tmd object create

Creates a new object file (Markdown + YAML frontmatter) based on the type schema.

tmd object create [type] [name]
tmd object create book "Clean Code"
tmd object create book "Clean Code" -t review
tmd object create --type idea "Some Thought"
tmd object create "Some Thought"              # uses default type from config
tmd object create book

The type argument can be omitted if --type flag is set or cli.default_type is configured in .typemd/config.yaml. When a single argument matches a known type name, it is treated as the type. To use a name that collides with a type name, use the --type flag explicitly.

Names are automatically converted to slugs for the filename (e.g., “Clean Code” becomes clean-code in the filename), while the original input is preserved as the name property in frontmatter.

If the type has a name template, the name argument is optional — the name will be auto-generated from the template. When no name is provided and no name template is defined, an error is returned.

The command generates a .md file under objects/<type>/ with all schema-defined properties set to their default values (or null if no default is specified). The object is also added to the SQLite index.

Each object is assigned a unique ULID suffix, so multiple objects of the same type can share the same name (e.g. two book/clean-code-<ulid> files with different ULIDs). If the type does not exist, an error is returned.

Flags

Flag	Short	Description
--type		Object type (overrides config default)
--template	-t	Template name to use (from templates/<type>/)

Default type

If cli.default_type is configured in .typemd/config.yaml, you can omit the type argument:

.typemd/config.yaml

cli:
  default_type: page

# These are equivalent when default_type is "page":
tmd object create page "Some Thought"
tmd object create "Some Thought"

The --type flag always takes precedence over the config default.

Templates

If the type has templates defined in templates/<type>/, they are resolved automatically:

• No templates — proceeds without a template
• Single template — auto-applied without prompting
• Multiple templates — interactive prompt for selection (or use -t to skip the prompt)

Template frontmatter properties override schema defaults. Template body becomes the initial object body. Auto-managed system properties (created_at, updated_at) in templates are ignored.