LinkDing CLI (linkdingctl)

A scriptable CLI for managing bookmarks in a LinkDing instance.

Features

• Full CRUD for bookmarks and tags
• Import/export in JSON, HTML (Netscape), and CSV formats
• Timestamped backup/restore
• --json output on all commands for scripting
• Single Go binary, no dependencies

Installation

From source

git clone https://github.com/rodmhgl/linkdingctl
cd linkding-cli
go build -o linkdingctl ./cmd/linkdingctl
sudo mv linkdingctl /usr/local/bin/

From Binary Releases

Download the latest binary from the Releases page.

Quick Start

# Configure connection
linkdingctl config init

# Or use environment variables
export LINKDING_URL="https://linkding.example.com"
export LINKDING_TOKEN="your-api-token"

# Verify
linkdingctl config test

# Add a bookmark
linkdingctl add https://example.com --title "Example Site" --tags "reference,tools"

# List bookmarks
linkdingctl list
linkdingctl list --tags "homelab,docker"
linkdingctl list --unread --json

Commands

Configuration

linkdingctl config init          # Interactive setup
linkdingctl config show          # Show current config
linkdingctl config test          # Test connection

Config file: ~/.config/linkdingctl/config.yaml

url: https://linkding.example.com
token: your-api-token-here

Environment variables (LINKDING_URL, LINKDING_TOKEN) override the config file.

Bookmarks

Add

linkdingctl add <url> [flags]
  -t, --title string         Bookmark title
  -d, --description string   Bookmark description
  -T, --tags strings         Comma-separated tags
      --unread               Mark as unread
      --shared               Make publicly shared
      --archived             Add to archive

linkdingctl add https://example.com --title "Example" --tags "dev,tools"
linkdingctl add https://news.com --unread --tags "reading-list"

List

linkdingctl list [flags]
  -q, --query string    Search query
  -T, --tags strings    Filter by tags
      --unread          Show only unread
      --shared          Show only shared
      --archived        Show only archived
      --limit int       Number of results (default: all)

linkdingctl list --tags "homelab"
linkdingctl list --query "kubernetes" --limit 10

Get / Update / Delete

linkdingctl get <id>
linkdingctl get 123 --json

linkdingctl update <id> [flags]
  --url string              New URL
  -t, --title string        New title
  -d, --description string  New description
  -T, --tags strings        Replace tags
      --add-tags strings    Add tags without removing existing
      --remove-tags strings Remove specific tags
      --unread bool         Set unread status
      --shared bool         Set shared status
      --archived bool       Set archived status

linkdingctl update 123 --title "New Title"
linkdingctl update 123 --add-tags "important"
linkdingctl update 123 --archived=true

linkdingctl delete <id>
linkdingctl delete 123 --force   # Skip confirmation

Tags

linkdingctl tags                           # List all with counts
linkdingctl tags --sort name               # Sort by name or count
linkdingctl tags rename <old> <new>        # Rename across all bookmarks
linkdingctl tags delete <name>             # Delete (shows affected bookmarks)
linkdingctl tags delete "obsolete" --force # Skip confirmation

Export / Import

linkdingctl export [flags]
  -f, --format string    json, html, csv (default: json)
  -o, --output string    Output file (default: stdout)
  -T, --tags strings     Export only matching tags
      --archived         Include archived (default: true)

linkdingctl export > bookmarks.json
linkdingctl export -f html -o bookmarks.html
linkdingctl export --tags homelab -f csv -o homelab.csv

linkdingctl import <file> [flags]
  -f, --format string      json, html, csv (default: auto-detect from extension)
  --dry-run                Preview without making changes
  --skip-duplicates        Skip existing URLs (default: update them)
  -T, --add-tags strings   Add tags to all imported bookmarks

linkdingctl import bookmarks.json
linkdingctl import bookmarks.html --add-tags "imported"
linkdingctl import export.csv --dry-run

Backup / Restore

linkdingctl backup [flags]
  -o, --output string    Output directory (default: cwd)
      --prefix string    Filename prefix (default: "linkding-backup")

linkdingctl backup                    # Creates: linkding-backup-2026-01-22T103000.json
linkdingctl backup -o ~/backups/

linkdingctl restore <backup-file> [flags]
  --dry-run   Preview what would be restored
  --wipe      Delete ALL existing bookmarks first (requires confirmation)

linkdingctl restore backup.json --dry-run
linkdingctl restore backup.json --wipe

Without --wipe, restore updates existing bookmarks and adds new ones.

Scripting Examples

linkdingctl list --json | jq '.count'
linkdingctl list --tags "homelab" --json | jq -r '.results[].url'
linkdingctl list --json | jq '.results[] | select(.tag_names | length == 0) | {id, title}'

# Nightly backup via cron
0 2 * * * linkdingctl backup -o ~/backups/ > /dev/null 2>&1

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Error (API, network, etc.)
2	Configuration error

Development

Requires Go 1.21+.

go build -o linkdingctl ./cmd/linkdingctl
go test ./...

Project Structure

cmd/linkdingctl/    # Command implementations
internal/
  api/              # LinkDing API client
  config/           # Configuration loading
  models/           # Data structures
  export/           # Import/export logic

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license.

Acknowledgments

Built for use with LinkDing by sissbruecker.