REST API export + search but cloning "internal link" notes in static html instead of linking them to source

[nul0op]

My objectif is to populate a personnal website (static html pages) with notes that

• option 1: are tagged with a specific label anywhere in my note tree.
• option 2: create internal link (cut and paste) under a dedicated tree named "Published Notes" and just export this one.

(by exporting i mean using REST api to do it)

While trying to implement those two scenarios, i hit two different problem:

Option 1: by using exportNodeSubTree with 'root': no way to filter by label but there is a working css in the exported folder (looks the same as in desktop, almost). Problem here is that i get all and every page.

Option 2: to mitigate the "export all problem" before, tried to export only one node instead of 'root'

• i don't get anymore a working styling/css (just plain html with no style, despite having a style.css exported). is that expected ? is there a way to fix that by forcing an attribute (theme ?) on the "Published Notes" node ?
• all "internal link" notes (those under "Published Notes") links to the one under their original location under the root tree. I guess this is by design, but to avoid publishing private info/note, i planned to delete from the export all folders (i mean rm'it) excepting the "Published Note" one. doing that i break he export obviously.

perhaps i'm missing something obvious ?

so, at the end:

• add filter paramter to exportNodeSubTree would be fantastic
• add option to clone internal links instead of linking to the "original" one would be even better

thanks for your comments.

[pratikrath126]

Hey! I can share a couple of workarounds for your Trilium export needs:

1. Styling: The exportNodeSubTree endpoint accepts includeCSS=true and you can specify a theme (by note ID) to include the CSS. Make sure the node you're exporting has a theme set (you can copy the theme from the root). The CSS file should be placed correctly; if it's missing, check that the exportFolder structure includes theme.css or style.css. You might need to set the theme parameter directly in the request.
2. Internal links: By default, internal links point to the original note's position in the tree. If you export a single subtree, those links will still reference the original note IDs, which may break if you remove other parts. There's no built-in 'clone links' option, but you can post-process the HTML to rewrite href attributes to use relative paths within your exported subtree. Alternatively, you can export the entire tree and then prune unwanted folders while preserving links; the links are based on note IDs and the directory structure matches the tree, so as long as you keep the exported folder structure intact, internal links remain valid.
3. Filtering by label: The API doesn't support label filtering directly on exportNodeSubTree. However, you can first query notes with the desired label using GET /notes?label= or search, collect their IDs, and then export each individually or batch them into a temporary subtree to export.
   Hope that helps you move forward!

[nul0op]

thanks, i'll investiguate those options.

i just had a peek in the source code of the export function, and wonder if it's going to be a huge effort to mix the ?label= with the export endpoint. I see a roadblock with the path between root and a given (labelled) note deep in the tree that need to be implicitely included in the export.

probably others i'm not thinking about ... if i'm not successfull with your workarounds, perhaps I can investigate this with a proposed patch.

Thanks

[nul0op]

playing / looking at the source code, i've to add on top of what you already shared that we can exclude node from the export process by setting the "excludeFromExport" label on it.
It looks like the "cloned" note 404 is then OK. even if the source note is not in the export (because i excluded one of it's parent), the clone is well present if none of it's parent is excluded.

only annoying things here is

• it's an "exported by default" rule. i would prefer a "NOT exported by default" option
• i still have to figure it why, but the first level of notes/folder (those just below root and where i set the excludeFromExport label are exported (but empty). only the child are effectively excluded). Looks like a bug to me, but still need some investiguations/tests.