources: roam://health (current health score), roam://summary (project overview)

Claude Code

claude mcp add roam -- fastmcp run roam.mcp_server:mcp

Or add to .mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "roam": {
      "command": "fastmcp",
      "args": ["run", "roam.mcp_server:mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "roam": {
      "command": "fastmcp",
      "args": ["run", "roam.mcp_server:mcp"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/your/project"
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "roam": {
      "command": "fastmcp",
      "args": ["run", "roam.mcp_server:mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code + Copilot

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "roam": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "fastmcp",
      "args": ["run", "roam.mcp_server:mcp"]
    }
  }
}

CI/CD Integration

All you need is Python 3.9+ and pip install roam-code.

GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/roam.yml
name: Roam Analysis
on: [pull_request]

jobs:
  roam:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - uses: Cranot/roam-code@main
        with:
          command: health --gate score>=70
          comment: true
          fail-on-violation: true

Use roam init to auto-generate this workflow.

Input	Default	Description
`command`	`health`	Roam command to run
`python-version`	`3.12`	Python version
`comment`	`false`	Post results as PR comment
`fail-on-violation`	`false`	Fail the job on violations
`roam-version`	(latest)	Pin to a specific version

GitLab CI

roam-analysis:
  stage: test
  image: python:3.12-slim
  before_script:
    - pip install roam-code
  script:
    - roam index
    - roam health --gate score>=70
    - roam --json pr-risk origin/main..HEAD > roam-report.json
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - roam-report.json
  rules:
    - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID

Azure DevOps / any CI

Universal pattern:

pip install roam-code
roam index
roam health --gate score>=70    # exit 1 on failure
roam --json health > report.json

SARIF Output

Roam exports analysis results in SARIF 2.1.0 format for GitHub Code Scanning.

from roam.output.sarif import health_to_sarif, write_sarif

sarif = health_to_sarif(health_data)
write_sarif(sarif, "roam-health.sarif")

- uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
  with:
    sarif_file: roam-health.sarif

For Teams

Zero infrastructure, zero vendor lock-in, zero data leaving your network.

Tool	Annual cost (20-dev team)	Infrastructure	Setup time
SonarQube Server	$15,000-$45,000	Self-hosted server	Days
CodeScene	$20,000-$60,000	SaaS or on-prem	Hours
Code Climate	$12,000-$36,000	SaaS	Hours
Roam	$0 (MIT license)	None (local)	5 minutes

Team rollout guide

Week 1-2 (pilot): 1-2 developers run roam init on one repo. Use roam preflight before changes, roam pr-risk before PRs.

Week 3-4 (expand): Add roam health --gate score>=60 to CI as a non-blocking check.

Month 2+ (standardize): Tighten to --gate score>=70. Expand to additional repos. Track trajectory with roam trend.

Complements your existing stack

If you use...	Roam adds...
SonarQube	Architecture-level analysis: dependency cycles, god components, blast radius, health scoring
CodeScene	Free, local alternative for health scoring and hotspot analysis
ESLint / Pylint	Cross-language architecture checks. Linters enforce style per file; Roam enforces architecture across the codebase
LSP	AI-agent-optimized queries. `roam context` answers "what calls this?" with PageRank-ranked results in one call

Language Support

Tier 1 -- Full extraction (dedicated parsers)

