DiscordChatExporter-frontend

View your JSON DiscordChatExporter exports as if you were using Discord interface.

Why JSON exports are better than HTML exports?

better-suited for long-term preservation
contain more information than HTML exports
readable by third-party applications like this one or chat-analytics, not just browsers
smaller in size

This project aims to provide you with better experience than what you get by just opening HTML exports in your browser. In one place and with many more features, like search, message deduplication, etc. And it will get even better in the future :).

Features

View JSON exports in Discord like interface
Message deduplication - merge multiple JSON exports and view them as one
Lazy loaded virtual list - load only messages you need to see
Forums and threads support
Search with filters and autocomplete
Load assets locally or from Discord servers
Private messages or guild exports are supported
Discord Markdown rendering
Right click message and select "Open in discord" to view message in Discord
Windows and Linux support

System requirements

You need 1.5+ GB of free RAM for the mongodb database to work correctly
The browser viewer has almost no requirements, but it's recommended to have at least 1 GB of free RAM
Chromium based browsers and Firefox are supported, but most of the testing was done on Chromium.
Small viewports (mobile phones) are not supported yet

Note: Discord servers are known internally as guilds

Quick start (Windows)

Using prebuilt binaries is the easiest way to use this tool on Windows.

if you don't have any exports yet, you can try out the viewer with example exports included in the release. Just skip step 3.

Download the latest release from releases page
Extract the archive
Move your DiscordChatExporter exports to /exports/ folder (supported exports). Folder structure inside this folder doesn't matter, script will find everything it needs.
Run dcef.exe

Important: files in exports folder may exceed Windows path length limit of 260 characters. If you have any issues with loading your assets you can choose one of the following solutions:

move your exports to a folder with shorter path
or run registry_tweaks/change_260_character_path_limit_to_32767.reg to increase the limit to 32767 characters (requires admin privileges) and restart your computer

Beta builds (Windows)

If you want to try out the latest features, you can use beta builds. They are automatically built from the latest commit on master branch or from pull requests.

Docker (cross-platform)

Info: Tested on Ubuntu 22.04 and WSL2 on Windows 10. Not tested on arm based systems like Raspberry Pi or Apple M1.

This verion is the best way to host the viewer on a server for others to use.

pull the image from docker hub

docker pull slada/dcef:main

Navigate to a folder with your exports

cd /path/to/your/exports

Run the container

docker run --volume "$(pwd):/dcef/exports" --volume dcef_cache:/dcef/cache --rm --name dcef -p 21011:21011 -it slada/dcef:main

Open http://127.0.0.1:21011/ in your browser

Build docker image from source code

You need docker and git installed. Tested on non-snap version of docker on Ubuntu 22.04.

Build image

git clone https://github.com/slatinsky/DiscordChatExporter-frontend
cd DiscordChatExporter-frontend
docker build -t dcef .

Then use the same instructions as for the docker hub version, but replace slada/dcef:main with dcef in step 3.

Debugging containers

To debug a running container, run docker exec -it $(docker ps | grep 'dcef' | awk '{ print $1 }') sh. This will open a shell inside the container.

To remove volume dcef_cache with temporary files, run docker volume rm dcef_cache

Upgrade guide (Windows)

Want to upgrade from previous version? Follow these steps:

Download the latest release from releases page.
Delete everything (except exports folder) in your discordchatexporter-frontend folder.
Move everything (except exports folder) from the new release to your discordchatexporter-frontend folder.

Info: since release 1.10.0, exports folder was changed from /static/input/ to /exports/.

Upgrade guide (Docker)

Stop the container and clear the cache volume by running docker volume rm dcef_cache. Then pull the latest version from git (git pull) and build the image again using linux instructions.

Which exports are supported?

Exports are done by DiscordChatExporter.

JSON export format (--format Json) is required
Including assets (--media --reuse-media) is highly recommended, but not required
Skipping markdown prerendering (--markdown false) is highly recommended, but not required
Don't forget to export threads and forums, because they are not included in the main export (see examples below for a guide on how to export them)

CLI examples

Export all accessible channels from guild:

DiscordChatExporter.Cli.exe exportguild --token DISCORD_TOKEN -g GUILD_ID --media --reuse-media --markdown false --format Json --output OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH

Export all dms (sadly, exporting dms can't be done without selfboting):

DiscordChatExporter.Cli.exe exportdm --token DISCORD_TOKEN --media --reuse-media --markdown false --format Json --output OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH

Export channel/thread/forum posts:

DiscordChatExporter.Cli export --token DISCORD_TOKEN  --media --reuse-media --markdown false --output OUTPUT_FOLDER_PATH --format Json --channel CHANNEL_OR_THREAD_ID_OR_FORUM_POST_ID_1 CHANNEL_OR_THREAD_ID_OR_FORUM_POST_ID_2 CHANNEL_OR_THREAD_ID_OR_FORUM_POST_ID_3 CHANNEL_OR_THREAD_ID_OR_FORUM_POST_ID_4

Helper script to export archived threads in a channel

Helper script to export forum posts in a channel

Settings for GUI version of DiscordChatExporter

Make sure that export format is set to JSON. Optionally, you can enable Download assets option to download images, videos and other types of assets.

NOTE: You can't export threads and forums using GUI version of DCE. You need to use CLI version for that.

Development

Architecture choices

Setting up a development environment on Windows

Compile the Windows release from source code

Supporting other exporters

Thanks

Tyrrrz/DiscordChatExporter - for a great export tool
brussell98/discord-markdown - for discord markdown rendering library

And for other technologies used in this project - sveltekit, docker, nodejs, nvm, pyinstaller, nginx, mongodb

License

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. See LICENSE for more details.

This product contains software provided by NGINX and its contributors.

DiscordChatExporter-frontend is not affiliated with Discord. Discord is a registered trademark of Discord Inc.

Contributing

Feel free to open issues and pull requests.

Short guide, how to contribute

Fork the repository
Create a new branch
Implement your changes
Commit and push the changes
Create a pull request

If you find this project useful, please consider starring it here on GitHub :)

Roachbones/DiscordChatExporter-frontend