Exportal

Bridge between claude.ai / ChatGPT and Claude Code (VS Code). Export any chat to clean Markdown with one click, ready to paste as context into Claude Code, or to send a Claude Code session back to your web chat.

exportal-demo.mp4

Status: bidirectional (claude.ai / ChatGPT ↔ Claude Code). VS Code extension + Chrome companion + CLI. Landing: exportal.dev. Support: exportal.dev/support. Privacy: exportal.dev/privacy. Changelog: CHANGELOG.md. Threat model: SECURITY.md. Detailed progress: DEVLOG.md. What's coming: ROADMAP.md.

What it solves

When you switch from claude.ai to Claude Code (or vice versa), you lose all the context and have to re-explain your project. Exportal generates a clean Markdown file with the entire conversation, including tool use, thinking, and results, that you paste in as initial context.

How to use it: happy path

With both extensions installed and paired:

1. Open any chat at claude.ai/chat/<uuid>, a project at claude.ai/design/p/<uuid>, or a chat at chatgpt.com/c/<uuid>.
2. Click the floating Exportal button (bottom-right corner) → Export this chat.
3. VS Code saves the conversation to <workspace>/.exportal/<timestamp>-<slug>.md, opens the file, and automatically opens the Claude Code panel with the Markdown attached as @-mention. You just write your prompt and you're done.
4. The Exportal panel surfaces an After import section with quick prompts ("Continue this conversation", "Summarize and plan next steps", etc.). Click one and the prompt is copied to the clipboard with the cursor already inside Claude Code's input: Ctrl+V sends "@filename.md your-prompt" in one go. Edit the list with the exportal.postImportTemplates setting.

VS Code closed? No problem, the FAB detects it and opens it automatically via vscode://. The conversation is imported as soon as the bridge starts, without you having to do anything. The first time, your browser may ask you to confirm "Open this with Visual Studio Code?": click "Remember" and it disappears forever.

Exportal tab on something else (Explorer, Search…)? The After-import section restores the moment you switch back to the Exportal tab in the activity bar. You don't need to have it open during the export.

For Claude Design projects, in addition to the chat, the generated assets (HTML, JSX, JSON, etc.) are downloaded to <workspace>/.exportal/<timestamp>-<slug>/ (sibling folder of the .md). The .md starts with a "Generated assets" header listing the files so Claude Code sees them.

Or with a keyboard shortcut (without opening the panel):

• Alt+Shift+E: export the current chat to VS Code (works on /chat and /design/p).
• Alt+Shift+O: prepare the official export (only on /chat, in case you want the version with all your chats; the extension forwards the ZIP when it arrives by email).

Auto-attach to the Claude Code chat can be disabled with the exportal.autoAttachToClaudeCode setting. Add .exportal/ to your .gitignore if you don't want to version the imports.

The other way around: Claude Code → claude.ai / ChatGPT

From the Exportal tab in VS Code, ↑ Export current session section, click claude.ai or ChatGPT. It automatically picks the most recent Claude Code session (the one you're using), renders the chat to Markdown, copies it to the clipboard, saves the .md to <workspace>/.exportal/ as a fallback, and opens the provider's site in the browser. You paste with Ctrl+V or drag the .md if the session is too long (claude.ai/ChatGPT truncate pastes >100K characters). No provider has a write API: the final step is manual by design.

Import from a .zip export (claude.ai or ChatGPT)

If you download the official export ZIP (claude.ai: Settings → Export data; ChatGPT: Settings → Data controls → Export), Exportal imports it with one click:

• Open the Exportal tab. If you downloaded the ZIP recently, the panel detects it automatically and shows the filename + time on the provider's row (green). Click the row → direct import, no file picker.
• If it doesn't detect anything, click anyway → file picker.
• Real-time watch listens to your Downloads folder while the panel is visible: download a new ZIP and in ~1.5 seconds it shows up on the corresponding row.

