---
stage: Manage
group: Import
info: "To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments"
---

# Project import/export **(FREE)**

Existing projects on any self-managed GitLab instance or GitLab.com can be exported to a file and
then imported into a new GitLab instance.

## Set up project import/export

Before you can import or export a project and its data, you must set it up.

1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > General**.
1. Expand **Visibility and access controls**.
1. Scroll to **Import sources**.
1. Enable the desired **Import sources**.

## Between CE and EE

You can export projects from the [Community Edition to the Enterprise Edition](https://about.gitlab.com/install/ce-or-ee/)
and vice versa. This assumes [version history](#version-history)
requirements are met.

If you're exporting a project from the Enterprise Edition to the Community Edition, you may lose
data that is retained only in the Enterprise Edition. For more information, see
[downgrading from EE to CE](../../../index.md).

## Export a project and its data

Before you can import a project, you must export it.

Prerequisites:

- Review the list of [data that will be exported](#items-that-are-exported).
  Not all data is exported.
- You must have at least the Maintainer role for the project.

To export a project and its data, follow these steps:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Projects** and find your project.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings**.
1. Expand **Advanced**.
1. Select **Export project**.
1. After the export is generated, you should receive an email with a link to download the file.
1. Alternatively, you can come back to the project settings and download the file from there or
   generate a new export. After the file is available, the page should show the **Download export**
   button.

The export is generated in your configured `shared_path`, a temporary shared directory, and then
moved to your configured `uploads_directory`. Every 24 hours, a worker deletes these export files.

### Items that are exported

The following items are exported:

- Project and wiki repositories
- Project uploads
- Project configuration, excluding integrations
- Issues with comments, merge requests with diffs and comments, labels, milestones, snippets, time
  tracking, and other project entities
- Design Management files and data
- LFS objects
- Issue boards
- Pipelines history
- Push Rules
- Awards
- Group members are exported as project members, as long as the user has the Maintainer role in the
  exported project's group, or is an administrator

The following items are **not** exported:

- Build traces and artifacts
- Container registry images
- CI/CD variables
- Pipeline triggers
- Webhooks
- Any encrypted tokens
- Merge Request Approvers
- Repository size limits
- Deploy keys allowed to push to protected branches

These content rules also apply to creating projects from templates on the
[group](../../group/custom_project_templates.md)
or [instance](../../admin_area/custom_project_templates.md)
levels, because the same export and import mechanisms are used.

NOTE:
For more details on the specific data persisted in a project export, see the
[`import_export.yml`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/import_export/project/import_export.yml) file.

## Import a project and its data

> Default maximum import file size [changed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/251106) from 50 MB to unlimited in GitLab 13.8.

WARNING:
Only import projects from sources you trust. If you import a project from an untrusted source, it
may be possible for an attacker to steal your sensitive data.

Prerequisites:

- You must have [exported the project and its data](#export-a-project-and-its-data).
- Compare GitLab versions and ensure you are importing to a GitLab version that is the same or later
  than the GitLab version you exported to.
- Review the [Version history](#version-history)
  for compatibility issues.

To import a project:

1. When [creating a new project](../working_with_projects.md#create-a-project),
   select **Import project**.
1. In **Import project from**, select **GitLab export**.
1. Enter your project name and URL. Then select the file you exported previously.
1. Select **Import project** to begin importing. Your newly imported project page appears shortly.

To get the status of an import, you can query it through the [Project import/export API](../../../api/project_import_export.md#import-status).
As described in the API documentation, the query may return an import error or exceptions.

### Items that are imported

The following items are imported but changed slightly:

- Project members with the [Owner role](../../permissions.md)
  are imported as Maintainers.
- If an imported project contains merge requests originating from forks, then new branches
  associated with such merge requests are created in a project during the import/export. Thus, the
  number of branches in the exported project might be bigger than in the original project.
- If use of the `Internal` visibility level
  [is restricted](../../../public_access/public_access.md#restrict-use-of-public-or-internal-projects),
  all imported projects are given `Private` visibility.

Deploy keys aren't imported. To use deploy keys, you must enable them in your imported project and update protected branches.

### Import large projects **(FREE SELF)**

If you have a larger project, consider using a Rake task as described in the [developer documentation](../../../development/import_project.md#importing-via-a-rake-task).

