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Examples of :q query blocks

:q queries can be used to display the results of datomic/datascript queries in your Roam graph
- If you're technically inclined (or prompt an AI to do it well), you can use these to very flexibly query any condition in your graph
- Resources::
  - Query Reference Resource: https://docs.datomic.com/query/query-data-reference.html
    - Tip: If your variable name contains "uid", then in the table, shows block view or page view
  - Here's a very useful blog article on getting started with roam-flavored datascript queries: https://www.zsolt.blog/2021/01/Roam-Data-Structure-Query.html
Video going through this feature and the demos below:
- original video
  - {{video: https://www.loom.com/share/b384798d37904947afefe9059c71035e}}
- video with quality of life improvements from March 28th, 2025
  - {{video: https://www.loom.com/share/a3e5f8126d924b3eb95c7c11209eceee}}
- video with QOL improvements from March 31st, 2026
  - {{video: https://www.loom.com/share/f62d4893563143ae84cdae3640af6eb8}}

Examples

Getting started example

:q
"Number of pages in the graph"
[:find (count ?page) . :where [?page :node/title _]]

Some other small examples

(small = returning a single value, which is shown inline)
:q
"Number of code blocks in the graph"
[:find (count ?b) .
:where [?b :block/string ?s]
[(clojure.string/starts-with? ?s "`")]]
:q
"Number of TODOs in the graph:"
[:find (count ?b) . :where [?todo-page :node/title "TODO"] [?b :block/refs ?todo-page]]
equivalent queries to the above, but without the title:
- :q
  [:find (count ?page) . :where [?page :node/title ?page-title]]
- :q
  [:find (count ?b) .
  :where [?b :block/string ?s]
  [(clojure.string/starts-with? ?s "`")]]
- :q
  [:find (count ?b) . :where [?todo-page :node/title "TODO"] [?b :block/refs ?todo-page]]
Here's an interesting query:
- :q "5 random pages in the graph"
  [:find (sample 5 ?class_title) .
  :where
  [?a_class_page :node/title ?class_title]
  [?a_class_page :block/uid ?class_page_uid]]

Some table examples

(we show as a table when the query returns a number of "columns" and a number of data)
- Technically, we show as table when the find spec denotes a relation. This will look something like :find ?a ?b in the query
:q "All Roam pages with 'API' in their title, their first blocks"
[:find ?page-title ?page-uid ?first-block-uid (count ?block)
:where
[?page :node/title ?page-title]
[?page :block/uid ?page-uid]
[(clojure.string/includes? ?page-title "API")]
[?page :block/children ?block]
[?block :block/order 0]
[?block :block/uid ?first-block-uid]]
:q "All Roam pages with 'API' in their title, sorted so that recently created at top"
[:find ?page-uid ?create-time
:where
[?page :node/title ?page-title]
[?page :block/uid ?page-uid]
[?page :create/time ?create-time]
[(clojure.string/includes? ?page-title "API")]]
A more involved example: All Readwise highlight pages
- the q
  - :q "All Readwise Highlight Pages, sorted so that recently created at top"
    [:find ?page-uid ?first-child-uid ?page-create-time
    :where
    [?page :node/title ?page-title]
    ;; hack: readwise default template all page titles contain "(highlights)" string
    [(clojure.string/includes? ?page-title "(highlights)")]
    [?page :block/uid ?page-uid]
    [?page :create/time ?page-create-time]
    [?page :block/children ?b]
    [?b :block/order 0]
    [?b :block/uid ?first-child-uid]]
- no such pages in this graph sadly, please check our video for a demo:

Example:: q getting children of a block and parsing out number

sample data (student + roll number)
- Alice 1
- Bob 2
- Claire 3
- Herbert 43
- Andy 78

the query

[:find ?e ?s
 :where
 [?parent :block/uid "CQjUT-rQD"]
 [?parent :block/children ?e]
 [?e :block/string ?s]]

[:find ?e ?s
 :where
 [?parent :block/uid "CQjUT-rQD"]
 [?parent :block/children ?e]
 [?e :block/string ?s]]

Example:: get 4 random pages in the graph
- :q "Pages in the graph" [:find ?p :where [?p :node/title]]
- :q "Pages in the graph" [:find ?p :where [?p :node/title]]
- GIF

Example:: get current page and how many backrefs it has (this uses current/page-title )

the query

[:find ?p (count ?b)
  :where
  [?p :node/title current/page-title]
  [?b :block/refs ?p]]

