HN Showcase
Back to browse
GitHub Repository

Chrome extension to export all ChatGPT conversations to a flat JSON file

0 starsJavaScript

Chrome extension to export ChatGPT chats, project folders to MD ZIP

by vincze-tamas·Mar 4, 2026·1 point·0 comments
Visit ProjectView on HN

AI Analysis

●●●BangerWizardrySolve My Problem

Pure JS ZIP builder + MutationObserver API reverse-engineering; ChatGPT's official export worthless.

Strengths
  • •Reverse-engineered correct ChatGPT API endpoints and pagination; no Python/dependencies required
  • •Pure JavaScript ZIP assembly (CRC32, local headers, EOCD) shows genuine technical craft
  • •Handles long exports in background; survives popup close via MV3 port architecture
Weaknesses
  • •Depends on ChatGPT API stability; any official export feature obsoletes it
  • •No integration with other chat platforms limits generalizability
Target Audience

ChatGPT power users, knowledge workers, researchers

Post Description

ChatGPT's official export produces a single JSON blob with no folder structure. This extension reconstructs the project hierarchy and converts everything to readable Markdown files in a ZIP archive.

Technical notes:

ChatGPT projects are internally "gizmos" — the correct API is /backend-api/gizmos/{g-p-hex32}/conversations?cursor=0, not the undocumented /projects endpoint (which 404s) Cursor-based pagination throughout (offset-based parameters are silently ignored by the API) MutationObserver captures project links from the sidebar DOM, including the hover-only "More" popup Pure JS ZIP builder: CRC32 + local headers + central directory + EOCD, no libraries Chrome MV3, long-lived port for popup ↔ content script communication; export survives popup close Markdown content is pre-encoded to Uint8Array before ZIP assembly to halve peak memory usage

Similar Projects