# Roam-Excalidraw Plugin MVP Release
![[Roam-Excalidraw+roadmap.jpg|Roam-Excalidraw Roadma]]
I am releasing the MVP version of the Roam-Excalidraw Plugin. Over the past two weeks, I have been super focused on getting to this point. As a consequence, this post is going to be shorter and more utilitarian than usual. I had to make a choice whether to release the plugin this weekend or to write a detailed blog post. I opted for the first. I have a detailed article showcasing Excalidraw features [here](https://www.zsolt.blog/2021/03/showcasing-excalidraw.html). Be sure to check that out, there are a number of features I do not cover in today's video.
Please note this is a Minimum Viable Product version of the plugin. It is bound to have bugs. I hope none of them will cause you a major headache. I did my best to debug and stabilize the solution. BUT AS WITH ALL BETA SOFTWARE, PLEASE FIRST MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR ROAM GRAPH IN **EDN** FORMAT BEFORE LOADING THIS PLUGIN - and while you are there, set up the automatic backup that is now available in Roam. I don't expect anything bad to happen, but the devil has a tendency of not sleeping.
This past month was one big rollercoaster ride! A month ago, almost exactly to this day, I started my journey learning roam/render and Clojure. You can find a not-so-exciting Video Blog of my first nine days learning roam/render [here](https://youtu.be/d8yLpfTyxB8), and a detailed article I posted two weeks ago about using roam/render [here](https://www.zsolt.blog/2021/02/a-closer-look-at-roamrender.html). I wouldn't have believed that I will be integrating Excalidraw into Roam using Clojure when I started this journey.
I want to take the opportunity to thank [@Conaw](https://twitter.com/Conaw?s=20), [@aakansha1216](https://twitter.com/aakansha1216?s=20), [@Vjeux](https://twitter.com/Vjeux?s=20), [@dwelle](https://twitter.com/dluzar?s=20), [@Roamhacker](https://twitter.com/roamhacker?s=20), [@kvistgaard](https://twitter.com/kvistgaard?s=20), [@houshuang](https://twitter.com/houshuang?s=20), and many others for assisting me along the ride by answering my silly questions, providing ideas, helping debug the application, and testing. I wouldn't have been able to deliver this plugin without your help!
Here's a short video that introduces the plug-in.
To install the plugin, simply copy the following code into Roam, nesting it under a `{{[[roam/js]]}}` block. You can create a code block using the / menu by tying "/Javascript Code Block". Then you can copy the code below into that. If in doubt, open the video to see how the code block should look like (note I made a little edit compared to the video by removing the "(()=>" and ")();" parts replacing it with {}. If you are facing difficulties visit the [closed issues on GitHub](https://github.com/zsviczian/roam-excalidraw-issues/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aclosed) to see solutions that worked for others.
```js
{
let s = document.createElement('script');
s.type = 'text/javascript';
s.src = 'https://www.roam-excalidraw.com/dist/loader.js';
s.async = false;
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
}
```
Remember, for the Excalidraw plugin to work, you need to allow custom components in the user settings menu, and you need to click Yes on the roam/js code.
You can start sketching by either using the standard roam/template I create during install, by typing ";;Excalidraw", or by typing `{{roam/render: ((sketching))}}` into a block and hitting enter.
Should you find bugs, or have suggestions for future features/improvements, please use this link to submit: [Roam-Excalidraw-Plugin-Issues on Github](https://github.com/zsviczian/roam-excalidraw-issues/issues). You can also find me on Twitter: [@zsviczian](https://twitter.com/zsviczian)
Enjoy sketching in Roam.