api.getNote(<jsBackendNoteId>) Executes Note

[MatthewColvin]

Description

I have a custom widget that can run back end notes.
It uses api.runOnBackend() to help with this.

From the widget...

async function runBackendNote(noteId) {
    await api.runOnBackend(function(noteId) {
        // Working theory is that:
        // ISSUE: Just calling api.getNote just auto execs when the note is labeled as js backend 
        const note = api.getNote(noteId);
        if (!note) { 
            api.log(`Could not find backend note: ${noteId}`); 
            return; 
        }
        
        // This was a work around since there is no api.runNote I was using for a little while
        // but it ended up causing double script execution 
        // const script = note.getContent();
        // eval(script);
        
    }, [noteId]);
    console.log("runBackendNote finished for noteId:", noteId);
}

I validated this is due to the fact the note is labaled as a JS backend note. i.e. type=application/javascript;env=backend because if I just change to plan text the note is not ran when calling api.getNote().

Claude really really wants there to be a runNote(noteId) API which would really help with my use case.

Never the less I don't think the intention is for a getNote call to actually exectue the note if that is expected then feel free to just close this up.

TriliumNext Version

0.102.1

What operating system are you using?

Ubuntu

What is your setup?

Local + server sync

Operating System Version

Ubuntu 22.04

Error logs

No response

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @MatthewColvin! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Trilium team.

Looking at the codebase, api.getNote() is a simple wrapper that just does a dictionary lookup in Becca (the in-memory cache) - it has no execution logic. So you're right that auto-execution is not intended behavior.

A few things to check that might explain the unexpected execution:

1. Event relations - Does the note being retrieved have any ~runOnNoteChange, ~runOnNoteCreation, or similar relations? These automatically trigger execution when those events occur
2. Scheduled labels - Check if the note has #run=hourly, #run=daily, or #run=backendStartup labels that might coincidentally trigger execution
3. Timing - The execution might be coming from somewhere else in your widget code path

As for running backend notes programmatically, there's no public api.runNote(), but the internal scriptService.executeNote() and the API endpoint /api/script/run/:noteId are what handle that. A feature request for a public api.runNote() method seems reasonable.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

---

Docs are dead. Just use Dosu.

[MatthewColvin]

@dosu

There are no labels or attributes on this JS backend note.

The execution is coming from the widget and i can gather more info if you have a way for me to do thatbut the call is for sure executing the script.

Thanks for agreeing on the api.runNote suggestion can you file a ticket on that?

[dosubot[bot]]

Thanks for confirming there are no labels/relations on the note - that rules out the scheduled/event-driven triggers. This does seem like unexpected behavior worth investigating further.

For debugging, it would help to see:

1. The full widget code (especially the runOnBackend callback and surrounding logic)
2. Whether the execution happens immediately when api.getNote() is called or after some delay
3. Any server-side logs around the time of execution

Unfortunately, I can't file tickets myself - I'm just an AI assistant without the ability to create GitHub issues. You'd need to open a separate feature request for api.runNote(). There's been discussion about programmatically running notes but no formal feature request exists yet, so it would be a good addition to track.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

---

Docs are dead. Just use Dosu.

[eliandoran]

@MatthewColvin , since you are in a front-end script (widget), you can already execute a backend script on demand via:

const note = await api.getNote(noteId);
await note.executeScript();

Note that this needs to be run on the frontend and not backend (e.g. wrapped in a #runOnBackend).

Notes are not run automatically upon getNote.

[eliandoran]

We'll also add a backend script API to run another note.

[MatthewColvin]

Thanks for the reply @eliandoran,
I can verify that the code I shared where I call

const note = api.getNote(noteId);

inside of runOnBackend() it does execute the note because I am depending on that behavior to do what I am doing lol

Can you help me understand what you mean by "(e.g. wrapped in a #runOnBackend)."

Like below?

async function runBackendNote(noteId) {
    await api.runOnBackend(function(noteId) {
        const note = api.getNote(noteId);
        const scriptRet = await note.executeScript();     
        return scriptRet;
    }, [noteId]);
}