A Strapi 5 plugin that wraps the official strapi export / strapi import CLI
in an admin UI and adds per-collection CSV/JSON/XLSX export plus scheduled,
retention-aware auto-backups.
- Version:
5.0.0 - Strapi:
^5.0.0
- Create / restore / download / delete full project archives (
tar,tar.gz,tar.enc,tar.gz.enc) from the admin. - Import an archive from another project by drag-and-drop.
- Per-collection export in the Content Manager list view (Quick export in CSV/JSON/XLSX or Data Explorer with column picker & filters).
- Per-collection import of CSV/JSON/XLSX from the same list view.
- Scheduled auto-backups via cron, with retention, optional encryption key and an option to exclude uploaded files.
- One-click "Run now" to trigger the scheduled backup immediately.
- Live job-progress log for every export / import / restore.
- Auth state is preserved across restores — you do not get logged out.
npm install import-export-data
# or
yarn add import-export-dataEnable it in config/plugins.js:
module.exports = () => ({
"import-export-data": { enabled: true },
});Archives are uploaded via multipart. There are two independent layers that
can reject a large upload with 413 Payload Too Large. Both must be raised or
the UI will show Unexpected token '<', "<html> <h"... is not valid JSON:
Replace the bare "strapi::body" entry with an object form:
module.exports = [
"strapi::errors",
"strapi::poweredBy",
"strapi::logger",
"strapi::query",
{
name: "strapi::body",
config: {
jsonLimit: "512mb",
formLimit: "512mb",
textLimit: "512mb",
formidable: { maxFileSize: 2 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 }, // 2 GB
},
},
"strapi::session",
// ...rest
];Restart Strapi after the change — config is read only at boot.
If any proxy sits in front of Strapi, raise its body-size limit too — it will reject the upload before it reaches Strapi, so Strapi logs stay empty and only the browser sees the HTML 413 from the proxy.
nginx — inside each http { ... } block (all configs in proxy/):
client_max_body_size 2g;
client_body_buffer_size 1m;
proxy_request_buffering off; # stream the upload; don't buffer the whole body in RAM
proxy_read_timeout 1800s; # 30 min for very large archives
proxy_send_timeout 1800s;Restart the nginx container (docker compose restart proxy) after the change.
traefik — set buffering.maxRequestBodyBytes on the router middleware.
Cloudflare — the free plan hard-caps uploads at 100 MB. Upgrade or bypass Cloudflare for the admin subdomain if your archives exceed it.
| Symptom | Layer to fix |
|---|---|
Browser shows Unexpected token '<', no log |
Check nginx/proxy 413 response |
Strapi log shows PayloadTooLargeError |
Raise strapi::body limits |
| Upload hangs and times out | Raise proxy_read_timeout in nginx |
| Works locally, fails via proxy only | Proxy client_max_body_size too low |
Rule of thumb: proxy limit must be ≥ Strapi formidable.maxFileSize.
Match them in both places — if you raise one and not the other, the lower wins.
Backups are written to data/backups/. Without an ignore rule the Strapi admin
dev server restarts every time a new archive lands. Add the following to
admin/config/admin.js:
module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
// ...your existing admin config
watchIgnoreFiles: [
"**/data/backups/**",
"**/data/*.tar",
"**/data/*.tar.gz",
"**/data/*.tar.enc",
"**/data/*.tar.gz.enc",
"**/.plugin-config.json",
],
});Create an export, drop an archive to import, and manage existing backups from one table.
Pick an archive format, optionally supply an encryption key, and exclude
any part (files, config, content) via the CLI flag.
Configure the cron schedule, retention, encryption key and auto-exclude option. The Enabled / Disabled pill next to the cron presets is green when the schedule is active and red when it is off — one click toggles it.
Archives live under <strapi-root>/data/backups/. Plugin settings are
persisted in <strapi-root>/data/backups/.plugin-config.json.
Add data/backups/ to .gitignore.
All routes are admin-only. The plugin reuses the Content Manager's
permission checker, so per-collection export/import requires the
corresponding read / create / update permission on the target
content type.
MIT