IWE Inline

Replace an inclusion link with the referenced document content.

Usage

iwe inline <KEY> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument	Description
`<KEY>`	Document key containing the reference to inline

Options

Flag	Description
`--reference <KEY>`	Reference key or title to inline
`--block <N>`	Block number to inline (1-indexed)
`--list`	List all inclusion links with numbers
`--action <NAME>`	Action name from config to use for inlining
`--as-quote`	Inline as blockquote instead of section
`--keep-target`	Keep the target document after inlining
`--dry-run`	Preview changes without writing to disk
`--quiet`	Suppress progress output
`--keys`	Print affected document keys (one per line)

How It Works

The inline command embeds referenced content directly into the source document:

Select a reference - Use --list to see available references, then select with --reference or --block
Embed content - The referenced document’s content replaces the inclusion link
Delete target (optional) - By default, the referenced document is deleted
Clean up references - Other references to the deleted document are updated

Workflow

Step 1: List Available References

$ iwe inline my-document --list
1: [Introduction](introduction)
2: [Getting Started](getting-started)
3: [Configuration](config)

Step 2: Inline by Reference or Block Number

# By reference key/title (case-insensitive, partial match)
$ iwe inline my-document --reference "getting-started"
Inlining [Getting Started](getting-started) into 'my-document'
Done

# By block number (unambiguous)
$ iwe inline my-document --block 2
Inlining [Getting Started](getting-started) into 'my-document'
Done

Inline Types

Section (Default)

Embeds the full content of the referenced document:

Before:

# My Document

[Introduction](introduction)

After:

# My Document

## Introduction

Content from the introduction document...

Quote (`--as-quote`)

Wraps the content in a blockquote:

Before:

# My Document

[Quote Source](quote-source)

After:

# My Document

> Content from the quote source document...

Target Document Handling

Default Behavior (Delete Target)

By default, the target document is deleted and other references are cleaned up:

$ iwe inline index --reference "old-section"
Inlining [Old Section](old-section) into 'index'
Done

Keep Target (`--keep-target`)

Preserve the target document after inlining:

$ iwe inline index --reference "shared-content" --keep-target
Inlining [Shared Content](shared-content) into 'index'
Done

Configuration

The --action flag uses inline settings from .iwe/config.toml:

[actions]
inline_section = { type = "inline", title = "Inline Section", inline_type = "section", keep_target = false }
inline_quote = { type = "inline", title = "Inline as Quote", inline_type = "quote", keep_target = true }

Output Modes

Default Output

Shows progress:

$ iwe inline my-document --reference "config"
Inlining [Configuration](config) into 'my-document'
Done

Dry Run (`--dry-run`)

Preview what would happen:

$ iwe inline my-document --reference "config" --dry-run
Would inline [Configuration](config) into 'my-document'
Would delete 'config'
Would update 2 additional document(s)

Keys Output (`--keys`)

Print affected document keys:

$ iwe inline my-document --block 1 --keys
my-document
introduction
other-referencing-doc

Examples

# List all inclusion links with numbers
iwe inline notes/index --list

# Inline by reference key
iwe inline notes/index --reference "architecture"

# Inline by block number (unambiguous)
iwe inline notes/index --block 1

# Preview changes without writing
iwe inline notes/index --reference "design" --dry-run

# Keep the target document after inlining
iwe inline notes/index --block 2 --keep-target

# Inline as blockquote instead of section
iwe inline notes/index --reference "notes" --as-quote

# Use a specific action from config
iwe inline notes/index --reference "design" --action "inline_quote"

Use Cases

Consolidating Documents

Merge related documents into a single comprehensive document:

# See what references exist
iwe inline comprehensive-guide --list

# Inline each section
iwe inline comprehensive-guide --reference "intro"
iwe inline comprehensive-guide --reference "setup"
iwe inline comprehensive-guide --reference "usage"

Embedding Quotes

Add cited content as blockquotes:

iwe inline article --reference "source-material" --as-quote --keep-target

Preview Impact

Check what would be affected before inlining:

# See all affected documents
iwe inline index --reference "shared-doc" --dry-run

# Get keys for further analysis
iwe inline index --reference "shared-doc" --keys --dry-run

Scripting

Use with other commands:

# Inline all references in a document
iwe inline my-doc --list | while read line; do
  NUM=$(echo "$line" | cut -d: -f1)
  iwe inline my-doc --block "$NUM" --quiet
done

Error Handling

The command fails with an error if:

The document does not exist
No reference matches the provided key/title (with --reference)
Multiple references match (use --block instead)
The block number is out of range (with --block)
Must specify --reference, --block, or --list

Technical Notes

When inlining as a section, header levels are adjusted appropriately
When deleting the target, all other references to it are cleaned up
Inline references (not inclusion links) are converted to plain text
The command uses the same inline logic as the LSP code action

IWE Extract IWE Delete