Upload to Roam via the backend API instead of a headless browser

[dbieber]

Why

Roam uploads from the Pi 400s have been failing. Sign-in works, but the graph never loads in the headless Firefox: the loading astrolabe stays for 90+ seconds and the uploader crashes with RuntimeError: Astrolabe still there after timeout every few minutes. An earlier screenshot from the same device shows why: Roam's hosting now serves a Vercel Security Checkpoint ("Failed to verify your browser, Code 99") to the old headless browser. The subscription is fine; the browser is being blocked.

Worse, devices still on pre-#114 code ignored the failed graph load, "inserted" notes at block uid None, and then committed them out of the queue. On one device 42 notes since Sep 1 were dropped that way (recovered from the process log).

What

• roam_backend_api.py: minimal client for Roam's backend API (q and write), following the official SDK: Bearer token headers, one-time 308 redirect to the graph's peer host, retries on 503 / connection errors, client-generated 9-char block uids, order: "last".
• roam_api_uploader.py: same output structure as helper.js (Daily Notes page → [[Go Note Go Notes]]: → HH:MM AM session → notes, with indent/unindent stack and audio embeds), but via HTTP. Returns False on API errors so the runner keeps notes queued.
• Runner picks the API uploader whenever ROAM_API_TOKEN is configured, otherwise falls back to the browser uploader with a hint.
• settings.get(key, default) for optional settings; ROAM_API_TOKEN added to the template, masked in the settings server, and shown in the settings UI.
• requests declared as a dependency; root conftest.py stubs the untracked secure_settings module so settings-importing tests run in CI.

Small intentional differences from the browser path: the Daily Notes page is chosen from the note's effective timestamp (same time already used for the session title since #145) rather than upload time, and an audio note with no blob storage configured no longer gets an empty {{audio: }} child.

Setup

In Roam: Settings → Graph → API tokens → new token with edit access. Then on the device: :set ROAM_API_TOKEN <token> (or via the settings UI).

Testing

• 31 new unit tests (fake HTTP session / fake client): redirect handling, auth and 503 paths, uid generation, daily-note title/uid formatting incl. ordinals, full upload tree incl. indent/unindent/enter-empty/clear-empty/end-session, audio tagging, failure returns False. pytest: 63 passed.
• Live probe against api.roamresearch.com with a bogus token: redirect to peer-24…:3001 handled, then a clean "Token cannot be verified" error.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code