Project import and export API

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated

Use the project import and export API to import and export projects using file transfers.

Before using the project import and export API, you might want to use the group import and export API.

After using the project import and export API, you might want to use the Project-level CI/CD variables API.

You must still migrate your Container Registry over a series of Docker pulls and pushes. Re-run any CI/CD pipelines to retrieve any build artifacts.

Prerequisites

For prerequisites for project import and export API, see:

Schedule an export

Start a new export.

The endpoint also accepts an upload hash parameter. It contains all the necessary information to upload the exported project to a web server or to any S3-compatible platform. For exports, GitLab:

  • Only supports binary data file uploads to the final server.
  • Sends the Content-Type: application/gzip header with upload requests. Ensure that your pre-signed URL includes this as part of the signature.
  • Can take some time to complete the project export process. Make sure the upload URL doesn’t have a short expiration time and is available throughout the export process.
  • Administrators can modify the maximum export file size. By default, the maximum is unlimited (0). To change this, edit max_export_size using either:
  • Has a fixed limit for the maximum import file size on GitLab.com. For more information, see Account and limit settings.

The upload[url] parameter is required if the upload parameter is present.

For uploads to Amazon S3, refer to Generating a pre-signed URL for uploading objects documentation scripts to generate the upload[url]. Because of a known issue, you can only upload files with a maximum file size of 5 GB to Amazon S3. 

POST /projects/:id/export
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer or string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project owned by the authenticated user.
upload[url] string yes The URL to upload the project.
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[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=<your_access_token>%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"
}

Export status

Get the status of export. 

GET /projects/:id/export
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer or 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: No exports queued, started, finished, or being regenerated.
  • queued: The request for export is received, and is in the queue to be processed.
  • started: The export process has started and is in progress. It includes:
    • The process of exporting.
    • Actions performed on the resulting file, such as sending an email notifying the user to download the file, or uploading the exported file to a web server.
  • finished: After the export process has completed and the user has been notified.
  • regeneration_in_progress: 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.

created_at is the project create timestamp, not the export start time. 

{
  "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 or 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

History
  • Requirement for Maintainer role instead of Developer role introduced in GitLab 16.0 and backported to GitLab 15.11.1 and GitLab 15.10.5. 
POST /projects/import
Attribute Type Required Description
file string yes The file to be uploaded.
path string yes Name and path for new project.
name string no The name of the project to be imported. Defaults to the path of the project if not provided.
namespace integer or string no The ID or path of the namespace to import the project to. Defaults to the current user’s namespace.

Requires at least the Maintainer role on the destination group to import to.
override_params Hash no Supports all fields defined in the Project API.
overwrite boolean no If there is a project with the same path the import overwrites it. Defaults to false.

The override parameters passed 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. This example imports a project using Python’s open method: 

import requests

url =  'https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/import'
files = { "file": open("project_export.tar.gz", "rb") }
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": []
}
note
The maximum import file size can be set by the Administrator. It defaults to 0 (unlimited). As an administrator, you can modify the maximum import file size. To do so, use the max_import_size option in the Application settings API or the Admin area.

Import a file from a remote object storage

Status: Beta
On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is available. To hide the feature, an administrator can disable the feature flag named import_project_from_remote_file. On GitLab.com and GitLab Dedicated, this feature is available.
POST /projects/remote-import
Attribute Type Required Description
path string yes Name and path for the new project.
url string yes URL for the file to import.
name string no The name of the project to import. If not provided, defaults to the path of the project.
namespace integer or string no The ID or path of the namespace to import the project to. Defaults to the current user’s namespace.
overwrite boolean no Whether to overwrite a project with the same path when importing. Defaults to false.
override_params Hash no Supports all fields defined in the Project API.

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

curl --request POST \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/remote-import" \
  --data '{"url":"https://remoteobject/file?token=123123","path":"remote-project"}'

{
  "id": 1,
  "description": null,
  "name": "remote-project",
  "name_with_namespace": "Administrator / remote-project",
  "path": "remote-project",
  "path_with_namespace": "root/remote-project",
  "created_at": "2018-02-13T09:05:58.023Z",
  "import_status": "scheduled",
  "correlation_id": "mezklWso3Za",
  "failed_relations": [],
  "import_error": null
}

The Content-Length header must return a valid number. The maximum file size is 10 GB. The Content-Type header must be application/gzip.

