Let $p$ be a prime number. This paper introduces the Roquette category ${ℛ}_p$ of finite $p$-groups, which is an additive tensor category containing all finite $p$-groups among its objects. In ${ℛ}_p$, every finite $p$-group $P$ admits a canonical direct summand $\partial P$, called the edge of $P$. Moreover $P$ splits uniquely as a direct sum of edges of Roquette $p$-groups, and the tensor structure of ${ℛ}_p$ can be described in terms of such edges. The main motivation for considering this category is that the additive functors from ${ℛ}_p$ to...