Setting up `org-roam-capture-` to file `org-roam-directory` subdirectories

Troubleshooting
1

is there any way to set up org-roam-capture-templates so that these various captures go to different directories?

in org-roam v2, I tried about two months ago to accomplish this with org-roam-extract-new-path to file new capture templates under the ./slips directory, but changing this variable resulted in problems.

Recently, i noticed that subdirectories in the org-roam-directory result in tags being applied automatically to the nodes therein, which is a feature I like a lot. So, when i do org-roam-node-find:

  • the nodes in ./projects have the :projects: tag
  • the nodes in ./topics have the :topics: tag
  • and the nodes in ./slips have the slips tag.

Here’s what my roam directory looks like dcunited001/zettelkasten. I want most things in the ./slips directory, but there are other types of nodes like “topics”, “projects”, “drills” and “code” which i would like to capture, but place in a different subdirectory. The reason is that these are on a different “graph-plane” (an almost separate “plane” in a graph, like control-plane network interfaces). Organizing like this is intuitive for me, but also allows me to make some assumptions about the count of inbound/outbound edges in my roam graph. It is the :topics: and :projects: tags nodes which I would like to “collect” most refs from :slips: tags. Thus, when working on a topic/project:

  • looking at the backlinks buffer for a topic/project should return many nodes
  • eventually i would like to add #+keywords to topics/projects and then maybe analyze text of :slips: nodes to automatically suggest to add backlinks for some topics. this should result in a richer graph with more connections.

I know this may not jive with the org-roam philosophy of all slips going into a single directory, where org-roams sqllite functions fulfill the organizational responsibilities of the filesystem.

For now, I think I can simply prepend project/ or project- to the file+head of newly added capture types.

2

Specifying the directory in the template like this below has been working with no problems for me. Notice personal directory in the second line after file+head. For work, I have work directory there.

	  ("o" "personal Org" plain "%?" :target
           (file+head "personal/%<%Y-%m-%dT%H%M%S>.org" 
                      ":properties:\n:ID: %<%Y-%m-%dT%H%M%S>\n:modified: <>\n:end:\n#+title: ${title}\n#+filetags: %(downcase (my/insert-category))\n")
           :unnarrowed t)
1 Like
3

I have been following Org-roam development rather closely and haven’t noticed this feature. I wonder if it is a local enhancement by a distro such as Doom Emacs….

4

perfect, thanks! I think I can finally start using capture templates for these.

It still needs some tweaking, but here’s what i have:

(setq org-roam-capture-templates
      (append
       ;; org-roam-capture-templates
       '(
         ("p" "projects" plain "%?" :unnarrowed t
          :target (file+head "projects/${slug}.org"
                             "#+title: ${title}\n\n"))
         ("t" "topics" plain "%?" :unnarrowed t
          :target (file+head "topics/${slug}.org"
                             "#+title: ${title}\n\n"))
         ("c" "code" plain "%?" :unnarrowed t
          :target (file+head "code/${slug}.org"
                             "#+title: ${title}\n\n"))
         ("D" "drills" plain "%?" :unnarrowed t
          :target (file+head "drills/${slug}.org"
                             "#+title: ${title}\n\n"))
         ;; TODO: validate whether this should be changed
         ;; - for org-roam-bibtex or org-ref
         ;; NOTE: slug needs to be a DOI in form:
         ;; - ${indicator}.${registrant}/${suffix}
         ("n" "noter (DOI)" plain "%?" :unnarrowed t
          :target (file+head "noter/${slug}.org"
                             "#+title: ${title}\n\n"))

         ("s" "slips" plain "%?" :unnarrowed t
          :target (file+head "slips/%<%Y%m%d%H%M%S>-${slug}.org"
                             "#+title: ${title}"))

         ) org-roam-capture-templates))

I was browsing Daviwil’s dotfiles and found that using the (org-roam-capture- ...) defun may help me split these out into keybinds.