Language	Extensions	Symbols	References	Inheritance
Python	`.py` `.pyi`	classes, functions, methods, decorators, variables	imports, calls, inheritance	extends, `__all__` exports
JavaScript	`.js` `.jsx` `.mjs` `.cjs`	classes, functions, arrow functions, CJS exports	imports, require(), calls	extends
TypeScript	`.ts` `.tsx` `.mts` `.cts`	interfaces, type aliases, enums + all JS	imports, calls, type refs	extends, implements
Java	`.java`	classes, interfaces, enums, constructors, fields	imports, calls	extends, implements
Go	`.go`	structs, interfaces, functions, methods, fields	imports, calls	embedded structs
Rust	`.rs`	structs, traits, impls, enums, functions	use, calls	impl Trait for Struct
C / C++	`.c` `.h` `.cpp` `.hpp` `.cc`	structs, classes, functions, namespaces, templates	includes, calls	extends
PHP	`.php`	classes, interfaces, traits, enums, methods, properties	namespace use, calls, static calls, `new`	extends, implements, use (traits)
Visual FoxPro	`.prg`	functions, procedures, classes, methods, properties, constants	DO, SET PROCEDURE/CLASSLIB, CREATEOBJECT, `=func()`, `obj.method()`	DEFINE CLASS ... AS
Vue	`.vue`	via `<script>` block extraction (TS/JS)	imports, calls, type refs	extends, implements
Svelte	`.svelte`	via `<script>` block extraction (TS/JS)	imports, calls, type refs	extends, implements

Salesforce ecosystem (Tier 1)

Language	Extensions	Symbols	References
Apex	`.cls` `.trigger`	classes, triggers, SOQL, annotations	imports, calls, System.Label, generic type refs
Aura	`.cmp` `.app` `.evt` `.intf` `.design`	components, attributes, methods, events	controller refs, component refs
LWC (JavaScript)	`.js` (in LWC dirs)	anonymous class from filename	`@salesforce/apex/`, `@salesforce/schema/`, `@salesforce/label/`
Visualforce	`.page` `.component`	pages, components	controller/extensions, merge fields, includes
SF Metadata XML	`*-meta.xml`	objects, fields, rules, layouts	Apex class refs, formula field refs, Flow actionCalls

Cross-language edges mean roam impact AccountService shows blast radius across Apex, LWC, Aura, Visualforce, and Flows.

Tier 2 -- Generic extraction

Ruby (.rb), C# (.cs), Kotlin (.kt .kts), Swift (.swift), Scala (.scala .sc)

Tier 2 languages get symbol extraction and basic inheritance via a generic tree-sitter walker.

Performance

Metric	Value
Index 200 files	~3-5s
Index 3,000 files	~2 min
Incremental (no changes)	<1s
Any query command	<0.5s

Detailed benchmarks

Indexing Speed

Project	Language	Files	Symbols	Edges	Index Time	Rate
Express	JS	211	624	804	3s	70 files/s
Axios	JS	237	1,065	868	6s	41 files/s
Vue	TS	697	5,335	8,984	25s	28 files/s
Laravel	PHP	3,058	39,097	38,045	1m46s	29 files/s
Svelte	TS	8,445	16,445	19,618	2m40s	52 files/s

Quality Benchmark

Repo	Language	Score	Coverage	Edge Density	Commands
Laravel	PHP	9.55	91.2%	0.97	29/29
Vue	TS	9.27	85.8%	1.68	29/29
Svelte	TS	9.04	94.7%	1.19	29/29
Axios	JS	8.98	85.9%	0.82	29/29
Express	JS	8.46	96.0%	1.29	29/29

Token Efficiency

Metric	Value
1,600-line file → `roam file`	~5,000 chars (~70:1 compression)
Full project map	~4,000 chars
`--compact` mode	40-50% additional token reduction
`roam preflight` replaces	5-7 separate agent tool calls

How It Works

Codebase
    |
[1] Discovery ──── git ls-files (respects .gitignore)
    |
[2] Parse ──────── tree-sitter AST per file (17 languages)
    |
[3] Extract ────── symbols + references (calls, imports, inheritance)
    |
[4] Resolve ────── match references to definitions → edges
    |
[5] Metrics ────── PageRank, betweenness, cognitive complexity
    |
[6] Git ────────── churn, co-change matrix, authorship, entropy
    |
[7] Clusters ───── Louvain community detection
    |
[8] Health ─────── per-file scores (7-factor) + composite score (0-100)
    |
[9] Store ──────── .roam/index.db (SQLite, WAL mode)

After the first full index, roam index only re-processes changed files (mtime + SHA-256 hash). Incremental updates are near-instant.

