A GitHub CLI extension for migrating GitHub Projects between GitHub accounts and products
- From GitHub Enterprise Server v3.12+ to:
- GitHub.com
- GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency
- GitHub Enterprise Server v3.12+
- From GitHub.com to:
- Another organization or user account on GitHub.com (e.g. from a classic GitHub.com organization to Enterprise Managed Users organization)
- GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency
- GitHub Enterprise Server v3.12+
- From GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency to:
- GitHub.com
- Another GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency organization or tenant
- GitHub Enterprise Server v3.12+
Using an earlier GitHub Enterprise Server release? See "Supported GitHub Enterprise Server versions" below to find a version of gh-migrate-project which will work for you.
Make sure you've got the GitHub CLI installed. If you haven't, you can install it by following the instructions here.
Once gh is ready and available on your machine, you can install this extension by running gh extension install timrogers/gh-migrate-project.
You can check that the extension is installed and working by running gh migrate-project --help.
Items in GitHub Projects are linked to issues and pull requests. Before you can migrate a project, you need to make sure that the relevant issues and pull requests are already migrated.
For all migrations except migrations to GitHub Enterprise Server, you can migrate your issues and pull requests using GitHub Enterprise Importer.
If you're migrating to GitHub Enterprise Server, you can migrate your issues and pull requests using ghe-migrator.
When you run your migrations, make a note of the new owner and repo name for each repository.
Migrating a project is split into two distinct phases: export and import. The first step is to export your project and its items from your migration source.
To export a project, you'll need a token with appropriate permissions. The extension won't use your existing login session for the GitHub CLI. You'll need a classic token with the read:project and repo scopes, authorized for SSO if applicable.
You can export your project and its items using the gh migrate-project export command:
gh migrate-project export \
# A GitHub access token with the permissions described above. This can also be configured using the `EXPORT_GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable.
--access-token GITHUB_TOKEN \
# The organization or user who owns the project you want to export
--project-owner monalisa \
# The type of the owner of the project you want to export (defaults to organization; only required if the owner is a user)
--project-owner-type user \
# The number of the project you want to export
--project-number 1337 \
# OPTIONAL: The base URL for the GitHub API if you are exporting from a source other than GitHub.com. For GitHub Enterprise Server, this will be something like `https://github.acme.inc/api/v3`. For GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, this will be `https://api.acme.ghe.com`, replacing `acme` with your own tenant.
--base-url https://github.acme.inc/api/v3 \
# OPTIONAL: The URL of an HTTP(S) proxy to use for requests to the GitHub API (e.g. `http://localhost:3128`). This can also be set using the EXPORT_PROXY_URL environment variable.
--proxy-url https://10.0.0.1:3128 \
# OPTIONAL: Emit detailed, verbose logs (off by default)
--verbose \
# OPTIONAL: Disable anonymous telemetry that gives the maintainers of this tool basic information about real-world usage.
--disable-telemetry \
# OPTIONAL: Skip verification of SSL certificates when connecting to GitHub. You may need to use this option if connecting to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance with a self-signed certificate, or if you have configured a proxy.
--skip-certificate-verification \
# OPTIONAL: Skip automatic check for updates to this tool
--skip-update-checkWhen the export finishes, you'll have up to three files written to your current directory:
project.json: The raw data of your project and all of its project itemsrepository-mappings.csv: A repository mappings CSV template that you need to fill out with the names of your repositories in the migration targetassignee-mapping.csv(optional): An assignee mappings CSV template that you may fill out with usernames in the migration target. This will only be generated if the project contains one or more draft issue project items with one or more assignees.
You'll need to complete the repository-mappings.csv file outputted from the export command with repository mappings, so the tool knows how to match repositories in your migration source to repositories in your migration target.
The CSV will look like this:
source_repository,target_repository
corp/widgets,
corp/website,
Imagine that you're in the process of migrating from GitHub Enterprise Server to GitHub.com, and you've already moved your repositories into a new GitHub.com organization called monalisa-emu. You'd fill out the CSV like this:
source_repository,target_repository
corp/widgets,monalisa-emu/widgets
corp/website,monalisa-emu/website
If you don't want to map a repository - for example because it hasn't been migrated - just delete the line from the CSV or leave the target_repository blank. If a repository hasn't been mapped, project items related to that repository will be skipped during the import.
If an assignee-mappings.csv file is generated, you may want to complete it with username mappings so that the assignees of draft issue project items can be correctly reflected in your migration target.
The CSV will look like this:
source_login,target_login
monalisa,
timrogers,
Imagine that you're in the process of migrating from GitHub Enterprise Server to GitHub.com. You would map the users' usernames on your server to the users' usernames on GitHub.com, like this:
source_login,source_repository
monalisa,monathecat
timrogers,timrogers0104
If you don't want to map a user, just delete the line from the CSV or leave the target_login blank. Where that user is assigned to a draft issue in the migration source, the assignment will be lost in the migration target.
