Exporting Conversations¶

CTK supports multiple export formats for different use cases.

Export Formats¶

Format	Use Case
`jsonl`	Fine-tuning, data pipelines
`json`	Data interchange, backup
`markdown`	Human-readable documentation
`html`	Interactive browsing, archiving
`hugo`	Static site generation, blogging

Using Views for Curated Exports¶

Views let you define reusable collections for export. See Views Guide for details.

# Export only conversations in a view
ctk export output.html --db chats.db --view my-favorites --format html

# Export curated research to markdown
ctk export research/ --db chats.db --view research-2024 --format markdown

JSONL (Fine-tuning)¶

# Basic export
ctk export training.jsonl --db chats.db --format jsonl

# With metadata
ctk export full.jsonl --db chats.db --format jsonl --include-metadata

# Using a curated view
ctk export training.jsonl --db chats.db --view high-quality --format jsonl

Markdown¶

Export conversations as readable markdown files.

Single File¶

# All conversations in one file
ctk export conversations.md --db chats.db --format markdown

Per-Conversation Files¶

When the output path is a directory, each conversation becomes a separate file:

# Create one markdown file per conversation
ctk export docs/ --db chats.db --format markdown

# Output structure:
# docs/
#   2024-01-15_debugging-rust_abc123.md
#   2024-01-16_python-async_def456.md
#   ...

Files are named: {date}_{title-slug}_{id-prefix}.md

Markdown with Views¶

# Export curated collection to separate files
ctk export blog-posts/ --db chats.db --view for-publication --format markdown

Hugo (Static Sites)¶

Export conversations as Hugo page bundles:

# Export all conversations
ctk export content/conversations/ --format hugo --db chats.db

# Export only starred (curated for blog)
ctk export content/conversations/ --format hugo --db chats.db --starred

# Export a curated view
ctk export content/conversations/ --format hugo --db chats.db --view blog-posts

# Export as drafts for review
ctk export content/conversations/ --format hugo --db chats.db --draft

Output structure:

content/conversations/
  2024-01-15-debugging-rust-abc123/
    index.md        # Frontmatter + markdown
    images/         # Media files

HTML (Interactive Archive)¶

Create an interactive, searchable HTML archive:

# Single self-contained file (recommended)
ctk export archive.html --format html --db chats.db

# With separate media folder (smaller HTML file)
ctk export archive.html --format html --db chats.db --media-dir media

# Multi-file export (requires web server)
ctk export archive/ --format html --db chats.db --no-embed

HTML Features¶

Browse: Paginated conversation list with search
Tree Navigation: Explore branching conversations
Media Gallery: View all images across conversations
Dark/Light Mode: Toggle with theme switcher
Responsive: Works on desktop and mobile

Filtering Exports¶

# Specific conversations
ctk export out.jsonl --db chats.db --ids conv1 conv2 conv3

# By source
ctk export chatgpt.json --db chats.db --filter-source "ChatGPT"

# By model
ctk export gpt4.json --db chats.db --filter-model "GPT-4"

# By tags
ctk export work.json --db chats.db --filter-tags "work,important"

# Starred/pinned only
ctk export favorites.json --db chats.db --starred
ctk export important.json --db chats.db --pinned

Path Selection¶

For branching conversations, choose which path to export:

# Longest path (default)
ctk export out.jsonl --db chats.db --path-selection longest

# First path (original)
ctk export out.jsonl --db chats.db --path-selection first

# Most recent path
ctk export out.jsonl --db chats.db --path-selection last

Sanitization¶

Remove sensitive data before sharing:

ctk export clean.jsonl --db chats.db --format jsonl --sanitize

This removes:

API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, etc.)
Passwords and tokens
SSH keys
Database URLs
Credit card patterns

Export Workflow Example¶

A typical workflow for publishing conversations:

# 1. Create a view for curation
ctk view create blog-ready --db chats.db --title "Ready for Blog"

# 2. Add conversations to the view
ctk view add blog-ready abc123 def456 --db chats.db

# 3. Add annotations for editing notes
ctk view add blog-ready ghi789 --db chats.db \
  --title "Custom Title" \
  --annotation "Edit intro, add code examples"

# 4. Check view is valid
ctk view check blog-ready --db chats.db

# 5. Export to Hugo
ctk export content/posts/ --db chats.db --view blog-ready --format hugo

# 6. Or export to standalone HTML
ctk export blog-archive.html --db chats.db --view blog-ready --format html