Graph algorithms

PageRank -- identifies the most important symbols (used by map, search, context)
Betweenness centrality -- finds bottleneck symbols on many shortest paths
Tarjan's SCC -- detects dependency cycles with tangle ratio
Louvain community detection -- groups related symbols into clusters
Topological sort -- computes dependency layers and finds violations
k-shortest simple paths -- traces dependency paths with coupling strength
Shannon entropy -- measures co-change distribution and knowledge concentration

Health scoring

Composite health score (0-100) using five factors:

Factor	Weight	What it measures
Tangle ratio	up to -30	% of symbols in dependency cycles
God components	up to -20	Symbols with extreme fan-in/fan-out
Bottlenecks	up to -15	High-betweenness chokepoints
Layer violations	up to -15	Upward dependency violations
Per-file health	up to -20	Average of 7-factor file health scores

Per-file health (1-10) combines: cognitive complexity, indentation complexity, cycle membership, god component membership, dead export ratio, co-change entropy, and churn amplification.

How Roam Compares

Roam is not a replacement for your linter, LSP, or SonarQube. It fills a different gap: giving AI agents structural understanding of the codebase in a format optimized for LLM consumption.

Tool	What it does	How Roam differs
ctags / cscope	Symbol index for editors	Roam adds graph metrics, git signals, architecture analysis, and AI-optimized output
LSP (pyright, gopls)	Real-time type checking	LSP requires a running server and file:line:col queries. Roam is offline, exploratory, and cross-language
Sourcegraph	Code search + AI	Requires hosted deployment. Roam is local-only, MIT-licensed
Aider repo map	Tree-sitter + PageRank	Context selection for chat. Roam adds git signals, 50+ architecture commands, CI gates
CodeScene	Behavioral code analysis	Commercial SaaS. Roam is free, local, inspired by CodeScene's metrics
SonarQube	Code quality + security	Heavy server. Roam's cognitive complexity follows SonarSource spec
grep / ripgrep	Text search	No semantic understanding. Can't distinguish definitions from usage

FAQ

Does Roam send any data externally? No. Zero network calls. No telemetry, no analytics, no update checks.

Can Roam run in air-gapped environments? Yes. Once installed, no internet access is required.

Does Roam modify my source code? No. Read-only. Creates .roam/ with an index database. Never modifies source files.

How does Roam handle monorepos? Indexes from the root. Batched SQL handles 100k+ symbols. Incremental updates stay fast.

How does Roam handle multi-repo projects (e.g., frontend + backend)? Use roam ws init <repo1> <repo2> to create a workspace. Each repo keeps its own index; a workspace overlay DB stores cross-repo API edges. roam ws resolve scans for REST endpoints and matches frontend calls to backend routes. Then roam ws context, roam ws trace, etc. work across repos.

Is Roam compatible with SonarQube / CodeScene? Yes. Roam complements existing tools. Both can run in the same CI pipeline. SARIF output integrates with GitHub Code Scanning.

Limitations

Static analysis trade-offs:

No runtime analysis -- can't trace dynamic dispatch, reflection, or eval'd code
Import resolution is heuristic -- complex re-exports or conditional imports may not resolve
Limited cross-language edges -- Salesforce and multi-repo API edges are supported, but not arbitrary FFI
Tier 2 languages (Ruby, C#, Kotlin, Swift, Scala) get basic symbol extraction only
Large monorepos (100k+ files) may have slow initial indexing

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
`roam: command not found`	Ensure install location is on PATH. For `uv`: `uv tool update-shell`
`Another indexing process is running`	Delete `.roam/index.lock` and retry
`database is locked`	`roam index --force` to rebuild
Unicode errors on Windows	`chcp 65001` for UTF-8
Symbol resolves to wrong file	Use `file:symbol` syntax: `roam symbol myfile:MyFunction`
Health score seems wrong	`roam health --json` for factor breakdown
Index stale after `git pull`	`roam index` (incremental). After major refactors: `roam index --force`

Update / Uninstall

# Update
pipx upgrade roam-code
uv tool upgrade roam-code
pip install --upgrade roam-code

# Uninstall
pipx uninstall roam-code
uv tool uninstall roam-code
pip uninstall roam-code

Delete .roam/ from your project root to clean up local data.

