Export / import workspace config or backup

[MorganKryze]

Zen has been one of the project I love the most these past months, and I love what it stands for. But I've been multiple times in the situation of a reset / migration where I had to manually transfer or remember every workspace, every tab i have set up.

In my opinion, this is fastidious. I tried through the discussions and issues to see something similar to this request but did not found what I was looking for.

What I am talking about is a way to export your current config (workspace by workspace) to be able to save it (backup) or share it for example in a data filetype like json/yaml/toml/... And obviously a way to import it afterward.

I deeply think that this would be a major bonus to the project. Thanks for reading me ^^

[vraravam]

yes - this seems like an excellent idea!

[e-adela]

YESS! I have been looking for this for a long time, it would really be helpful to have that!

[martin-braun]

Yes, this is needed. I know there is a work around to backup entire profiles, but I doubt this is what this is all about. I don't care to lose browser data and cache, even stored passwords, you shouldn't use your browser as password manager anyways. It's all about the workspaces and tab containers, the icons and names I picked for them. It is about all the settings you can make in Firefox itself, it is about all the changes I made in about:config, it's all about the pinned and non pinned tabs, maybe bookmarks too (if you are a bookmark user, but I am not).

Why is there no easy way, I hope this will happen somehow. Maybe someone can share at least a manual way to do this.

[hgftrdw45ud67is8o89]

RE: the mods also need export feature in a user friendly way like saved to a file for user to easily copy paste and import.

Ideally might as well solve all settings problem at once maybe like a export all in one zip with:
mods
workspace
firefox settings
etc.

and just put it into a zip and then zen browser can unzip and reimport those one by one.

[mhanuszh]

It would be fantastic if we could copy-to and apply-from the clipboard parts of the browser state.

It could be done incrementally, for example, first only the workspaces:

zen:
  workspaces:
  - name: Default
    pins: []
    tabs: []

And the endgame could look like something like this:

zen:
  config: {}
  extensions: []
  mods: []
  bookmarks: []
  history: []
  essentials: [] # or globalPins
  workspaces:
  - name: Default
    pins: []
    tabs: []

[razorback2000]

+1

[diegokoes]

wish it will be implemented at some point

[ArKay74]

Why hasn't this been implemented yet? Every time I install it or re-install it, I lose my setup. And there's just no way of sharing all of the settings between machines. This is really annoying. For example I just want from a local installation on Linux to the Flatpak version of Zen. And guess what? There's just no way of taking over the settings from the old installation to the new one. Not through import, not by moving configurations from the old config directory to the new, nothing.

So I am starting at 0 again even though the configuration was placed where it should be. The software just doesn't use it. Insane. Have to reinstall all mods, open all of the tabs in my 3 workspaces... Why do we have new features if those can't be shared between installations?

[hgftrdw45ud67is8o89]

@mr-cheffy @zen-browser-auto
reping to consider implementing this discussion.

[mr-cheffy]

Like syncing?

[sapphired18]

Sync to mozilla account? Is it safe to implement? Aren't we have workspace sync, or add one more things to sync the folders, pinned tabs and essentials?

[thebitstick]

I created this tool: zen-export.

I don't know JS well so I unfortunately had to rely on AI (local Ollama), but from poking around the Browser Console I was able to find where most the tabs and folder data lives and use specific functions to have it format everything correctly.

[ImreC]

Just installed Zen on my work mac after having been a very happy Zen user on Fedora for the last couple of months. Want to show my support for this idea. I am not looking forward to setting up all the workspaces a second time, let alone on every machine individually. Please consider this and thanks for this great project!

[err0rcat]

A very good idea indeed. I would wish for Zen Sync service since Mozilla's sync still unable to save favicons with bookmarks in 2025 (facepalm).

[Ewster]

Zen Browser is such a great tool and such a breath of fresh air, but then I switch back to my desktop and none of the setup/tabs etc have synced across. It's a clean slate. Becomes a huge impediment for committing to switching over.

Sync maybe a dream too big, but at least the option to export out a setup (and have that auto backup every day), then an option to pull that export into a new install on another device.

[ImreC]

Agree. Just a simple json (or other simple format) export import feature to capture the workspace and container configuration would already be so useful. I don't think Mozilla stores containers now as well so always need to set that up there after a new install as well as far as I know.

[fozboom]

+1

[castdrian]

yep same here, had to get rid of my profile and there was no way to export all pinned tabs etc before doing so

[woodgear]

thanks for @thebitstick , i add some script to export/import single folder in thebitstick/zen-export#3.
@mhanuszh you may have interest to take a look here.
some readme here.

Usage for zen-export/zen-import

What it is

The zen-export.js and zen-import.js scripts provide a way to export and restore folder data in Zen Browser.

How to use

1. Copy the contents of zen-export.js into the Zen Browser JavaScript Console (zen-browser --jsconsole).
2. Run zenExport("$FOLDER_NAME"), replacing $FOLDER_NAME with the actual folder name.
   This will generate and download two files:
   zen-export-$FOLDER_NAME-$DATE.json — contains the metadata of the specified folder.
   zen-restore-$FOLDER_NAME-$DATE.js — a copy-paste-execute script that can restore the folder using the metadata.