Import a single relation

History

This endpoint accepts a project export archive and a named relation (issues, merge requests, pipelines, or milestones) and re-imports that relation, skipping items that have already been imported.

The required project export file adheres to the same structure and size requirements described in Import a file.

  • The extracted files must adhere to the structure of a GitLab project export.
  • The archive must not exceed the maximum import file size configured by the Administrator. 
POST /projects/import-relation
Attribute Type Required Description
file string yes The file to be uploaded.
path string yes Name and path for new project.
relation string yes The name of the relation to import. Must be one of issues, milestones, ci_pipelines or merge_requests.

To upload a file from your file system, use the --form option, which 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" \
     --form "relation=issues" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/import-relation"

{
  "id": 9,
  "project_path": "namespace1/project1",
  "relation": "issues",
  "status": "finished"
}

Check relation import statuses

History

This endpoint fetches the status of any relation imports associated with a project. Because only one relation import can be scheduled at a time, you can use this endpoint to check whether the previous import completed successfully. 

GET /projects/:id/relation-imports
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer or string yes The ID or URL-encoded path of the project. 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/18/relation-imports"

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "project_path": "namespace1/project1",
    "relation": "issues",
    "status": "created",
    "created_at": "2024-03-25T11:03:48.074Z",
    "updated_at": "2024-03-25T11:03:48.074Z"
  }
]

Status can be one of:

  • created: The import has been scheduled, but has not started.
  • started: The import is being processed.
  • finished: The import has completed.
  • failed: The import was not able to be completed.

Import a file from AWS S3

  • Generally available in GitLab 15.11. Feature flag import_project_from_remote_file_s3 removed. 
POST /projects/remote-import-s3
Attribute Type Required Description
access_key_id string yes AWS S3 access key ID.
bucket_name string yes AWS S3 bucket name where the file is stored.
file_key string yes AWS S3 file key to identify the file.
path string yes The full path of the new project.
region string yes AWS S3 region name where the file is stored.
secret_access_key string yes AWS S3 secret access key.
name string no The name of the project to import. If not provided, defaults to the path of the project.
namespace integer or string no The ID or path of the namespace to import the project to. Defaults to the current user’s namespace.

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

curl --request POST \
  --url "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/remote-import-s3" \
  --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your gitlab access key>" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "name": "Sample Project",
  "path": "sample-project",
  "region": "<Your S3 region name>",
  "bucket_name": "<Your S3 bucket name>",
  "file_key": "<Your S3 file key>",
  "access_key_id": "<Your AWS access key id>",
  "secret_access_key": "<Your AWS secret access key>"
}'

This example imports from an Amazon S3 bucket, using a module that connects to Amazon S3: 

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": "Sample project",
  "name_with_namespace": "Administrator / sample-project",
  "path": "sample-project",
  "path_with_namespace": "root/sample-project",
  "created_at": "2018-02-13T09:05:58.023Z",
  "import_status": "scheduled",
  "correlation_id": "mezklWso3Za",
  "failed_relations": [],
  "import_error": null
}

Import status

Get the status of an import. 

GET /projects/:id/import
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer or 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 includes 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 due to either:

  • Unrecoverable errors.
  • Retries were exhausted. A typical example: query timeouts.
note
An element’s id field in failed_relations references the failure record, not the relation.
note
The failed_relations array is 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",
  "import_type": "github",
  "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",
      "line_number": 0
    }
  ]
}

When importing from GitHub, the a stats field lists how many objects were already fetched from GitHub and how many were already imported: 

{
  "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",
  "import_type": "github",
  "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",
      "line_number": 0
    }
  ],
  "stats": {
    "fetched": {
      "diff_note": 19,
      "issue": 3,
      "label": 1,
      "note": 3,
      "pull_request": 2,
      "pull_request_merged_by": 1,
      "pull_request_review": 16
    },
    "imported": {
      "diff_note": 19,
      "issue": 3,
      "label": 1,
      "note": 3,
      "pull_request": 2,
      "pull_request_merged_by": 1,
      "pull_request_review": 16
    }
  }
}