Development

git clone https://github.com/Cranot/roam-code.git
cd roam-code
pip install -e .
pytest tests/   # 649 tests, Python 3.9-3.13

Project structure

roam-code/
├── pyproject.toml
├── action.yml                         # Reusable GitHub Action
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── src/roam/
│   ├── __init__.py                    # Version (from pyproject.toml)
│   ├── cli.py                         # Click CLI (58 commands, 8 categories)
│   ├── mcp_server.py                  # MCP server (19 tools, 2 resources)
│   ├── db/
│   │   ├── connection.py              # SQLite (WAL, pragmas, batched IN)
│   │   ├── schema.py                  # Tables, indexes, migrations
│   │   └── queries.py                 # Named SQL constants
│   ├── index/
│   │   ├── indexer.py                 # Orchestrates full pipeline
│   │   ├── discovery.py               # git ls-files, .gitignore
│   │   ├── parser.py                  # Tree-sitter parsing
│   │   ├── symbols.py                 # Symbol + reference extraction
│   │   ├── relations.py               # Reference resolution -> edges
│   │   ├── complexity.py              # Cognitive complexity (SonarSource)
│   │   ├── git_stats.py               # Churn, co-change, blame, entropy
│   │   └── incremental.py             # mtime + hash change detection
│   ├── languages/
│   │   ├── base.py                    # Abstract LanguageExtractor
│   │   ├── registry.py                # Language detection + aliasing
│   │   ├── *_lang.py                  # One file per language (13 Tier 1)
│   │   └── generic_lang.py            # Tier 2 fallback
│   ├── workspace/
│   │   ├── config.py                  # .roam-workspace.json
│   │   ├── db.py                      # Workspace overlay DB
│   │   ├── api_scanner.py             # REST API endpoint detection
│   │   └── aggregator.py              # Cross-repo aggregation
│   ├── graph/
│   │   ├── builder.py, pagerank.py    # DB -> NetworkX, PageRank
│   │   ├── cycles.py, clusters.py     # Tarjan SCC, Louvain
│   │   ├── layers.py, pathfinding.py  # Topo layers, k-shortest paths
│   │   ├── split.py, why.py           # Decomposition, role classification
│   ├── commands/
│   │   ├── resolve.py                 # Shared symbol resolution
│   │   └── cmd_*.py                   # One module per command
│   └── output/
│       ├── formatter.py               # Token-efficient formatting
│       └── sarif.py                   # SARIF 2.1.0 output
└── tests/                             # 649 tests across 11 test files

Dependencies

Package	Purpose
click >= 8.0	CLI framework
tree-sitter >= 0.23	AST parsing
tree-sitter-language-pack >= 0.6	165+ grammars
networkx >= 3.0	Graph algorithms

Optional: fastmcp (MCP server)

Roadmap

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/Cranot/roam-code.git
cd roam-code
pip install -e .
pytest tests/   # All 649 tests must pass

Good first contributions: add a Tier 1 language (see go_lang.py or php_lang.py as templates), improve reference resolution, add benchmark repos, extend SARIF converters, add MCP tools.

Please open an issue first to discuss larger changes.

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 54 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
src/roam		src/roam
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
action.yml		action.yml
glama.json		glama.json
llms-install.md		llms-install.md
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
roam-bench.py		roam-bench.py

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Walkthrough: Investigating a Codebase

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Tier 1 -- Full extraction (dedicated parsers)

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