Show up in Claude Code's /resume (opt-in)

If you enable the exportal.alsoWriteJsonl setting, alongside the .md a .jsonl compatible with Claude Code is written to ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/<sessionId>.jsonl. The imported conversation shows up directly in /resume as if it were a local session of the project. It's experimental: the .jsonl format is reverse-engineered, not officially documented, and may break between versions.

Dedicated tab in VS Code

There's an Exportal icon in the activity bar (the left vertical bar). The panel brings everything important together in a clear hierarchy:

• After import: appears only after a successful import (and survives switching to other tabs in the meantime). Quick prompt templates that copy + drop the cursor into Claude Code's input. X to dismiss; reappears on the next import.
• Settings: toggles for autoAttachToClaudeCode and alsoWriteJsonl.
• ↓ Import to workspace: one row per provider (claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini coming soon). Click → file picker, or direct import if it detected a fresh ZIP in Downloads.
• ↑ Export current session: mirror of Import. Click claude.ai or ChatGPT → sends the most recent Claude Code session to the provider's web chat.
• Bridge status at the bottom, clickable. Expand to see the endpoint, the pairing token (with copy + "Copy and open Chrome" that triggers auto-pair without opening the big panel) and a shortcut to Logs.

Installation

VS Code extension

From the Marketplace (recommended):

• Ctrl+Shift+X → search for "Exportal" → Install.

Or local build to develop/work with changes:

npm install
npm run package:vsix
code --install-extension exportal-*.vsix

When you open VS Code for the first time, a two-step pairing wizard appears: Step 1 sends you to the Chrome Web Store to install the companion; Step 2 shows the pairing token with a "Copy token and open Chrome" button. If you skip it, you can reopen the wizard with Ctrl+Shift+P → Exportal: Show pairing token.

Chrome companion

1. Install Exportal Companion from the Chrome Web Store, or download exportal-companion-<version>.zip from Releases and load it unpacked in chrome://extensions (Developer mode enabled).
2. In VS Code, run Exportal: Show pairing token → click Copy token and open Chrome. This opens claude.ai with the token in the URL fragment; the companion's content script captures it automatically, opens its options page showing "Done! All connected", and VS Code shows a pairing-complete notification. No copy, no paste.

The icon badge reflects the state: OK green (imported), SET yellow (token missing), OFF red (VS Code not responding), AUTH red (invalid token), OLD red (VS Code outdated), ERR red (others). Click the icon while in any error state and the options page opens with a banner explaining the fix.

A short success chime plays when an export lands in VS Code (default ON, opt-out from the companion's options page).

Two ways to export

Method	When it's useful	What it does
Export this chat (button or Alt+Shift+E)	You want this chat right now.	Reads claude.ai's internal API (same session cookies), sends the JSON to the local VS Code bridge, opens the Markdown. No ZIPs, no emails.
Prepare official export (button or Alt+Shift+O)	You want all your chats, or the full official export with attachments/projects.	Saves the UUID of the current chat. When the official claude.ai ZIP finishes downloading, the companion forwards it to VS Code and VS Code opens that chat directly from the list.

CLI (optional)

To export Claude Code sessions to Markdown, or to import a claude.ai ZIP from the terminal:

# Export a Claude Code session
npx exportal export <sessionId> --out session.md

# Import from a claude.ai ZIP
npx exportal import list ./data-abc.zip              # list conversations
npx exportal import show ./data-abc.zip <uuid>       # render one

Both commands redact secrets by default. See --help.

Principles

• Local-first, zero-network: nothing leaves your machine.
• Fail-closed on security: redaction enabled by default, both in CLI and extension.
• Mandatory preview in the CLI before writing an export.
• Boring tech: strict TypeScript, Node 20+, minimal dependencies.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 20
• VS Code ≥ 1.85 (for the extension)

Development

npm install
npm run lint       # ESLint
npm run typecheck  # tsc --noEmit
npm test           # vitest
npm run build      # compile to ./dist (CLI + extension bundle)
npm run ci         # all of the above in order

The extension is debugged with F5 (opens an Extension Development Host with the fresh bundle).

License

MIT, see LICENSE.