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Project import/export API

Introduced in GitLab 10.6.

See also:

Schedule an export

Start a new export.

The endpoint also accepts an upload parameter. This parameter is a hash that contains all the necessary information to upload the exported project to a web server or to any S3-compatible platform. At the moment we only support binary data file uploads to the final server.

From GitLab 10.7, the upload[url] parameter is required if the upload parameter is present.

POST /projects/:id/export
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user
description string no Overrides the project description
upload hash no Hash that contains the information to upload the exported project to a web server
upload[url] string yes The URL to upload the project
upload[http_method] string no The HTTP method to upload the exported project. Only PUT and POST methods allowed. Default is PUT 
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/export \
    --data "upload[http_method]=PUT" \
    --data-urlencode "upload[url]=https://example-bucket.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/backup?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIMBJHN2O62W8IELQ%2F20180312%2Feu-west-3%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20180312T110328Z&X-Amz-Expires=900&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=8413facb20ff33a49a147a0b4abcff4c8487cc33ee1f7e450c46e8f695569dbd"
{
  "message": "202 Accepted"
}

NOTE: Note: The upload request will be sent with Content-Type: application/gzip header. Ensure that your pre-signed URL includes this as part of the signature.

Export status

Get the status of export.

GET /projects/:id/export
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/export

Status can be one of:

  • none
  • queued
  • started
  • finished
  • regeneration_in_progress

queued state represents the request for export is received, and is currently in the queue to be processed.

The started state represents that the export process has started and is currently in progress. It includes the process of exporting, actions performed on the resultant file such as sending an email notifying the user to download the file, uploading the exported file to a web server, etc.

finished state is after the export process has completed and the user has been notified.

regeneration_in_progress is when an export file is available to download, and a request to generate a new export is in process.

_links are only present when export has finished.

{
  "id": 1,
  "description": "Itaque perspiciatis minima aspernatur corporis consequatur.",
  "name": "Gitlab Test",
  "name_with_namespace": "Gitlab Org / Gitlab Test",
  "path": "gitlab-test",
  "path_with_namespace": "gitlab-org/gitlab-test",
  "created_at": "2017-08-29T04:36:44.383Z",
  "export_status": "finished",
  "_links": {
    "api_url": "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/export/download",
    "web_url": "https://gitlab.example.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-test/download_export",
  }
}

Export download

Download the finished export.

GET /projects/:id/export/download
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --remote-header-name --remote-name https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/5/export/download
ls *export.tar.gz
2017-12-05_22-11-148_namespace_project_export.tar.gz

Import a file

POST /projects/import
Attribute Type Required Description
namespace integer/string no The ID or path of the namespace that the project will be imported to. Defaults to the current user's namespace
name string no The name of the project to be imported. Defaults to the path of the project if not provided
file string yes The file to be uploaded
path string yes Name and path for new project
overwrite boolean no If there is a project with the same path the import will overwrite it. Default to false
override_params Hash no Supports all fields defined in the Project API

The override parameters passed will take precedence over all values defined inside the export file.

To upload a file from your file system, use the --form argument. This causes cURL to post data using the header Content-Type: multipart/form-data. The file= parameter must point to a file on your file system and be preceded by @. For example:

curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --form "path=api-project" --form "file=@/path/to/file" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/import

cURL doesn't support posting a file from a remote server. Importing a project from a remote server can be accomplished through something like the following:

import requests
from io import BytesIO

s3_file = requests.get(presigned_url)

url =  'https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/import'
files = {'file': ('file.tar.gz', BytesIO(s3_file.content))}
data = {
    "path": "example-project",
    "namespace": "example-group"
}
headers = {
    'Private-Token': "<your_access_token>"
}

requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=data, files=files)
{
  "id": 1,
  "description": null,
  "name": "api-project",
  "name_with_namespace": "Administrator / api-project",
  "path": "api-project",
  "path_with_namespace": "root/api-project",
  "created_at": "2018-02-13T09:05:58.023Z",
  "import_status": "scheduled",
  "correlation_id": "mezklWso3Za",
  "failed_relations": []
}

Import status

Get the status of an import.

GET /projects/:id/import
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/import

Status can be one of:

  • none
  • scheduled
  • failed
  • started
  • finished

If the status is failed, it will include the import error message under import_error. If the status is failed, started or finished, the failed_relations array might be populated with any occurrences of relations that failed to import either due to unrecoverable errors or because retries were exhausted (a typical example are query timeouts.)

NOTE: Note: An element's id field in failed_relations references the failure record, not the relation.

NOTE: Note: The failed_relations array is currently capped to 100 items.

{
  "id": 1,
  "description": "Itaque perspiciatis minima aspernatur corporis consequatur.",
  "name": "Gitlab Test",
  "name_with_namespace": "Gitlab Org / Gitlab Test",
  "path": "gitlab-test",
  "path_with_namespace": "gitlab-org/gitlab-test",
  "created_at": "2017-08-29T04:36:44.383Z",
  "import_status": "started",
  "correlation_id": "mezklWso3Za",
  "failed_relations": [
    {
      "id": 42,
      "created_at": "2020-04-02T14:48:59.526Z",
      "exception_class": "RuntimeError",
      "exception_message": "A failure occurred",
      "source": "custom error context",
      "relation_name": "merge_requests"
    }
  ]
}