---
audience: power_user
summary: Move entire conversations between workspaces, tenants, or instances as portable
  ZIP bundles.
title: Export and import rooms
path: tutorials/power-user/export-and-import-rooms
status: published
---

# Export and import rooms

Sometimes you want to take a conversation with you — move it to
another workspace, archive it locally, share it with a different
tenant, or hand it off to compliance. Room export gives you a
portable ZIP bundle.

## Export

### From the UI

Chat header → **⋯ menu** → **Export room**. Browser downloads a
`.zip`.

### From the CLI

```bash
scaiwave room export <room_id> --tenant <tenant-slug> > out.zip
```

### From the API

```bash
curl "$BASE/v1/rooms/$ROOM_ID/export" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -o out.zip
```

Requires `join` membership on the room (you must be a member to
export). Power level 0 is enough.

## What's in the bundle

```text
manifest.json            — room metadata + every event
media/<sha256>/<name>    — each media attachment, deduped by content hash
```

The manifest is a single JSON document with:

- Room metadata (name, topic, type, scope, created_at).
- An ordered list of every event in the room with full content.
- For each foreign sender (federated, bridged, imported-from-export),
  an `_imported_sender` block with their display name, avatar,
  and original FQID. *Shadow participants are not created on
  import* — the original author identity is preserved inline
  rather than polluting the destination tenant's member list.
- Media references by sha256 → matches a file in `media/`.

## Import

### Into the UI

Workspace settings → **Rooms** → **Import room** → drop the zip.
Creates a new room in this workspace; you become its creator.

### CLI

```bash
scaiwave room import <workspace-slug> \
  --tenant <tenant-slug> \
  --as <participant-id> < bundle.zip
```

### API

```bash
curl -X POST "$BASE/v1/rooms/import" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -F "bundle=@bundle.zip" \
  -F "workspace_id=$WS_ID"
```

Requires `create_note` permission in the target workspace (the
same gate as creating any room).

## What import preserves

- **Message bodies and timestamps**.
- **Original author identities** — embedded inline as
  `content._imported_sender` (you'll see them in the UI as
  "[Original: Alice from acme.scaiwave.com]").
- **Media** — re-uploaded into the destination tenant's storage
  with the same sha256.
- **Reactions, edits, redactions** — re-played in order.

## What import strips

- **Read markers** — they're per-participant; meaningless in a new
  tenant.
- **Sidekick metadata** — imported rooms don't carry their sidekick
  forest.
- **`do_not_index` flag** — imported events get
  `do_not_index=True`. They never enter the destination's search
  index. (If you want them indexed, an admin can flip the room's
  scope and re-run the indexer.)
- **Live presence** — obviously.

## Refused exports / imports

Room export and import both refuse on:

- `room_type=sidekick` (sidekick rooms are tied to their parent;
  export the parent if needed).
- `room_type=bridge` (state lives on the bridge config, not the
  room).
- `scope_kind=incognito` (by design).
- `room_type=federated` — there's nothing to export, the events
  live on the foreign server.

The export endpoint returns a 400 with a clear reason in each case.

## When to use it

- **Archive** a sensitive conversation locally, then close the room.
- **Move** a project room to a different workspace after a re-org.
- **Hand off** to compliance as evidence.
- **Demo** — package a conversation as a portable artifact for
  documentation or training.

## What to *not* use it for

- **Backup** — there's no automatic backup-on-export; if you want
  reliable backup of all rooms, use the GDPR export job for your
  tenant (`POST /v1/gdpr/export`) instead.
- **Migration to another product** — the manifest format is
  ScaiWave-specific; nothing else reads it. (We'd love to define
  an interop format; not yet.)

## Where to go next

- API: [Rooms](/docs/scaiwave/reference/api/rooms) — `/export` and `/import` endpoints.
- API: [GDPR](/docs/scaiwave/reference/api/gdpr) — for tenant-wide export.