Jump to org-mode heading from external application

Question

I want to create a URL that uses org-id to jump to its associated heading in Emacs org-mode.

I tried using:

org-protocol://org-id-goto?id=DC6BC674-8CE1-451D-A45F-05E09F1F743D

But this only opens Emacs with a blank *scratch* window. It does not actually navigate anywhere... am I missing something?

Also, I notice that each time I enter this link in my browser, I get a pop-up message, asking if I want to allow "Safari/Firefox/Chrome/Etc." to open Emacs. Is there anyway to disable this message for the future?

Answer 1

I'm doing the same thing as you under the inspiration of Roam Protocol

You can't use the built-in org-id-goto directly, you have to custom your own org-protocol handler first. Here's the way I do:

(add-to-list 'org-protocol-protocol-alist
             '("org-id" :protocol "org-id"
               :function org-id-protocol-goto-org-id))

(defun org-id-protocol-goto-org-id (info)
  "This handler simply goes to the org heading with given id using emacsclient.

    INFO is an alist containing additional information passed by the protocol URL.
    It should contain the id key, pointing to the path of the org id.

      Example protocol string:
      org-protocol://org-id?id=309A0509-81BE-4D51-87F4-D3F61B79EBA4"
  (when-let ((id (plist-get info :id)))
    (org-id-goto id))
  nil)

Then, if you open link like org-protocol://org-id?id=309A0509-81BE-4D51-87F4-D3F61B79EBA4 in a web brower, it will jump directly to the heading with id 309A0509-81BE-4D51-87F4-D3F61B79EBA4 in emacs.

Also, here's a snippet for getting this kind of org-protocol link from current heading:

(defun org-id-protocol-link-copy ()
  (interactive)
  (org-kill-new (concat "org-protocol://org-id?id="
                        (org-id-copy))))