[:find ?p (count ?b)
  :where
  [?p :node/title current/page-title]
  [?b :block/refs ?p]]

Example:: get additions to changelog in current calendar month (this uses the special symbols ms/this-month-start and ms/this-month-end )

How this works:
- to minimize the number of results, we're also nesting results under parent results
- we're also sorting via ?t to get recent results at top (you can hide this column and keep sorting!)

the query

[:find ?b ?t
  :where
  [?changelog-p :node/title "Change Log"]
  [?b :block/page ?changelog-p]
  [?b :create/time ?t]
  [(<= ms/this-month-start ?t ms/this-month-end)]]

[:find ?b ?t
  :where
  [?changelog-p :node/title "Change Log"]
  [?b :block/page ?changelog-p]
  [?b :create/time ?t]
  [(<= ms/this-month-start ?t ms/this-month-end)]]

Example:: query to get backrefs of a page (in this example: Quality of Life Improvements) created by [a specific user](Baibhav Bista) in the current calendar year ((This uses the rules (refs-page ?page-title ?b), (created-by ?user-name ?block), and (created-between ?t1 ?t2 ?b)))
- the query
  - ```
  [:find ?b ?t
    :where
    [?b :block/uid ?uid]
    (refs-page "Quality of Life Improvements" ?b)
    (created-by "Baibhav Bista" ?b)
    [?b :create/time ?t]
    (created-between ms/this-year-start ms/this-year-end ?b)]
```
- in action ...
  - :q
```
[:find ?b ?t
  :where
  [?b :block/uid ?uid]
  (refs-page "Quality of Life Improvements" ?b)
  (created-by "Baibhav Bista" ?b)
  [?b :create/time ?t]
  (created-between ms/this-year-start ms/this-year-end ?b)]
```
- How this works:
  - this uses the rules (refs-page ?page-title ?b), (created-by ?user-name ?block), and (created-between ?t1 ?t2 ?b)
  - After getting the query, using the UI, we're also sorting in descending order of ?t
    - (so that latest is at the top)
Examples of queries our new in-dnp-between, refs-dnp-between, in-or-refs-dnp-between enable Examples of :q query blocks
- (this roam graph does not have much content in daily note pages, so below queries will probably be empty, please copy and test in your own graphs)
- DNP blocks this month with create time
  - (in-dnp-between dnp/this-month-start dnp/this-month-end ?b)
    - :q "DNP blocks this month with create time"
      [:find ?b ?t
      :where
      (in-dnp-between dnp/this-month-start dnp/this-month-end ?b)
      [?b :create/time ?t]]
- TODOs from last week's daily notes or reffing those DNPs
  - (in-or-refs-dnp-between dnp/last-week-start dnp/last-week-end ?b)
    - :q "TODOs from last week's daily notes or reffing those DNPs"
      [:find ?b
      :where
      (in-or-refs-dnp-between dnp/last-week-start dnp/last-week-end ?b)
      (refs-page "TODO" ?b)]
- Blocks referencing this week, written by particular user "Baibhav Bista"
  - (refs-dnp-between dnp/this-week-start dnp/this-week-end ?b)
    - :q "Blocks referencing this week, written by Baibhav"
      [:find ?b
      :where
      (refs-dnp-between dnp/this-week-start dnp/this-week-end ?b)
      (created-by "Baibhav Bista" ?b)
      [?b :create/time ?t]]
- Blocks referencing this week, written by particular user "Baibhav Bista" (also filter out blocks already in those DNPs)
  - `(refs-dnp-between dnp/this-week-start dnp/this-week-end ?b)
    (not (in-dnp-between dnp/this-week-start dnp/this-week-end ?b))`
    - :q "Blocks referencing this week, written by Baibhav"
      [:find ?b
      :where
      (refs-dnp-between dnp/this-week-start dnp/this-week-end ?b)
      (not (in-dnp-between dnp/this-week-start dnp/this-week-end ?b))
      (created-by "Baibhav Bista" ?b)
      [?b :create/time ?t]]
One random old reference of the currently open page
- I manually clicked on ... then
  set sorting to be random
  set rows per column to a 1
- To test it out, open the query below on the sidebar (shift click) and then go to a page with a lot of references like video
- :q "One random old reference to open page"
  [:find ?uid ?t
  :where
  (refs-page current/main-window-page-title ?b)
  [?b :create/time ?t]
  [?b :block/uid ?uid]
  [(< ?t ms/-365D-start)]]

markdown version · view in Roam Research · exported 2026-07-03