## Automate group and project import **(PREMIUM)**

For information on automating user, group, and project import API calls, see
[Automate group and project import](../import/index.md#automate-group-and-project-import).

## Maximum import file size

Administrators can set the maximum import file size one of two ways:

- With the `max_import_size` option in the [Application settings API](../../../api/settings.md#change-application-settings).
- In the [Admin Area UI](../../admin_area/settings/account_and_limit_settings.md#max-import-size).

The default is `0` (unlimited).

## Map users for import

Imported users can be mapped by their public email addresses on self-managed instances, if an administrator (not an owner) does the import.

- Public email addresses are not set by default. Users must
[set it in their profiles](../../profile/index.md#set-your-public-email)
for mapping to work correctly.
- For contributions to be mapped correctly, users must be an existing member of the namespace,
  or they can be added as a member of the project. Otherwise, a supplementary comment is left to mention that the original author and the MRs, notes, or issues that are owned by the importer.

For project migration imports performed over GitLab.com groups, preserving author information is
possible through a [professional services engagement](https://about.gitlab.com/services/migration/).

## Rate Limits

To help avoid abuse, by default, users are rate limited to:

| Request Type     | Limit |
| ---------------- | ----- |
| Export           | 6 projects per minute |
| Download export  | 1 download per group per minute |
| Import           | 6 projects per minute |

GitLab.com may have [different settings](../../gitlab_com/index.md#importexport)
from the defaults.

## Version history

### 14.0+

In GitLab 14.0, the JSON format is no longer supported for project and group exports. To allow for a
transitional period, you can still import any JSON exports. The new format for imports and exports
is NDJSON.

### 13.0+

Starting with GitLab 13.0, GitLab can import bundles that were exported from a different GitLab deployment.
This ability is limited to two previous GitLab [minor](../../../policy/maintenance.md#versioning)
releases, which is similar to our process for [Security Releases](../../../policy/maintenance.md#security-releases).

For example:

| Current version | Can import bundles exported from |
|-----------------|----------------------------------|
| 13.0            | 13.0, 12.10, 12.9                |
| 13.1            | 13.1, 13.0, 12.10                |

### 12.x

Prior to 13.0 this was a defined compatibility table:

| Exporting GitLab version   | Importing GitLab version   |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| 11.7 to 12.10              | 11.7 to 12.10              |
| 11.1 to 11.6               | 11.1 to 11.6               |
| 10.8 to 11.0               | 10.8 to 11.0               |
| 10.4 to 10.7               | 10.4 to 10.7               |
| 10.3                       | 10.3                       |
| 10.0 to 10.2               | 10.0 to 10.2               |
| 9.4 to 9.6                 | 9.4 to 9.6                 |
| 9.2 to 9.3                 | 9.2 to 9.3                 |
| 8.17 to 9.1                | 8.17 to 9.1                |
| 8.13 to 8.16               | 8.13 to 8.16               |
| 8.12                       | 8.12                       |
| 8.10.3 to 8.11             | 8.10.3 to 8.11             |
| 8.10.0 to 8.10.2           | 8.10.0 to 8.10.2           |
| 8.9.5 to 8.9.11            | 8.9.5 to 8.9.11            |
| 8.9.0 to 8.9.4             | 8.9.0 to 8.9.4             |

Projects can be exported and imported only between versions of GitLab with matching Import/Export versions.

For example, 8.10.3 and 8.11 have the same Import/Export version (0.1.3)
and the exports between them are compatible.

## Related topics

- [Project import/export API](../../../api/project_import_export.md)
- [Project import/export administration Rake tasks](../../../administration/raketasks/project_import_export.md) **(FREE SELF)**
- [Group import/export](../../group/settings/import_export.md)
- [Group import/export API](../../../api/group_import_export.md)

## Troubleshooting

### Project fails to import due to mismatch

If the [shared runners enablement](../../../ci/runners/runners_scope.md#enable-shared-runners)
does not match between the exported project, and the project import, the project fails to import.
Review [issue 276930](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/276930), and either:

- Ensure shared runners are enabled in both the source and destination projects.
- Disable shared runners on the parent group when you import the project.

### Import workarounds for large repositories

[Maximum import size limitations](#import-a-project-and-its-data)
can prevent an import from being successful. If changing the import limits is not possible, you can
try one of the workarounds listed here.

