siyuan-note/siyuan · error

--old is required

Error message

--old is required

What it means

The `bookmark rename` command requires both --old (current label) and --new (new label). This error fires when --old is missing or empty (kernel/cli/cmd/bookmark.go:101), before model.RenameBookmark runs.

Solutions

1. Provide both flags: bookmark rename --old "OldLabel" --new "NewLabel"
2. List bookmarks first to confirm the exact current label used as --old
3. In scripts, validate both variables are non-empty before invoking the command

Example fix

// before
siyuan bookmark rename --new "Important"
// after
siyuan bookmark rename --old "TODO" --new "Important"

if [ -z "$OLD" ] || [ -z "$NEW" ]; then echo "both --old and --new are required" >&2; exit 1; fi
siyuan bookmark rename --old "$OLD" --new "$NEW"

When it happens

Trigger: Running `bookmark rename --new "New"` without --old, or with `--old ""`; misspelling the flag so the empty default is read.

Common situations: Renaming bookmarks in bulk scripts where the old-label variable is unset; only partially updating a command line after copying the rename example; confusing this rename with attribute/attribute-view rename commands that use different flags.

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

• --new is required
• --label is required
• --av and --ids are required
• --av, --key, --item and --value 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/967cd4802ae2e1e8. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at kernel/cli/cmd/bookmark.go:101

			return nil
		}

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

var bookmarkRenameCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "rename --old <old> --new <new>",
	Short: "Rename a bookmark",
	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 bookmark \"%s\" to \"%s\"\n", oldLabel, newLabel)
			return nil
		}

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

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