laurent22/joplin · warning · Error

Shortcuts are not available in CLI mode.

Error message

Shortcuts are not available in CLI mode.

What it means

Thrown by `help shortcuts` (or `help keymap`) when the GUI is a dummy. The CLI runs in two modes: interactive GUI (`app-gui.ts`, real keymap) and one-shot CLI (`dummyGui()`, `isDummy() === true`). Keymaps only exist in the interactive GUI; the one-shot CLI has no keymap, so printing one is impossible. The message above the throw still helpfully points to the online docs URL.

Source

Thrown at packages/app-cli/app/command-help.ts:44

		output.sort((a, b) => (a.name() < b.name() ? -1 : +1));

		return output;
	}

	public override async action(args: { command?: string }) {
		const stdoutWidth = app().commandStdoutMaxWidth();

		if (args.command === 'shortcuts' || args.command === 'keymap') {
			this.stdout(_('For information on how to customise the shortcuts please visit %s', 'https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/terminal#shortcuts'));
			this.stdout('');

			if (
				app()
					.gui()
					.isDummy()
			) {
				throw new Error(_('Shortcuts are not available in CLI mode.'));
			}

			const keymap = app()
				.gui()
				.keymap();

			const rows = [];

			for (let i = 0; i < keymap.length; i++) {
				const item = keymap[i];
				const keys = item.keys.map((k: string) => (k === ' ' ? '(SPACE)' : k));
				rows.push([keys.join(', '), item.command]);
			}

			cliUtils.printArray(this.stdout.bind(this), rows);
		} else if (args.command === 'all') {
			const commands = this.allCommands();
			const output = commands.map(c => renderCommandHelp(c));

View on GitHub (pinned to 2654b33620)

Solutions

1. Visit the URL printed just before the throw: https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/terminal#shortcuts
2. Launch the interactive terminal GUI (run `joplin` with no command args) and press the relevant keys, then run `:help shortcuts` inside it
3. If you need keymap data programmatically, read `<profileDir>/keymap.json` directly (falling back to defaults from app.ts:loadKeymaps)

Example fix

// before (one-shot CLI)
joplin help shortcuts   // throws: Shortcuts are not available in CLI mode.

// after
# option A: read the docs URL the command prints
# option B: read the keymap file directly
cat ~/.config/joplin-dev-desktop/keymap.json
# option C: launch interactive mode (no command arg) and run :help shortcuts

import app from './app';

function assertInteractiveGuiForShortcuts(): void {
  if (!app().hasGui() || app().gui().isDummy()) {
    throw new Error('Shortcuts/keymap require the interactive terminal GUI. See https://joplinapp.org/help/apps/terminal#shortcuts');
  }
}

// or read the keymap file directly instead of going through `help keymap`:
// `${Setting.value('profileDir')}/keymap.json`

const hasRealKeymap = (): boolean =>
  app().hasGui() && !app().gui().isDummy() && typeof app().gui().keymap === 'function';

When it happens

Trigger: Running `joplin help shortcuts` or `joplin help keymap` as a one-shot CLI invocation (argv passed to the binary). The check `app().gui().isDummy()` is true in this path (app.ts:413 sets `this.gui_ = this.dummyGui()`).

Common situations: CI/scripted calls to `joplin help keymap` expecting structured output; users exploring the CLI from a non-interactive shell.

Related errors

• More than one item match "%s". Please narrow down your query
• Cannot find "%s".
• No notebook selected.
• No notebook has been specified.
• The command "%s" is only available in GUI mode

AI-assisted analysis of laurent22/joplin@2654b33620 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/87a27c38f1acad15. Report an issue: GitHub.