siyuan-note/siyuan · error

--av and --key are required

Error message

--av and --key are required

What it means

The `database remove-key` subcommand requires both `--av` (database ID) and `--key` (key/field ID). Either being empty returns this combined error before any removal. This guard prevents accidental unscoped deletions.

Solutions

1. Fetch the key ID via `siyuan database keys --av <avID>` and pass it to `--key`
2. Provide both flags: `--av <avID> --key <keyID>`
3. Optionally set `--remove-relation-dest` to also clean relation destinations
4. Use `--dry-run` before actual removal

Example fix

// before
siyuan database remove-key --av 20240101120000-avxyz --key "Priority"
// after
siyuan database remove-key --av 20240101120000-avxyz --key 20240101120000-key1

if [ -z "$AV_ID" ] || [ -z "$KEY_ID" ]; then
  echo "--av and --key are required"; exit 1
fi
KEY_ID=$(siyuan database keys --av "$AV_ID" | resolve-id-of "$KEY_NAME")
siyuan database remove-key --av "$AV_ID" --key "$KEY_ID"

When it happens

Trigger: Running `siyuan database remove-key` without `--key`, without `--av`, or with both empty. Note `--key` must be the key ID, not the display name.

Common situations: Passing a human-readable field name to `--key` instead of its ID; forgetting `--av` when the key ID alone seems unique; automation scripts with unset variables.

Understand the failure class

Background: "--flag is required" and "must specify" CLI errors: how missing-required-flag validation works and how to fix it — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• --av and --ids are required
• --av is required
• --av, --key, --item and --value are required
• --av, --name and --type are required
• --block is required for non-detached rows

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@9f775e8a12 (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a3970f19c3dfed65. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at kernel/cli/cmd/database.go:174

		keyID := ast.NewNodeID()
		if err := model.AddAttributeViewKey(avID, "", keyID, name, keyType, icon, prev, av.DateDisplayFormatFull); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		model.AppendPushReloadAttrViewEntry(avID)
		fmt.Println(keyID)
		return nil
	},
}

var databaseKeyRemoveCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "remove --av <avID> --key <keyID>",
	Short: "Remove a key (field) from database",
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
		avID, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("av")
		keyID, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("key")
		removeRelation, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("remove-relation-dest")
		if avID == "" || keyID == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("--av and --key are required")
		}

		if dryRun {
			fmt.Printf("[dry-run] Would remove key %s from database %s\n", keyID, avID)
			return nil
		}

		if err := model.RemoveAttributeViewKey(avID, keyID, removeRelation); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		model.AppendPushReloadAttrViewEntry(avID)
		fmt.Println("ok")
		return nil
	},
}

var databaseUnusedCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "unused",

View on GitHub (pinned to 9f775e8a12)