🦖 Import Tools

Reclaim your digital sovereignty. Securely migrate files, social accounts, and cloud histories directly into your localized ecosystem — permanently and without third-party intermediaries.

Overview

Import Tools is a collection of migration utilities that move your existing digital footprint — scattered across cloud services, social platforms, and external drives — into your local Companion Hub and Digital Memory Server.

The goal is a one-time, or ongoing, transfer of ownership: instead of leaving your data in Google Drive, Twitter/X, iCloud, Instagram, or any other silo, you migrate it to hardware you control. Import Tools handles the format conversion, deduplication, and memory tagging automatically.

Key Features

Multi-platform importers — Google Takeout, Twitter/X archive, Instagram export, iCloud Photos, Facebook export, and more
File system importers — bulk import from external drives, NAS, SMB shares, or SFTP sources
Automatic deduplication — content-addressed storage ensures no duplicate files in your memory store
Metadata preservation — timestamps, geolocation, captions, and social context are retained and indexed
Incremental sync — re-run importers to pick up new data without re-importing existing items
Progress tracking — resumable imports with per-source status and error logs
Privacy scrubbing — optional PII stripping and EXIF data review before import

Supported Import Sources

Source	Type	Notes
Google Takeout	Archive (`.zip`)	Photos, Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Location History
Twitter / X	Archive (`.zip`)	Tweets, DMs, media, likes
Instagram	Archive (`.zip`)	Posts, stories, messages, saved
Facebook	Archive (`.zip`)	Posts, photos, messages
iCloud Photos	Direct sync	Requires iCloud credentials or local library
External drive	File system	Any mounted volume
SFTP / SMB	Remote file system	NAS, servers
Obsidian vault	Markdown	Notes and attachments
Notion export	HTML / Markdown	Pages and databases
Custom CSV	Structured data	Define your own schema

Use Cases

Permanently exit Google Photos and bring your entire photo library on-premise
Archive your full Twitter/X history including DMs and media before account deletion
Consolidate years of notes from Notion, Evernote, and Obsidian into a single searchable memory
Migrate an external hard drive of old files into the Digital Memory timeline with proper timestamps
Continuously sync from a cloud source while transitioning to local-first workflows

Architecture


Cloud Export Archive / External Source
            │
            ▼
    Import Tools CLI / Web UI
            │
       ┌────┴──────────────────┐
       │   Source Parser       │
       │   (format-specific)   │
       └────────────────────────┘
            │  normalized events
            ▼
    Deduplication Engine
    (content-addressed hash)
            │  unique items only
            ▼
    Digital Memory Ingestion API
            │
            ▼
    Digital Memory Server
    (indexed, searchable, permanent)

Setup

Install via Companion Hub

Search for Import Tools in the Hub app store and install. Or install the CLI directly:


curl -fsSL https://get.ci.computer/import-tools | sh
ci-import --version

Prepare your export archives

For cloud services, generate a data export first:

Google Takeout: takeout.google.com
Twitter/X: Settings → Your Account → Download an archive
Instagram: Settings → Meta Accounts Center → Download your information
Facebook: Settings → Your Facebook Information → Download your information

Connect to your Digital Memory Server


ci-import configure \
  --memory-url http://digital-memory.ci.localhost \
  --api-key <your-api-key>

Or configure via the Import Tools web UI at http://import-tools.ci.localhost.

Usage

Running an Import

Web UI

Open http://import-tools.ci.localhost → New Import → select your source type → upload or point to your archive → click Start Import.

Checking Import Status


ci-import status

Shows all active and completed imports with progress, item counts, and error summaries.

Incremental Re-import

Re-run any importer to pick up new data. Import Tools tracks a cursor for each source and skips already-imported content:


ci-import run google-takeout --archive ~/Downloads/takeout-20260401.zip --incremental

Reviewing Before Committing

Use --dry-run to preview what would be imported without writing anything:


ci-import run twitter --archive ~/Downloads/twitter-archive.zip --dry-run

Troubleshooting

Import stalls at 0% The source archive may be corrupted or in an unexpected format. Run ci-import validate --archive <path> to check the archive structure.

Duplicate files appearing in memory Ensure --incremental is set for repeat imports. If duplicates already exist, run ci-import dedup to consolidate.

Missing metadata (timestamps, locations) Some export formats omit metadata. Check the import log for warnings about missing fields. For Google Photos, ensure you export both the photos and the metadata JSON files in the same Takeout archive.

Large archive running out of memory Split large archives before importing: ci-import split --archive large.zip --size 2GB. Import each chunk separately.