> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.kinwall.family/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.kinwall.family/your-data/export-import.md). # Export & import **Settings → Access → Your data** (admin only). ## Download export **Download export** saves `kinwall-export-YYYY-MM-DD.json` with everything your family entered: | Included | Not included | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Household settings (including Newscast's per-person **Featured** and **Can post** switches) | Passwords, OAuth tokens, CalDAV logins | | Members, categories | API keys, sessions, recovery codes, the night PIN (set it again after a restore) | | Chores **with completion history** (points awarded, and whether each is approved or waiting for a parent's OK), the [chore library](/using-kinwall/chores.md#chore-library) and which chores came from it, and the parent-approval settings on chores and members, and who's a grown-up | Webhook secrets, and "Not yet" notes on chores | | Points spent, daily check-ins, sticker packs unlocked and sticker book pages | | | [Temp check](/using-kinwall/snapshot.md#temp-check) settings and answers (evening goal checks and energy battery check-ins too), each person's own feelings, and [journal](/using-kinwall/journal.md) entries. [Medications](/using-kinwall/medications.md) and their taken/skipped log. Sleep, feelings, goal checks, journal entries and medications are encrypted on the server but **in plain form in this file** (a connected app's export leaves them out). A [private journal](/using-kinwall/journal.md#private-journals) entry's words and a private day's goal check notes are never in the file, for anyone: its mood and day are. Whether journals are private isn't in the file either | | | Rewards (archived ones too), every reward request with its status and note, and each person's goal | | | Lists (with their type: Groceries, Shopping, To-do or Reusable), items, group order, remembered store/category/aisle per item and the catalog categories (per catalog), stores' aisle orders | Push subscriptions | | Local calendars **with their events** (reminders, travel time) | Synced events themselves (they're fetched again) | | Every calendar's name, color, members, default category, filter and hidden events | Per-device appearance (it lives in each browser) | | Per-event member, category and travel-time tags on synced events, and series-wide member and category tags on synced recurring events | | | Notes threads on local events and list items | Notes on synced events, and [Newscast](/using-kinwall/newscast.md) announcements and reactions (they last 30 days, like the bell's feed lasts 90; everything else in Newscast comes from what is exported) | | [Trackers](/using-kinwall/nooks/trackers.md): books, memories and health visits. Health is encrypted on the server but **in plain form in this file** (it's your backup), so keep the file private | Photos and coloring pages (download them separately from Photos) | | [Family polls](/using-kinwall/polls.md) with their choices and votes | | | [Home upkeep](/using-kinwall/nooks/upkeep.md): areas, things, jobs and every Done, costs and notes too | Its receipts and manuals: they're in the photo backup zip, under `upkeep/` | | [Meals](/using-kinwall/nooks/meals.md): recipes (archived ones too, basics with their links), planned meals with their own ingredient copies, and which ingredients were already added to which shopping list | | | ICS feed URLs | | | Passkey and webhook *names/URLs*, for reference | [Security activity](/using-kinwall/sign-in-and-security.md#security-activity) (it's about this server's sign-ins and devices, and an import shouldn't be able to write one) | Photos are never in this JSON export. They back up as a separate zip: **Activities → Photos → Download all (zip)**, and come back with **Import zip** on the same page. The family's own Paint [coloring pages](/using-kinwall/nooks/activities.md#adding-your-own-pages) and everyone's [profile pictures](/using-kinwall/profiles.md#profile-pictures) travel in that zip too (a picture comes back to the person with the same name). See [Photos](/using-kinwall/photos.md#backing-up-and-moving-photos). API: `GET /api/export`. The file contains ICS feed URLs, which can be secret. Treat it like a password. ## Import from a Kinwall export **Import from a Kinwall export** asks for the file, shows what it contains ("Merges 4 members, 12 chores, … into this family. Existing items with the same ids are updated.") and waits for **Import**. * **Merge by ID**: importing the same file twice changes nothing more (idempotent). Items already here with the same ID are updated. Nothing else is deleted. * **Settings** go through the normal settings validation. Keys this version doesn't know are ignored. * **Local calendars** come back complete. * **ICS calendars** come back connected if their URL is in the file and passes the [private-address check](/connecting-calendars/private-feeds.md). * **Google, Outlook and CalDAV calendars** come back as placeholders that keep their settings and tags. [Reconnect](/connecting-calendars/reconnecting-after-import.md) each one once. * **Members** from a file made before the **Grown-up** setting count as grown-ups when their birthday has a year making them 18 or older. If the file changes whether someone already here is a grown-up, that's logged in [Security activity](/using-kinwall/sign-in-and-security.md#security-activity) and they get a 🔒 note; a connected app's import leaves it as it is. A file can't mark a grown-up as a kid when [Settings → Family](/settings-reference/family.md#members) wouldn't let this device do it (they have a private journal or a full-access device of their own): they stay a grown-up, the rest of the file still comes in, and the API result lists them under `skipped.grownUp`. * **Journal entries** for someone whose journal is [private](/using-kinwall/journal.md#private-journals) right now are skipped, both new ones and changes to what's there, unless the import runs on that person's own device. Everyone else's come in as usual, and on a new server everything does. * **Passkeys and webhooks** are skipped. Set them up again. * **Health entries**, Temp check sleep, feelings, goal checks, battery check-ins and own-feelings lists, journal entries and medications are encrypted again as they're saved. A private journal entry already on the server is never overwritten, and a private day keeps its goal check notes. A private entry that isn't there comes back with its mood and day but no words (the file doesn't have them). Without an `ENCRYPTION_KEY` on the server, an import with health entries is refused and nothing is changed. * Maximum file size: 10 MB. API: `POST /api/import` with the export JSON as the body. ## Moving to another server 1. On the old instance, **Download export**. 2. Deploy the new instance and complete the [setup wizard](/getting-started/setup-wizard.md). 3. **Import from a Kinwall export**. For photos, also **Download all (zip)** on the old instance and **Import zip** on the new one. 4. Reconnect Google, Outlook and CalDAV accounts, then add a passkey and recovery codes. If you're moving between Docker hosts, copying the whole `/data` directory also works and keeps *everything*. See [Backups](/your-data/backups.md). Reward milestones also export their definitions, participants, the earlier work excluded at enrollment, paused progress, and earned/given dates (`rewardMilestones`). Importing restores missing definitions and enrollments; existing ones are kept so older files cannot undo earned or given rewards. Scheduled family announcements are backed up with their titles, details, UTC visibility windows, emphasis, ids, and creation/update times. Import restores them by id without deleting other announcements; expired messages stay expired unless you change their schedule. Older exports without announcements remain valid. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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