diff --git a/crates/pile/src/command/item.rs b/crates/pile/src/command/item.rs
index 5c9ba9c..db1e3a2 100644
--- a/crates/pile/src/command/item.rs
+++ b/crates/pile/src/command/item.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ pub struct ItemCommand {
 	#[arg(long, short = 'p')]
 	path: Option<String>,
 
+	/// If present, print the schema fields instead of item data
+	#[arg(long)]
+	fields: bool,
+
+	#[arg(long, short = 'x')]
+	exclude: Vec<String>,
+
 	/// Path to dataset config
 	#[arg(long, short = 'c', default_value = "./pile.toml")]
 	config: PathBuf,
@@ -42,24 +49,57 @@ impl CliCmd for ItemCommand {
 
 		let state = ExtractState { ignore_mime: false };
 
+		let item = ds.get(&source, &self.key).await.ok_or_else(|| {
+			anyhow::anyhow!("{:?} not found in source {:?}", self.key, self.source)
+		})?;
+		let pv = PileValue::Item(item);
+
+		if self.fields {
+			let mut map = serde_json::Map::new();
+			for (name, spec) in &ds.config.schema {
+				if self.exclude.contains(&name.to_string()) {
+					continue;
+				}
+
+				let mut value = None;
+				for path in &spec.path {
+					let v = pv
+						.query(&state, path)
+						.await
+						.with_context(|| format!("while extracting field {name}"))?;
+					if let Some(v) = v {
+						let j = v
+							.to_json(&state)
+							.await
+							.with_context(|| format!("while extracting field {name}"))?;
+						value = Some(j);
+						break;
+					}
+				}
+				map.insert(name.to_string(), value.unwrap_or(serde_json::Value::Null));
+			}
+			let json = serde_json::to_string_pretty(&serde_json::Value::Object(map)).unwrap();
+			println!("{json}");
+			return Ok(0);
+		}
+
 		let json = if let Some(path_str) = self.path {
 			let path: ObjectPath = path_str
 				.parse()
 				.with_context(|| format!("invalid path {path_str:?}"))?;
 
-			ds.get_field(&state, &source, &self.key, &path)
+			let v = pv
+				.query(&state, &path)
 				.await
 				.with_context(|| format!("while extracting {}", self.key))?
 				.ok_or_else(|| {
 					anyhow::anyhow!("{:?} not found in source {:?}", self.key, self.source)
-				})?
+				})?;
+			v.to_json(&state)
+				.await
+				.with_context(|| format!("while extracting {}", self.key))?
 		} else {
-			let item = ds.get(&source, &self.key).await.ok_or_else(|| {
-				anyhow::anyhow!("{:?} not found in source {:?}", self.key, self.source)
-			})?;
-
-			let item = PileValue::Item(item);
-			item.to_json(&state)
+			pv.to_json(&state)
 				.await
 				.with_context(|| format!("while extracting {}", self.key))?
 		};