laurent22/joplin · error · Error

Reading commands from standard input is only available in CL

Error message

Reading commands from standard input is only available in CLI mode.

What it means

The 'batch' command reads a command script from a file or, when the path is '-', from standard input. Because the interactive terminal GUI also reads from stdin, reading commands from stdin conflicts with the GUI; if app().hasGui() is true the command throws 'Reading commands from standard input is only available in CLI mode.'. The message is i18n-translated.

Source

Thrown at packages/app-cli/app/command-batch.ts:45

	public description() {
		return _('Runs the commands contained in the text file. There should be one command per line.');
	}

	private streamCommands_ = async function*(filePath: string) {
		const processLines = function*(lines: string) {
			const commandLines = splitCommandBatch(lines);

			for (const command of commandLines) {
				if (!command.trim()) continue;
				yield splitCommandString(command.trim());
			}
		};

		if (filePath === '-') { // stdin
			// Iterating over standard input conflicts with the CLI app's GUI.
			if (app().hasGui()) {
				throw new Error(_('Reading commands from standard input is only available in CLI mode.'));
			}

			for await (const lines of iterateStdin('command> ')) {
				yield* processLines(lines);
			}
		} else {
			const data = await readFile(filePath, 'utf-8');
			yield* processLines(data);
		}
	};

	public async action(options: Options) {
		let lastError;
		for await (const command of this.streamCommands_(options['file-path'])) {
			try {
				await app().refreshCurrentFolder();
				await app().execCommand(command);
			} catch (error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2654b33620)

Solutions

Write the commands to a file and run 'batch <file>' instead of stdin.
Run in pure CLI mode (no terminal GUI) when piping via stdin.
Use the data API or a single 'exec' call instead of batch stdin in GUI mode.

Example fix

# before
#   echo 'ls' | joplin batch -    # inside terminal GUI -> throws
# after
#   printf 'ls\n' > /tmp/cmds.txt && joplin batch /tmp/cmds.txt

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (filePath === '-' && app().hasGui()) {
  throw new Error('Stdin batch input requires CLI mode; write to a file instead.');
}

Prevention

Prefer a script file over stdin for batch in any environment that may have a GUI.
Detect hasGui() before piping commands via stdin.
Use the data API for programmatic multi-command runs in GUI mode.

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'batch -' (or piping commands into stdin) while inside the interactive terminal GUI, where stdin is already owned by the GUI input loop.

Common situations: Piping a command list ('echo ... | joplin batch -') in a mode where the terminal GUI is active; running batch from a keybinding inside the GUI.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of laurent22/joplin@2654b33620 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b46fdcea483b5801. Report an issue: GitHub.