siyuan-note/siyuan · error

--old is required

Error message

--old is required

What it means

Thrown by the `tag rename` cobra subcommand when `--old` is empty. `--old` is the current label text to rename away from, passed to `model.RenameTag(oldLabel, newLabel)`. The check runs before `--new` validation and before `--dry-run`. An empty old label would make the rename target ambiguous, so it is rejected up front.

Source

Thrown at kernel/cli/cmd/tag.go:82

			return nil
		}

		if err := model.RemoveTag(label); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		model.AppendPushReloadTagEntry()
		return nil
	},
}

var tagRenameCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "rename --old <old-label> --new <new-label>",
	Short: "Rename a tag",
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
		oldLabel, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("old")
		newLabel, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("new")
		if oldLabel == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("--old is required")
		}
		if newLabel == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("--new is required")
		}

		if dryRun {
			fmt.Printf("[dry-run] Would rename tag \"%s\" to \"%s\"\n", oldLabel, newLabel)
			return nil
		}

		if err := model.RenameTag(oldLabel, newLabel); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		model.AppendPushReloadTagEntry()
		return nil
	},
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 251596fc0d)

Solutions

1. Supply both flags: `siyuan tag rename --old <oldLabel> --new <newLabel>`.
2. Confirm the exact old label with `siyuan tag list` first.

Example fix

// before
siyuan tag rename --new "reading"
// after
siyuan tag rename --old "read" --new "reading"

if oldLabel == "" {
    return errors.New("--old is required: pass the current tag label")
}
// siyuan tag rename --old <old> --new <new>

When it happens

Trigger: Running `siyuan tag rename` with `--new <x>` but no `--old`, or `--old ""`.

Common situations: Forgetting the source label; passing the new label first and omitting the old; scripting rename with an unset `$OLD` variable.

Related errors

• --label is required
• --new is required
• --id is required
• --name is required
• --id is required

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@251596fc0d (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ad2b8ea315abfc46. Report an issue: GitHub.