siyuan-note/siyuan · error

asset is not unused

Error message

asset is not unused: %s

What it means

ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath wraps ResolveDataAssetPath and additionally checks that the target asset appears in the current list of unreferenced assets (UnusedAssets). This error is thrown when the asset exists and resolves fine, but is still referenced by at least one document, so deleting it would break content. It guards RemoveUnusedAsset against destroying in-use files.

Solutions

1. Run assets/remove-unused-objects (the batch 'remove all unused assets' operation) after re-scanning, so only currently-unused items are removed
2. Remove or update the document references to the asset first, wait for indexing to complete, then retry the delete
3. Verify references with an SQL query over blocks for the asset path before deleting
4. If you are sure the reference is stale, force a re-index of the notebook and retry

Example fix

// before: delete may hit a referenced asset
abs, err := model.ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath(p)
// after: guard and fall back to the scan-based bulk removal
if err != nil { log.Warnf("skip %s: %v", p, err); return }
abs, _ := model.ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath(p)

refs, err := sql.Query("SELECT count(1) FROM blocks WHERE content LIKE '%assets/your-file.png%'")
// if refs > 0 the asset is in use; skip deletion

rel, abs, err := model.ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath(p)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "is not unused") {
		// asset referenced; defer deletion or remove references first
		return nil
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath (via RemoveUnusedAsset API) with a path whose asset is referenced by any document, or when the unused-assets scan is stale relative to a reference just added.

Common situations: A user or automation tries to delete an asset that a recently edited document links to; two concurrent operations where one inserts a reference between the scan and the delete; cache/index lag making the unused list outdated.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• database entry [ ] was removed after the field
• default new item template
• new item template field

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@9f775e8a12 (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7c5ef8db631fd506. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at kernel/model/assets.go:1121

		err = fmt.Errorf("asset path resolves outside assets directory: %s", assetPath)
		return
	}

	relativePath = filepath.ToSlash(dataRelativePath)
	return
}

// ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath 解析 data 相对资源路径，并确认目标当前未被引用。
func ResolveUnusedDataAssetPath(assetPath string) (relativePath, absPath string, err error) {
	relativePath, absPath, err = ResolveDataAssetPath(assetPath)
	if err != nil {
		return
	}

	if unusedAssetsContainPath(relativePath, absPath, UnusedAssets(false)) {
		return
	}
	err = fmt.Errorf("asset is not unused: %s", relativePath)
	return
}

func unusedAssetsContainPath(relativePath, absPath string, items []*UnusedItem) bool {
	resolvedPath, _ := ResolveAssetPathWithMissingLeaf(absPath)
	for _, item := range items {
		if item.AbsPath != "" {
			resolvedItemPath, evalErr := ResolveAssetPathWithMissingLeaf(item.AbsPath)
			samePath, relErr := filepath.Rel(resolvedPath, resolvedItemPath)
			if resolvedPath != "" && evalErr == nil && relErr == nil && samePath == "." {
				return true
			}
			continue
		}
		itemPath := filepath.ToSlash(filepath.Clean(filepath.FromSlash(item.Item)))
		if itemPath == relativePath {
			return true
		}

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