siyuan-note/siyuan · error

--id is required

Error message

--id is required

What it means

The `export md` cobra subcommand requires the --id flag identifying the document to export as Markdown. The handler returns this error when --id is empty, before the dry-run check and before calling model.ExportMarkdownContent. The --output flag is optional (omit it to print to stdout).

Source

Thrown at kernel/cli/cmd/export.go:39

	"os"

	"github.com/siyuan-note/siyuan/kernel/model"

	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var exportCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "export",
	Short: "Export documents",
}

var exportMdCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "md --id <id>",
	Short: "Export as Markdown",
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
		id, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("id")
		if id == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("--id is required")
		}

		output, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("output")
		if dryRun && output != "" {
			fmt.Printf("[dry-run] Would export markdown for document %s to %s\n", id, output)
			return nil
		}

		_, content := model.ExportMarkdownContent(id, 4, 0, true, false, false, false, false)
		if output != "" {
			return os.WriteFile(output, []byte(content), 0644)
		}
		fmt.Print(content)
		return nil
	},
}

var exportHTMLCmd = &cobra.Command{

View on GitHub (pinned to 251596fc0d)

Solutions

1. Supply the document ID: `siyuan export md --id <id>`.
2. Optionally add `--output file.md` to write to a file instead of stdout.
3. Look up the ID via `document list` or `document search`.
4. Guard the ID variable in scripts.
5. Verify the flag with `siyuan export md --help`.

Example fix

// before
siyuan export md --output notes.md
// after
siyuan export md --id 20240101000000-abc1234 --output notes.md

[ -n "$DOC_ID" ] || { echo '--id is required' >&2; exit 2; }
siyuan export md --id "$DOC_ID" --output "$OUT"

if ! siyuan export md --id "$DOC_ID" --output "$OUT" 2>err.txt; then
  grep -q 'id is required' err.txt && echo "pass --id <docId>" >&2
  exit 1
fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `siyuan export md` with no flags; passing `--id ""`; scripting with an unset ID variable; misspelling the flag; passing only --output.

Common situations: Forgetting the ID; copy-paste leaving a placeholder; shell variable empty for an iteration; assuming export of the whole notebook (not supported by this subcommand); confusing notebook ID with document ID.

Related errors

• --notebook is required
• --title is required
• --id is required
• --id and --notebook are required
• --output is required for docx

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@251596fc0d (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/22f8a23584ef70ae. Report an issue: GitHub.