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Project relations export API

DETAILS: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: SaaS, self-managed

  • Introduced in GitLab 14.4 behind the bulk_import feature flag, disabled by default.
  • New application setting bulk_import_enabled introduced in GitLab 15.8. bulk_import feature flag removed.

The project relations export API partially exports a project's structure as separate files for each top-level relation (for example, milestones, issues, and labels).

The project relations export API is primarily used in group migration can't be used with the project import and export API.

Schedule new export

Start a new project relations export:

POST /projects/:id/export_relations
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes ID of the project owned by the authenticated user.
batched boolean no Whether to export in batches. 
curl --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/export_relations"
{
  "message": "202 Accepted"
}

Export status

View the status of the relations export:

GET /projects/:id/export_relations/status
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes ID of the project owned by the authenticated user.
relation string no Name of the project top-level relation to view. 
curl --request GET --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/export_relations/status"

The status can be one of the following:

  • 0 - started
  • 1 - finished
  • -1 - failed 
[
  {
    "relation": "project_badges",
    "status": 1,
    "error": null,
    "updated_at": "2021-05-04T11:25:20.423Z",
    "batched": true,
    "batches_count": 1,
    "batches": [
      {
        "status": 1,
        "batch_number": 1,
        "objects_count": 1,
        "error": null,
        "updated_at": "2021-05-04T11:25:20.423Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "relation": "boards",
    "status": 1,
    "error": null,
    "updated_at": "2021-05-04T11:25:20.085Z",
    "batched": false,
    "batches_count": 0
  }
]

Export download

Download the finished relations export:

GET /projects/:id/export_relations/download
Attribute Type Required Description
id integer/string yes ID of the project owned by the authenticated user.
relation string yes Name of the project top-level relation to download.
batched boolean no Whether the export is batched.
batch_number integer no Number of export batch to download. 
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --remote-header-name \
     --remote-name "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/export_relations/download?relation=labels"
ls labels.ndjson.gz
labels.ndjson.gz

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