#### Workaround option 1

The following local workflow can be used to temporarily
reduce the repository size for another import attempt:

1. Create a temporary working directory from the export:

    ```shell
    EXPORT=<filename-without-extension>

    mkdir "$EXPORT"
    tar -xf "$EXPORT".tar.gz --directory="$EXPORT"/
    cd "$EXPORT"/
    git clone project.bundle

    # Prevent interference with recreating an importable file later
    mv project.bundle ../"$EXPORT"-original.bundle
    mv ../"$EXPORT".tar.gz ../"$EXPORT"-original.tar.gz

    git switch --create smaller-tmp-main
    ```

1. To reduce the repository size, work on this `smaller-tmp-main` branch:
   [identify and remove large files](../repository/reducing_the_repo_size_using_git.md)
   or [interactively rebase and fixup](../../../topics/git/git_rebase.md#interactive-rebase)
   to reduce the number of commits.

    ```shell
    # Reduce the .git/objects/pack/ file size
    cd project
    git reflog expire --expire=now --all
    git gc --prune=now --aggressive

    # Prepare recreating an importable file
    git bundle create ../project.bundle <default-branch-name>
    cd ..
    mv project/ ../"$EXPORT"-project
    cd ..

    # Recreate an importable file
    tar -czf "$EXPORT"-smaller.tar.gz --directory="$EXPORT"/ .
    ```

1. Import this new, smaller file into GitLab.
1. In a full clone of the original repository,
   use `git remote set-url origin <new-url> && git push --force --all`
   to complete the import.
1. Update the imported repository's
   [branch protection rules](../protected_branches.md) and
   its [default branch](../repository/branches/default.md), and
   delete the temporary, `smaller-tmp-main` branch, and
   the local, temporary data.

#### Workaround option 2

Rather than attempting to push all changes at once, this workaround:

- Separates the project import from the Git Repository import
- Incrementally pushes the repository to GitLab

1. Make a local clone of the repository to migrate. In a later step, you push this clone outside of
   the project export.
1. Download the export and remove the `project.bundle` (which contains the Git repository):

   ```shell
   tar -czvf new_export.tar.gz --exclude='project.bundle' @old_export.tar.gz
   ```

1. Import the export without a Git repository. It asks you to confirm to import without a
   repository.
1. Save this bash script as a file and run it after adding the appropriate origin.

   ```shell
   #!/bin/sh

   # ASSUMPTIONS:
   # - The GitLab location is "origin"
   # - The default branch is "main"
   # - This will attempt to push in chunks of 500MB (dividing the total size by 500MB).
   #   Decrease this size to push in smaller chunks if you still receive timeouts.

   git gc
   SIZE=$(git count-objects -v 2> /dev/null | grep size-pack | awk '{print $2}')

   # Be conservative... and try to push 2GB at a time
   # (given this assumes each commit is the same size - which is wrong)
   BATCHES=$(($SIZE / 500000))
   TOTAL_COMMITS=$(git rev-list --count HEAD)
   if (( BATCHES > TOTAL_COMMITS )); then
       BATCHES=$TOTAL_COMMITS
   fi

   INCREMENTS=$(( ($TOTAL_COMMITS / $BATCHES) - 1 ))

   for (( BATCH=BATCHES; BATCH>=1; BATCH-- ))
   do
     COMMIT_NUM=$(( $BATCH - $INCREMENTS ))
     COMMIT_SHA=$(git log -n $COMMIT_NUM --format=format:%H | tail -1)
     git push -u origin ${COMMIT_SHA}:refs/heads/main
   done
   git push -u origin main
   git push -u origin -—all
   git push -u origin -—tags
   ```

### Manually execute export steps

Exports sometimes fail without giving enough information to troubleshoot. In these cases, it can be
helpful to [execute the export process manually within rails](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/blob/master/docs/uncategorized/project-export.md#export-a-project-via-rails-console).
Execute each line individually, rather than pasting the entire block at once, so you can see any
errors each command returns.

```shell
u = User.find_by_username('someuser')
p = Project.find_by_full_path('some/project')
e = Projects::ImportExport::ExportService.new(p,u)

e.send(:version_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:avatar_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:project_tree_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:uploads_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:wiki_repo_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:lfs_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:snippets_repo_saver).send(:save)
e.send(:design_repo_saver).send(:save)

s = Gitlab::ImportExport::Saver.new(exportable: p, shared:p.import_export_shared)
s.send(:compress_and_save)
s.send(:save_upload)
```