siyuan-note/siyuan · error

--left and --right are required

Error message

--left and --right are required

What it means

Returned by the `repo diff` subcommand when either --left or --right (snapshot IDs) is empty. Diffing two snapshots requires both endpoints; the combined `left == "" || right == ""` check fires before model.DiffRepoSnapshots.

Source

Thrown at kernel/cli/cmd/repo.go:176

			return nil
		}

		model.CheckoutRepoDirect(id)
		model.AppendPushReloadFiletreeEntry()
		model.AppendPushReloadUIEntry()
		fmt.Println("ok")
		return nil
	},
}

var repoDiffCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "diff --left <id> --right <id>",
	Short: "Diff two snapshots",
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
		left, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("left")
		right, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("right")
		if left == "" || right == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("--left and --right are required")
		}
		diff, err := model.DiffRepoSnapshots(left, right)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		data, _ := json.MarshalIndent(diff, "", "  ")
		fmt.Println(string(data))
		return nil
	},
}

var repoSearchCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "search <keyword>",
	Short: "Search files in snapshots",
	Args:  cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
		keyword := args[0]
		page, _ := cmd.Flags().GetInt("page")

View on GitHub (pinned to 251596fc0d)

Solutions

1. Provide both flags: `repo diff --left <id-a> --right <id-b>`.
2. List snapshots to obtain both valid IDs.

Example fix

# before
siyuan repo diff --left 20240601-abc
got: --left and --right are required
# after
siyuan repo diff --left 20240601-abc --right 20240602-def

[ -n "$LEFT" ] && [ -n "$RIGHT" ] || { echo 'repo diff requires --left and --right'; exit 1; }
siyuan repo diff --left "$LEFT" --right "$RIGHT"

n/a (CLI flag validation)

n/a

When it happens

Trigger: Running `repo diff` with one or both of --left / --right missing or empty.

Common situations: Passing only one snapshot ID, mixing up positional vs flag usage, or a script that left one variable blank.

Related errors

• --id and --name are required
• --name is required
• --id is required
• --pattern is required
• --path is required

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@251596fc0d (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fd52379a82f10220. Report an issue: GitHub.