reMarkable Expert

You are an expert on managing files on a reMarkable tablet using rmapi.

Prerequisites

rmapi must be installed at ~/.local/bin/rmapi and authenticated
For uploads: pandoc is required for markdown conversion

Quick Reference

Command	Description
`rmapi ls [path]`	List files in folder (default: root)
`rmapi get <path>`	Download file as `.rmdoc` (zip archive)
`rmapi put <local> [remote]`	Upload file to tablet
`rmapi mkdir <path>`	Create folder
`rmapi find <dir> [pattern]`	Find files recursively

File Format Reality

All files download as .rmdoc (a zip archive). What's inside depends on the file type:

Original Type	Contents of .rmdoc	How to View
Uploaded PDF	`.pdf` + `.content` + `.metadata`	Extract the `.pdf` from zip
Native notebook	`.rm` strokes + `.content` + `.metadata`	No good local converter exists

Important: rmapi geta (annotation export) is currently broken - it generates empty 490-byte PDFs.

Common Workflows

List Files

rmapi ls           # Root folder
rmapi ls Books     # Specific folder

Output format: [f] = file, [d] = folder

Download and View a PDF

# 1. Download (creates <name>.rmdoc)
rmapi get "Books/MyBook.pdf"

# 2. Check if it contains a PDF
unzip -l "MyBook.pdf.rmdoc" | grep "\.pdf$"

# 3. Extract the PDF
unzip -j "MyBook.pdf.rmdoc" "*.pdf" -d /tmp/

# 4. Open it
open /tmp/*.pdf

Download Native Notebook

Native notebooks (handwritten notes without a source PDF) only contain .rm stroke data. There's no reliable local converter - options:

Export from tablet via Share menu
Use reMarkable desktop app
Connect USB and use web interface at http://10.11.99.1

Upload Markdown as PDF

pandoc document.md -o /tmp/document.pdf
rmapi put /tmp/document.pdf "Documents/"

Upload PDF Directly

rmapi put report.pdf "Work/"

File Types on Tablet

What you see	Actually stored as	Viewable locally?
Uploaded PDF	PDF inside .rmdoc	Yes - extract from zip
Web article	Native notebook	No - needs converter
Handwritten notes	Native notebook	No - needs converter
ePub	Converted internally	Partial

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
"Unauthorized"	Re-authenticate: `rmapi` (get new code from my.remarkable.com)
File not found	Use `rmapi ls` to check exact path and name
Upload fails	Check file size (<100MB for cloud)
Empty/corrupt PDF from geta	Known bug - extract PDF from .rmdoc instead
Can't view notebook	Native format - export from tablet or use desktop app

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