diff --git a/lib/msg-v3/tangle.js b/lib/msg-v3/tangle.js
index 7ea2341..5d9bbe5 100644
--- a/lib/msg-v3/tangle.js
+++ b/lib/msg-v3/tangle.js
@@ -222,6 +222,14 @@ class Tangle {
     return 'weave'
   }
 
+  get root() {
+    if (!this.#rootMsg) {
+      console.trace('Tangle is missing root message')
+      return null
+    }
+    return this.#rootMsg
+  }
+
   /**
    * @param {string} msgID
    */
diff --git a/test/msg-v3/tangles.test.js b/test/msg-v3/tangles.test.js
index 2271225..7641905 100644
--- a/test/msg-v3/tangles.test.js
+++ b/test/msg-v3/tangles.test.js
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@ test('simple multi-author tangle', (t) => {
   const mootA = MsgV3.createMoot(accountA, 'post', keypairA)
   const mootAID = MsgV3.getMsgID(mootA)
   const tangleA = new MsgV3.Tangle(mootAID)
-  assert.equal(tangleA.id, mootAID, 'tangle.id')
   tangleA.add(mootAID, mootA)
 
+  assert.equal(tangleA.id, mootAID, 'tangle.id')
+  assert.equal(tangleA.root, mootA, 'tangle.root')
+
   const mootB = MsgV3.createMoot(accountB, 'post', keypairB)
   const mootBID = MsgV3.getMsgID(mootB)
   const tangleB = new MsgV3.Tangle(mootBID)