AI Chat Exporter

Command Line Interface

Export ChatGPT conversations directly from your terminal.

Overview

The CLI lets you process exported ChatGPT JSON files directly from the terminal and generate clean Markdown documents.

It uses the same modular pipeline as the Chrome Extension, without requiring a browser.

This makes the CLI useful for local processing, automation, experimentation, and integration into other workflows.

Requirements

Node.js 20 — or newer.

The core pipeline has no external npm dependencies. The project uses esbuild as a development dependency for building the Chrome Extension.

Installation

Clone the repository and install the dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/GuillermoCochrane/chat-exporter.git

cd chat-exporter

npm install

Basic Usage

Run the exporter with its default configuration:

npm start

By default, the CLI reads: assets/input/conversation.json

The generated Markdown file is written to: assets/output/conversacion.md

Options

-h, --help: Display the CLI help.
-v, --version: Display the current version.
-i, --input <file>: Specify the input JSON file.
-o, --output <file>: Specify the output Markdown file.
-in, --inspect: Show conversation statistics without exporting.
-nw, --no-write: Run the complete pipeline without writing the output file.
-c, --compact: Remove unnecessary line breaks from the generated Markdown.
-r, --role <role>: Filter messages by role: all, user, or assistant.

Examples

Export using the default paths:
```
npm start
```

Use a custom input file:

npm start -- -i assets/input/conversation.json

Use a custom output file:

npm start -- -i assets/input/conversation.json -o assets/output/prueba.md

Enable compact mode:

npm start -- -i assets/input/conversation.json -o assets/output/prueba.md -c

Export only user messages:

npm start -- -i assets/input/conversation.json -o assets/output/user.md --role user

Export only assistant messages:

npm start -- -i assets/input/conversation.json -o assets/output/assistant.md --role assistant

Inspect a conversation without exporting it:
```
npm start -- --inspect
```
Run the pipeline without writing an output file:
```
npm start -- --no-write
```

How It Works

The CLI is intentionally thin. It parses the command-line arguments, builds the pipeline configuration, and delegates the actual processing to the shared Core.

         CLI
          │
          ▼
   Pipeline Profile
          │
          ▼
   Pipeline Config
          │
          ▼
     runExporter
          │
          ▼
 Conversation Source
          │
          ▼
    Conversation
          │
          ▼
     runPipeline
          │
          ├── Inspector
          ├── Parser
          ├── Filter
          └── Normalizer
          │
          ▼
       Renderer
          │
          ▼
        Output

Each module has a single responsibility. The Core does not depend on the interface that started the process or on the destination of the generated result.

The CLI therefore acts as one interface over the same processing engine used by the Chrome Extension.

For a deeper look at the architecture, see the project documentation on GitHub .