You can also use the zen-import.js script, which defines a function zenImport($meta). Here, $meta should be the JSON metadata file (zen-export-$FOLDER_NAME-$DATE.json) generated by the export step.

[martin-braun]

I haven't tested it yet, but it's a kinda clever approach to simply export and import from from the console instead. However, it's cumbersome and not really suited for automation, or is there a way to maybe inject this at launch to get this down to a simple command for import and export in the shell?

Will it also clear old trusted tabs when you import your trusted tabs, or do you end up with duplicated tabs when you re-import?

[whughesiii2187]

I have been working on creating a repo for my dotfiles. I noticed .zen in my home dir, so I copied that and deleted the existing one. when I started zen it wanted to go through the setup again. I deleted .zen from my home dir and then copied the backup I made in place and everything came right back in zen. The trick now is finding the specific dotfiles needed to backup.

[martin-braun]

It's not that simple, there are a bunch of sqlite databases that contain the tab data and whatnot, it's not very git or Syncthing friendly.

[whughesiii2187]

Bummer. I hope the dev's take notice of this request and add this in. Sync is too limited. Having to sync what is there and then manually do the rest seems counter productive.

[martin-braun]

I agree with you, I wish all the sqlite stuff was spread across clear files. Like my profiles, its settings and the tabs. Obviously, stuff like cache and storage needs to be encrypted and stored away for good reason, but tabs and pins should just be files, then it would be super easy to just use git or Syncthing to keep stuff in sync.

[AurelienJt]

+1

[Sohaib2github]

is there no config file that we can just copy and replace in the files of the new machine to get the same workspace settings?

[dannypurcell]

Just a guess here: would it be easy enough for Zen to just treat pinned tabs as more bookmarks for the purpose of export/import? Workspaces could then also just be bookmark folders under a special "workspaces" folder in the bookmark export.

I don't know the Firefox code well enough to say but conceptually pinned tabs play a very similar role as bookmarks and the bookmark manager already has a couple of special folders for Bookmarks Toolbar and Bookmarks Menu.

Seems to make sense that Workspaces could just be another entry there and sync that folder with whatever Zen is doing with the sqlite dbs and such.

[martin-braun]

I went ahead and tried to tackle it in the least exciting way possible. I grabbed the zen folder from my macOS and from my Linux machine. I patched the profiles.ini and installs.ini to let both installations point to the same profile, which I also renamed. This step didn't cause any problems so far.

Then I wrote a little script to export and import my profile including those two files. I also made sure to exclude the storage sub directory, it is too big and not needed, probably even problematic. So now I can export and import to/from a file that is about 120MB big.

Do not run this, it is for demonstration purposes only, it will corrupt your browser configuration, see below!

# zen profile import/export
zep() {
	if [ $# -lt 1 ] || [ "$1" = "-h" ] || [ "$1" = "--help" ]; then
		echo "Usage: zep [-h, --help] [-e, --export, -i, --import] file" >&2
		echo "Imports or exports all Zen browser profiles, excluding storage." >&2
		echo '' >&2
		return 129
	fi
	local osfam="$OSFAM"
	if [ -z "$osfam" ]; then
		osfam="$(uname -o | tr ' ' '_' | tr '/' '_')"
	fi
	local zendir=""
	if [ "$osfam" = "Darwin" ]; then
		if pgrep -f '/Zen\.app/Contents/MacOS/zen' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
			echo "Zen Browser is still running. Please close it first." >&2
			return 2
		fi
		zendir="$HOME/Library/Application Support/zen"
	elif [ "$osfam" = "GNU_Linux" ]; then
		zendir="$HOME/.var/app/app.zen_browser.zen/.zen"
		if pgrep -x zen >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
			pgrep -x zen-bin >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
			pgrep -x zen-browser >/dev/null 2>&1; then
			echo "Zen Browser is still running. Please close it first." >&2
			return 2
		fi
	fi
	if [ -z "$zendir" ]; then
		echo "Unsupported OS: $osfam" >&2
		return 1
	fi
	if [ "$1" = "-e" ] || [ "$1" = "--export" ]; then
		shift
		printf "Exporting '%s' to file '%s'...\n" "$zendir" "$1"
		tar -C "$zendir" \
			--exclude 'Profiles/*/storage' \
			--exclude 'Profiles/*/storage/*' \
			-cf "$1" Profiles installs.ini profiles.ini
	elif [ "$1" = "-i" ] || [ "$1" = "--import" ]; then
		shift
		mkdir -p "$zendir/.zep"
		printf "Removing old backups from '%s'...\n" "$zendir/.zep/Profiles"
		rm -rf "$zendir/.zep/Profiles"
		printf "Backing up old profiles to '%s'...\n" "$zendir/.zep/Profiles"
		mv "$zendir/Profiles" "$zendir/.zep/Profiles"
		printf "Importing file '%s' into '%s'...\n" "$1" "$zendir"
		tar -xf "$1" -C "$zendir" Profiles installs.ini profiles.ini
		printf "Restoring storage from old profiles...\n"
		for profile in "$zendir/.zep/Profiles"/*; do
			mv "$profile/storage" "$zendir/Profiles/$(basename "$profile")/storage"
		done
	fi
}

Why does this not work?

