Exporting Data

Export channels and users to retrieve messages, metadata, and associated data. All exports run asynchronously and return a task ID for tracking status.

All export endpoints require server-side authentication.

Exporting Channels

Channel.export()
  .channel(
    ChannelExportRequestObject.builder()
      .type("channel-type")
      .id("channel-id")
      .build())
  .request();

Channel Export Options

ParameterDescription
typeChannel type (required)
idChannel ID (required)
messages_sinceExport messages after this timestamp (RFC3339 format)
messages_untilExport messages before this timestamp (RFC3339 format)
include_truncated_messagesInclude messages that were truncated (default: false)
include_soft_deleted_channelsInclude soft-deleted channels (default: false)
versionExport format: v1 (default) or v2 (line-separated JSON)

A single request can export up to 25 channels.

Export Format (v2)

Add version: "v2" for line-separated JSON output, where each entity appears on its own line.

Channel.export()
  .channel(
    ChannelExportRequestObject.builder()
      .type("channel-type")
      .id("channel-id")
      .build())
  .version("v2")
  .request();

Checking Export Status

Poll the task status using the returned task ID. When the task completes, the response includes a URL to download the JSON export file.

var response = Channel.exportStatus(taskId).request();

System.out.println(response.getStatus());          // Task status
System.out.println(response.getResult());          // Result object (when completed)
System.out.println(response.getResult().getUrl()); // Download URL
System.out.println(response.getError());           // Error description (if failed)
  • Download URLs expire after 24 hours but are regenerated on each status request
  • Export files remain available for 60 days
  • Timestamps use UTC in RFC3339 format (e.g., 2021-02-17T08:17:49.745857Z)

Exporting Users

Export user data including messages, reactions, calls, and custom data. The export uses line-separated JSON format (same as channel export v2).

const response = await serverClient.exportUsers({
  user_ids: [user1.id, user2.id],
});
const taskID = response.task_id;

A single request can export up to 25 users with a maximum of 10,000 messages per user. Contact support to export users with more than 10,000 messages.

Checking Export Status

var taskStatusResponse = TaskStatus.get(taskId).request();
// "completed".equals(taskStatusResponse.status);