siyuan-note/siyuan · error

--id is required

Error message

--id is required

What it means

The `siyuan export md` command requires `--id` naming the document to export as Markdown. The empty-flag guard runs first; only afterwards is `--output` read and the dry-run or actual export performed.

Solutions

1. Run `siyuan export md --id <doc-id> [--output <path>]`
2. Validate the ID variable is non-empty before invoking the export
3. Obtain the ID with `siyuan document search` and skip empty entries in batch lists

Example fix

// before
cat ids.txt | while read id; do export md --id "$id"; done   // blank line triggers error
// after
cat ids.txt | while read id; do [ -n "$id" ] && export md --id "$id"; done

if [ -z "$DOC_ID" ]; then echo "--id is required for export md" >&2; exit 2; fi
siyuan export md --id "$DOC_ID" --output "$OUT"

When it happens

Trigger: Running `export md` without `--id`; `--id` sourced from an unset environment variable, empty CI input, or a failed upstream lookup; a wrapper dropping the flag when output is specified.

Common situations: Batch export scripts where the ID list contained an empty line; users specifying only --output assuming the current document is implied; docs examples copied incompletely.

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, --key, --item and --value are required
• --block is required for non-detached rows
• --id and --notebook are required
• --id is required

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@9f775e8a12 (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/22f8a23584ef70ae. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at kernel/cli/cmd/export.go:40

	"github.com/siyuan-note/filelock"
	"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 {
			if output == "" {
				output = "stdout"
			}
			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)
		return writeExportContent(content, output)
	},
}

var exportHTMLCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "html --id <id>",

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