So I wrote a little web app that allows a user to move their user data, like settings and subscribed/banned communities, from one account/instance to another.
It runs completely client-side, but is hosted on GitHub for the moment. Maybe it’ll be of some use!
Features:
- Export user data from any Lemmy instance (>=v0.19)
- Download user data as a text file
- Modify user data in the browser, e.g. to add or remove followed instances
- Transfer user data to the target account on the target instance
Would be nice if it explains exactly what it does. Right now it’s just a random web app asking for creds…
The code is completely written in JavaScript, so all the code is readable if you look at the source, which is also available on the GitHub page. https://stablenarwhal.github.io/LemmyInstanceMover/js/script.js
It looks like it uses a Lemmy API endpoint to transfer account settings.
Good call, I’ll add some explanations, kinda forgot about those.
EDIT: Done.
Runs entirely in js? https://github.com/StableNarwhal/LemmyInstanceMover
Yep!
Isn’t there already an export option built into Lemmy?
The export/import functionality is, yes. This implementation uses the same API endpoints, but the main reason for this existing:
An instance I was on slowly died, starting with the frontend (default web UI). At least at the time, no client implemented the export/import functionality, so I wrote a simple script in Bash to download the user data, if the backend still works.
Running a script can still be a challenge to some users, so I wrote a web application with the same functionality.
It’s a bit redundant if we’re talking about regularly working instances, but can be of use if the frontend isn’t available for some reason.