You've exported your data and filled out the repository mappings template. You can now import your project into your migration target.
To import a project, you'll need a token with appropriate permissions. The extension won't use your existing login session for the GitHub CLI. You'll need a classic token with the project and repo scopes, authorized for SSO if applicable. If you're creating an organization project, you'll also need the write:org scope.
You can import your project using the gh migrate-project import command:
gh migrate-project import \
# A GitHub access token with the permissions described above. This can also be configured using the `IMPORT_GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable.
--access-token GITHUB_TOKEN \
# The name of the organization or user that will own the newly-imported project
--project-owner monalisa \
# The type of the owner who will own the project (defaults to organization; only required if the owner is a user)
--project-owner-type user \
# The path of the project data generated by the `export` command
--input-path project.json \
# The path of the repository mappings file generated by the `export` command and completed by you
--repository-mappings-path repository-mappings.csv \
# The path of the assignee mappings file generated by the `export` command and completed by you
--assignee-mappings-path assignee-mappings.csv \
# OPTIONAL: The base URL for the GitHub API if you are importing to a target other than GitHub.com. For GitHub Enterprise Server, this will be something like `https://github.acme.inc/api/v3`. For GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, this will be `https://api.acme.ghe.com`, replacing `acme` with your own tenant.
--base-url https://github.acme.inc/api/v3 \
# OPTIONAL: The URL of an HTTP(S) proxy to use for requests to the GitHub API (e.g. `http://localhost:3128`). This can also be set using the IMPORT_PROXY_URL environment variable.
--proxy-url https://10.0.0.1:3128 \
# OPTIONAL: The title to use for the imported project. Defaults to the title of the source project.
--project-title "My Imported Project" \
# OPTIONAL: Emit detailed, verbose logs (off by default)
--verbose \
# OPTIONAL: Disable anonymous telemetry that gives the maintainers of this tool basic information about real-world usage.
--disable-telemetry \
# OPTIONAL: Skip verification of SSL certificates when connecting to GitHub. You may need to use this option if connecting to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance with a self-signed certificate, or if you have configured a proxy.
--skip-certificate-verification \
# OPTIONAL: Skip automatic check for updates to this tool
--skip-update-check \
# OPTIONAL: The number of an existing project you have already created to use as a migration target, importing the items and fields. If this is set, the project title in the export or specified with --project-title will not be applied.
--project-number 1337Watch out for warn lines in the logs, which will let you know about data which hasn't been imported.
Optionally, you can specify an existing project using --project-number to apply the fields and items to a project you've already created. This can be useful if you want to use a project template to set up your projects to overcome this tool's lack of support for migrating workflows and views.
Due to limitations of the GitHub Enterprise Server GraphQL API, automatic migration of the Status field is not supported for imports to GitHub Enterprise Server if the Status field has custom options configured.
Due to this limitation, the tool will ask you to manually set up your options for the "Status" field mid-way through the import if the target is GitHub Enterprise Server. It will explain exactly what to do, and will validate that you've correctly copied the options from your migration source.
Once you've set up the "Status" field, your project will be imported.
This tool can't migrate so-called classic Projects - only the newer version of GitHub Projects.
Classic Projects can be migrated with GitHub Enterprise Importer or ghe-migrator.
The following data is not migrated and will be skipped:
- Views
- The order of project items displayed in your views
- Workflows
- Iteration custom fields
You may want to add views and workflows to a template, manually create your project from a template, and then use the import command's --project-number option to import items and fields into that project.
This tool only commits to supporting GitHub Enterprise Server releases supported by GitHub. Releases are deprecated roughly a year after release, and once a release is deprecated, we will drop support in this tool.
If you want to export from or import to an old GitHub Enterprise Server version, you may need to use an earlier version of the tool:
- For exports from and imports to GitHub Enterprise Server v3.11, use version
v3.2.0or earlier (gh extension install timrogers/gh-migrate-project --pin v3.2.0) - For exports from and imports to GitHub Enterprise Server v3.10, use version
v2.1.0or earlier (gh extension install timrogers/gh-migrate-project --pin v2.1.0) - For exports from GitHub Enterprise Server v3.7, v3.8 or v3.9, use version
v1.3.0or earlier (gh extension install timrogers/gh-migrate-project --pin v1.3.0)
Migrated draft issues will show as being created by the person who ran the migration at the time they ran the migration. A note will be prepended to the body with original author login and timestamp.
If you are connecting to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance with a self-signed certificate, or if you have configured a proxy, you may experience SSL/TLS related errors. You can skip certificate verification with the --skip-certificate-verification argument.
This extension includes basic, anonymous telemetry to give the maintainers information about real-world usage. This data is limited to:
- The number of exports and imports being run
- The GitHub product you are exporting from or importing to
- The version of GitHub Enterprise Server being used, when exporting from or importing to GitHub Enterprise Server
- The versions of the extension currently in used
You can disable all telemetry by specifying the --disable-telemetry argument.