Well I went ahead (after backing up my files ofc), and exported on macOS and stored the tar file in my SyncThing to sync it. Next I booted into Linux, wait for the sync to complete and imported it. To my surprise, everything worked. Then I exported on Linux, synced and booted back into macOS. I tried to import my profiles back into my macOS instance, this did not work.

While the browser starts, it stopped loading any extensions. All my keybindings that were mapped with ctrl+whatever were now cmd+whatever. When I fixed my keybindings cmd+q would trigger my ctrl+q binding, it was a mess. There is probably more that is broke.

In summary: My little function here "could" work, if you try to sync between the same OS on two machines using SyncThing, but I learned the hard way that you cannot mix those files between macOS and Linux, which is a bummer. It really looked too good to be true.

I want my pinned tabs, I want my normal tabs, I want my browser settings, I want my browser extensions and its settings. I want my full about:config. I want everything, just not cache and storage. Why does it have to be that hard ...

[martin-braun]

I might be able to tackle the keybindings issue by also excluding zen-keyboard-shortcuts.json, then I simply have to setup my shortcuts between my platforms individually. But my extensions were utterly broke regardless. It should just make so much more sense to have any developer of Zen look into this.

[vraravam]

Very nice @martin-braun !

I capture the relevant files from my zen installation folder (more for a backup strategy rather than a "use across different OSes" perspective) and this setup has worked great for me.

I am a techie, and so I basically use git to push/pull the tracked files (as opposed to your syncthing-based setup).
My gitignore file for the profiles folder/repo can be found here - please don't worry about the naming convention of the filename itself.
Basically, in my setup, I ignore those files that are caches, etc (files & folders that the browser will recreate if not present), and leaving those aside, ALL files/folders, including extension-installation xpis are captured into a git repo. I then do a local commit and push to a remote from the machine that I use as my daily driver. On the 2nd mac laptop that I use sometimes, I can then quit Zen, git pull from the remote, and restart Zen for all my settings, preferences, keyboard bindings, extensions, bookmarks and even open/pinned/etc tabs to re-appear on the 2nd machine.
Since you are tech-savvy enough to write up a shell script, I thought this might be useful for you as a reference.

For tackling the keyboard bindings between linux and macos or windows, I would suggest that you can compare the same zen-keyboard-shortcuts.json files from both OSes, and write up a conversion shell script that converts from cmd to ctrl or vice-versa using sed or awk or jq or a similar utility. (I stopped using windows more than 2 decades ago, and so I didn't delve into that aspect for my backup strategy.)

[vraravam]

Since I want to keep only a single profile across different installations for Zen (stable) or Twilight, I too have named my profile in the installs.ini and profiles.ini with the naming convention of ZenProfile/Profiles/DefaultProfile. I use FF nightly for DRM content, and so I have FirefoxProfile/Profiles/DefaultProfile as well in a similar fashion.

[martin-braun]

@vraravam First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to add your input and feedback. So glad that you took the time out of your day. I sync my dot files using git as well, but I am hesitant to sync the Zen profile the same way, because any change in one department might result in binary diffs. A lot of files in the Firefox Profile structure are databases and not simply text files that you can nicely diff, hence I opted for tar'ing the whole thing and using Syncthing instead. In a local network that's only 120MB for me and it avoids my git repo to grow after every browser session. Just to give you an idea why I decided to go for Syncthing.

However, I love that you did what you do, and I love that you are sharing your .gitignore with me. This will be helpful to patch my script and maybe make it all work for me.

About the zen-keyboard-shortcuts.json I'm not super sure about yet, because although the command key on Mac is similar in function to the ctrl key on Linux, it lives in a different place where the alt key resides usually. This makes keybindings opinionated between platforms, so maybe a better approach is to maintain one zen-keyboard-shortcuts.json for each of the two (or three) platforms.

Your input motivates me to keep trying and not give up. I will keep you updated. :)

[vraravam]

Thanks @martin-braun .

The git repo growing in size is something that I definitely concur with. That's why:

1. I keep the browser profiles repo separated from the other repo for my overall backup; and
2. I came up with a recreate-repo.sh script to basically blast away all commits (since I wouldn't care about history) and just create it from scratch as a single commit; and
3. I have a git alias called cc which simply runs the git gc command to remove orphaned commits/blobs.

A combination of the 3 points above helps me to keep my browser profiles repo in MBs rather than GBs. (I use Zen, FF (for primevideo, and some other DRM content), Brave (for occassional sites that don't work fine with FF/Zen - all of which are captured in the browser profiles git repo that I mentioned.)

[mr-cheffy]

After the window sync PR merge: folders, tabs, spaces, etc etc are now stored into a zen-session.jsonlz4 file, which can be used for backing up and restoring all zen's sidebar UI!

[eblanshey]

You can also just back up your browser profile and restore it elsewhere. Follow the firefox instructions: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles