Chat Archive

Export AI chat conversations to durable JSON and Markdown formats.

A Chrome browser extension that extracts conversations from AI chat platforms (Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok) into portable, machine-readable files. Zero network requests. Zero telemetry. Your conversations never leave your browser.

✨ Features

5 Platform Support: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok (grok.com), Grok-X (x.com/i/grok)
Two Export Formats: JSON (canonical, schema v1.1) and Markdown with metadata
Smart Extraction: Three-pass strategy (clipboard → heuristics → ML fallback)
Artifact Extraction: Full extraction of Claude.ai artifacts — code, HTML, SVG, and binary files (PPTX, DOCX, XLSX)
Privacy First: All processing happens in-browser. No data sent to external servers.
Safety Guarantees: Hard limits (500 turns, 60s timeout), integrity checks, circuit breakers
Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, Linux (any Chromium browser)

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Download or clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/fxops-ai/chat-archive.git
cd chat-archive

Load in Chrome (or Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Arc, Opera)
- Open chrome://extensions/
- Enable "Developer mode" (toggle in top-right)
- Click "Load unpacked"
- Select the chat-archive folder
- Extension icon appears in toolbar

Usage

Navigate to a supported AI chat platform:
- Claude.ai
- ChatGPT or chat.openai.com
- Gemini
- Grok or x.com/i/grok
Open an existing conversation (must have at least one exchange)
Click the Chat Archive extension icon in your toolbar
Click "Export JSON" (or "Export Markdown")
Choose where to save the file

If the conversation contains artifacts, a .zip file is created containing the JSON/Markdown plus all artifact sidecar files.

Your conversation is now a durable, addressable artifact. Use it as:

Input to scripts or automation
Training data or evaluation sets
Documentation or knowledge base content
Backup before deleting conversations
Migration between platforms

🏗️ Architecture

Three-Pass Extraction Strategy

Chat Archive uses a resilient, multi-layer approach to handle platform DOM differences:

Pass 0: Clipboard Extraction (Primary - 95%+ success rate)

Uses each platform's native copy buttons to extract content.

Claude: button[data-testid="action-bar-copy"] on both user and assistant turns
ChatGPT: button[data-testid="copy-turn-action-button"] with role from data-turn attribute
Gemini: aria-label="Copy prompt" (user) / data-test-id="copy-button" (assistant)
Grok: aria-label="Copy" with 6-signal role detection
Grok-X: aria-label="Copy text" with React Native Web class fallbacks

Pass 1: Structural Heuristics (Fallback)

When clipboard extraction fails, uses 7 rule-based classifiers with ensemble voting at 0.75 acceptance threshold.

Pass 2: ML Classification (Deferred to v1.1+)

Optional micro-classifier (<500KB) for genuinely ambiguous cases.

Artifact Extraction (Claude.ai)

Claude artifacts are extracted via a two-surface strategy:

Surface A — Artifact cards (files produced by present_files):

Text/code artifacts: panel opened → Copy button → clipboard → sidecar file
Binary artifacts (PPTX/DOCX/XLSX): download URL interception via background service worker → same-origin fetch → zip

Surface B — Inline code blocks (fenced code in assistant turn text):

Copy button → clipboard, or direct innerText fallback

Export Formats

JSON (Canonical Format)

{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "export_metadata": {
    "source_platform": "claude.ai",
    "source_url": "https://claude.ai/chat/abc-123",
    "export_timestamp": "2026-06-28T14:30:00Z",
    "total_turns": 24,
    "has_artifacts": true,
    "artifact_count": 3,
    "zip_filename": "chat-export-claude-2026-06-28.zip"
  },
  "artifact_manifest": [...],
  "conversation": [...]
}

Zip structure (when artifacts present)

chat-export-claude-2026-06-28/
├── conversation.json
├── conversation.md
└── artifacts/
    ├── artifact-001-v1-directory-listing.sh
    ├── artifact-002-v1-slides.pptx
    └── artifact-003-v1-diagram.svg

🔒 Security & Privacy

Core Guarantee

Chat Archive makes zero network requests. Conversations never leave your browser.

✅ No telemetry, analytics, or crash reporting
✅ No external API calls
✅ No background service that phones home
✅ All processing happens locally in the browser tab

Permissions Explained

Permission	Why We Need It	Risk Level
`activeTab`	Access current tab DOM for extraction	Minimal
`downloads`	Write export files to your device	Low
`storage`	Cache user classification corrections	Low
`clipboardRead`	Read clipboard after programmatic copy-button click	Low
Host permissions (6 domains)	Inject content script on chat platforms	Scoped

Safety Limits (Circuit Breakers)

MAX_TURNS: 500                   // Hard cap on turns per export
MAX_EXTRACTION_TIME_MS: 60_000   // Kill switch: abort after 60 seconds
MAX_ARTIFACT_PANELS: 50          // Hard cap on artifact panels opened
BINARY_FETCH_MAX_SIZE: 50_000_000 // 50MB cap on binary artifact fetch

✅ Validation

Test Results (v0.4.0 - June 2026)

Platform	Test Type	Turns	Result	Confidence
Claude.ai	ARCHIVETEST	8/8	✅ Pass	0.95
Claude.ai	ARCHIVETEST-BINARY	5 artifacts	✅ Pass	—
ChatGPT	ARCHIVETEST	8/8	✅ Pass	0.99
Gemini	ARCHIVETEST	8/8	✅ Pass	0.99
Grok	ARCHIVETEST	8/8	✅ Pass	0.95
Grok	Real conversation	32/32	✅ Pass	0.95
Grok-X	ARCHIVETEST	8/8	✅ Pass	0.95

ARCHIVETEST-BINARY (Claude.ai binary artifacts):

Artifact	Size	Method	Magic bytes
Org intelligence	80,600 bytes	`binary_fetch`	`PK\x03\x04` ✅
Cost slides	34,775 bytes	`binary_fetch`	`PK\x03\x04` ✅
Cost slides v2	46,313 bytes	`binary_fetch`	`PK\x03\x04` ✅
Slide e strategic outcomes	34,947 bytes	`binary_fetch`	`PK\x03\x04` ✅

📚 Documentation

docs/chat-archive-architecture-5.md — Complete system design, three-pass strategy, all 5 platform extractors
docs/chat-archive-artifact-extraction-spec.md — Artifact extraction architecture, schema v1.1
docs/DOM_STRATEGY_ANALYSIS.md — Platform DOM analysis and selector strategy
docs/RELEASE-v0.4.0.md — v0.4.0 release notes: binary artifact extraction

🛠️ Development

Building from Source

# Make the build script executable (first time only)
chmod +x build.sh

# Build content.js
./build.sh

On Windows: Use Git Bash to run ./build.sh

After build, verify shared utilities are present:

grep -n "scrollToLoadAll" content.js
# Should show: one function definition + 4-5 call sites

Project Structure

chat-archive/
├── manifest.json           # Chrome extension manifest (v0.4.0)
├── background.js           # Service worker — downloads + binary interception
├── popup.html/js           # Extension popup UI
├── content.js              # Built file (concatenated from src/)
├── build.sh                # Build script
├── src/
│   ├── content.js          # Main orchestrator
│   ├── utils/
│   │   ├── constants.js    # Safety limits, shared DOM utilities, platform detection
│   │   ├── serializer.js   # JSON/MD export formatting
│   │   └── filewriter.js   # Download + zip via Chrome API
│   └── extractors/
│       ├── claude.js       # Claude.ai extraction + artifact orchestration
│       ├── chatgpt.js      # ChatGPT extraction
│       ├── gemini.js       # Gemini extraction
│       ├── grok.js         # Grok (grok.com) extraction
│       ├── grok-x.js       # Grok (x.com/i/grok) extraction
│       ├── heuristics.js   # Pass 1 structural classification
│       └── artifacts/
│           ├── artifact-detector.js  # Finds artifact surfaces in turn containers
│           ├── artifact-panel.js     # Panel interaction + binary extraction
│           ├── artifact-types.js     # Type label → canonical type + extension
│           └── artifact-code.js      # Per-type post-processing
└── docs/
    ├── chat-archive-architecture-5.md
    ├── chat-archive-artifact-extraction-spec.md
    ├── DOM_STRATEGY_ANALYSIS.md
    └── RELEASE-v0.4.0.md

Testing

Make changes to files in src/
Run ./build.sh to rebuild content.js
In Chrome: chrome://extensions/ → Click reload icon on Chat Archive
Test on target platform
Check browser console for [Chat Archive] log messages

🗺️ Roadmap

v0.4.0 (Current)

✅ Binary artifact extraction (PPTX, DOCX, XLSX)
✅ Download URL interception via background service worker
✅ NBSP normalisation fix for type label resolution
✅ browser_download fallback with readme generation

v0.3.0

✅ Claude.ai artifact extraction (code, HTML, SVG, Markdown)
✅ Schema v1.1 with artifact manifest
✅ Zip output for conversations with artifacts
✅ JSZip bundled + SHA-256 pinned at build time

v0.1.0 – v0.2.1

✅ Pass 0 (clipboard) + Pass 1 (heuristics) extraction
✅ 5 platform support
✅ JSON and Markdown export
✅ Safety limits and integrity checks

v1.1 (Next)

User resolution UI for uncertain classifications
Batch export from conversation history pages
Firefox port (Manifest V3 namespace polyfill)
Confirm DOCX/XLSX type labels against live DOM
Eliminate Chrome multiple-download prompt for binary artifacts

v1.2+

Artifact extraction for ChatGPT Canvas, Gemini equivalents
Image description preservation (multimodal conversations)
Enhanced metadata (model versions, regeneration tracking)

🤝 Contributing

Reporting Issues

When platforms update their UI and extraction breaks:

Open an issue with:
- Platform name and URL
- Browser and OS version
- Error message from browser console (look for [Chat Archive] logs)
- Screenshots of the page structure (right-click → Inspect Element)
Include a minimal reproduction:
- Create a 2-turn conversation
- Attempt export
- Share what happened vs. what you expected

How to Contribute

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Make your changes in src/
Run ./build.sh and test with an ARCHIVETEST conversation
Commit (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

📄 License

MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

DOM analysis methodology informed by the AI chat exporter community
Built for the AI power-user community

Remember: This extension operates in archive state, not conversation state. The conversations you export become addressable artifacts with destinations beyond the chat interface.

Chat Archive v0.4.0 — Extracting ephemeral conversations into durable knowledge.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 21 Commits
docs		docs
icons		icons
src		src
DOM_STRATEGY_ANALYSIS.md		DOM_STRATEGY_ANALYSIS.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
background.js		background.js
build.sh		build.sh
chat-archive-architecture.md		chat-archive-architecture.md
content.js		content.js
gitattributes		gitattributes
manifest.json		manifest.json
popup.html		popup.html
popup.js		popup.js
test_v021_patch.js		test_v021_patch.js

Folders and files

Latest commit

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Chat Archive

✨ Features

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

Usage

🏗️ Architecture

Three-Pass Extraction Strategy

Pass 0: Clipboard Extraction (Primary - 95%+ success rate)

Pass 1: Structural Heuristics (Fallback)

Pass 2: ML Classification (Deferred to v1.1+)

Artifact Extraction (Claude.ai)

Export Formats

🔒 Security & Privacy

Core Guarantee

Permissions Explained

Safety Limits (Circuit Breakers)

✅ Validation

Test Results (v0.4.0 - June 2026)

📚 Documentation

🛠️ Development

Building from Source

Project Structure

Testing

🗺️ Roadmap

v0.4.0 (Current)

v0.3.0

v0.1.0 – v0.2.1

v1.1 (Next)

v1.2+

🤝 Contributing

Reporting Issues

How to Contribute

📄 License

🙏 Acknowledgments

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