Quick start¶

Export a folder¶

ope export ./MyVault/Handbook

The PDF is written to ./.export/Handbook.pdf. The folder name is the title. Every subfolder becomes a section, see Folder Notes.

Title, version and output¶

ope export ./MyVault/Handbook \
  --title "Team handbook" --subtitle "How we work" \
  --version 3.1.0 --date 2026-05-07 \
  --output ./out/handbook.pdf

The title and subtitle go into the title block and the running header. The version and date go into the footer of the default template. Without --version, a folder inside a git repository shows the short commit hash.

Only some chapters¶

ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --include "Chapter A" --include "Chapter B"
ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --exclude "Drafts" --no-toc

--include and --exclude take names of the top-level subfolders.

Only notes with a tag¶

ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --tag security
ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --tag security --tag "#onboarding" --include "Chapter A"

--tag keeps the notes that have the tag, at any depth. Tags in the tags property and inline tags in the text both count. The match works like the tag search of Obsidian: the leading # and the case do not matter, and security also matches the nested tag security/backup, but not security-review. With several --tag, a note needs one of them. Together with --include or --exclude, a note has to pass both.

A folder whose note does not have the tag stays as a heading without text when a note below it has the tag. Folders without such a note are left out. When no note has the tag, the export stops with an error and writes no PDF.

A different look¶

ope list-templates
ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --template ./my-template/

A template is a CSS file or a folder with CSS, header and footer. See Templates and styling.

Settings for features¶

-O key=value passes settings to the steps, plugins and the template:

ope export ./MyVault/Handbook -O mermaid.landscape=on -O tables.landscape=off
ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --disable-plugin dataview

All keys are listed in the CLI reference.

Tracked changes¶

cd MyVault
ope redline ./Handbook --from-commit v3.0.0 --to-commit HEAD

Inserted text is green, removed text red and struck through. See Redline for flags, recipes and CI.

When something looks wrong¶

ope export ./MyVault/Handbook --debug

--debug keeps the build folder next to the PDF. assembled.md is what pandoc reads, final.html is what WeasyPrint lays out. See Debugging.