Export to Local Files

Download Moxn documents as markdown files

Export your documents to local markdown files. The tool fetches documents via the API, converts sections to markdown, and downloads any attached images, PDFs, and CSVs.

If you have @moxn/context-cli installed, you can run context export-local instead of npx @moxn/kb-migrate export.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A Moxn API key with read permissions (create one at Settings > API Keys in the web app)

Quick Start

Export all documents to a local directory:

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./output --api-key=YOUR_API_KEY

Preview what would be exported without writing files:

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./output --api-key=YOUR_API_KEY --dry-run

Export only documents under a specific path:

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./output --api-key=YOUR_API_KEY --base-path=/engineering

You can also set MOXN_API_KEY as an environment variable instead of passing --api-key every time.

How It Works

The export runs in three steps:

1. Fetch

The tool calls the Moxn API to list all documents matching your filters (path prefix, date range). For each document, it fetches the full content including sections.

2. Convert

Each document’s sections are converted to markdown:

KB Content	Local Result
Section heading	## Heading in markdown
Rich text	Markdown with formatting (bold, italic, code, links)
Code blocks	Fenced code blocks with language
Images	Downloaded to images/ subdirectory, referenced in markdown
PDFs	Downloaded to pdfs/ subdirectory
CSVs	Downloaded to csvs/ subdirectory
Mermaid diagrams	Fenced mermaid blocks

3. Write

Files are written to your output directory, mirroring the KB path structure.

Directory Structure

The exported files mirror your document hierarchy:

output/
  engineering/
    api-guide.md
    api-guide/
      setup.md
      authentication.md
    images/
      diagram.png
    pdfs/
      spec.pdf
    csvs/
      metrics.csv

Asset directories (images/, pdfs/, csvs/) are created alongside the markdown files as needed. You can customize the directory names with --image-dir, --pdf-dir, and --csv-dir.

CLI Options

Option	Default	Description
--api-key <key>	$MOXN_API_KEY	API authentication key (required)
--api-url <url>	https://moxn.dev	API base URL
--base-path <path>	/	Only export documents under this path prefix
--image-dir <name>	images	Directory name for downloaded images
--pdf-dir <name>	pdfs	Directory name for downloaded PDFs
--csv-dir <name>	csvs	Directory name for downloaded CSVs
--created-after <date>	(none)	Only include docs created after this date (ISO 8601)
--created-before <date>	(none)	Only include docs created before this date (ISO 8601)
--modified-after <date>	(none)	Only include docs modified after this date (ISO 8601)
--modified-before <date>	(none)	Only include docs modified before this date (ISO 8601)
--dry-run	false	Preview without writing files
--json	false	Output results as JSON

Examples

Export everything

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./backup \
  --api-key=$MOXN_API_KEY

Export a subtree

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./engineering-docs \
  --api-key=$MOXN_API_KEY \
  --base-path=/engineering

Export recent changes

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./updates \
  --api-key=$MOXN_API_KEY \
  --modified-after=2026-03-01

Dry run

npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./output \
  --api-key=$MOXN_API_KEY \
  --dry-run

Troubleshooting

Error: API key required

Pass your key via --api-key or set the environment variable:

export MOXN_API_KEY=your_key_here
npx @moxn/kb-migrate export ./output

Images aren't downloading

Images stored in Moxn are downloaded automatically. External image URLs (e.g., https://...) are kept as URL references in the markdown. If downloads fail, the export continues and the image is replaced with a placeholder link.

Output directory already has files

The export writes files based on document paths. Existing files at the same path are overwritten. Files not matching any exported document are left untouched.

Export is slow

Large workspaces with many images or attachments take longer due to file downloads. Use --base-path to export a smaller subset, or --modified-after to export only recent changes.

Next Steps

Import Local Files

Import markdown back into Moxn after editing locally

Export to Notion

Push your docs to a Notion workspace instead