Data Format¶

The input data file must be a valid JSON file with the following objects, each on its own line in the file. The objects must occur in the file in the order listed.

Version

Mandatory. The Version object must be the first line in the file, and must occur only once.

Team

Optional. If present, Team objects must occur after the Version object and before any Channel objects.

Channel

Optional. If present, Channel objects must occur after all Team objects and before any User objects.

User

Optional. If present, User objects must occur after the Team and Channel objects in the file and before any Post objects. Each User object defines the teams and channels that the user is a member of. If the corresponding teams and channels are not in the data file, then they must exist in the Mattermost database.

Post

Optional. If present, Post objects must occur after the last User object but before any DirectChannel objects. Each Post object defines the team, the channel, and the username of the user who posted the message. If the corresponding team, channel, or user are not in the data file, then they must exist in the Mattermost database.

DirectChannel

Optional. If present, DirectChannel objects must occur after all Post objects in the file and before any DirectPost objects.

DirectPost

Optional. If present, DirectPost objects must occur after all other objects in the file. Each DirectPost object defines the usernames of the channel members and the username of the user who posted the message. If the corresponding usernames are not in the data file, then they must exist in the Mattermost database.

With the exception of the Version object, each object has a field or a combination of fields that is used as the unique identifier of that object. The bulk loader uses the unique identifier to determine if the object being imported is a new object or an update to an existing object.

The identifiers for each object are listed in the following table:

The following fragment is from a file that imports two teams, each with two channels, many users, and many posts.

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{ type: "version", ... }
{ type: "team", team: { name: "TeamA", ...} }
{ type: "team", team: { name: "TeamB", ...} }
{ type: "channel", channel: { team: "TeamA", name: "ChannelA1", ...} }
{ type: "channel", channel: { team: "TeamA", name: "ChannelA2", ...} }
{ type: "channel", channel: { team: "TeamB", name: "ChannelB1", ...} }
{ type: "channel", channel: { team: "TeamB", name: "ChannelB1", ...} }
{ type: "user", user: { username: "user001", ...} }
{ type: "user", user: { username: "user002", ...} }
{ type: "user", user: { username: "user003", ...} }
{ type: "user", ... }
{ type: "user", ... }
{ type: "user", ... }
.
.
.
{ type: "post", { team: "TeamA", name: "ChannelA1", user: "user001", ...} }
{ type: "post", { team: "TeamA", name: "ChannelA1", user: "user001", ...} }
{ type: "post", { team: "TeamA", name: "ChannelA1", user: "user001", ...} }
.
.
.

{
  type: "version",
  version: 1
}

{
type: "team",
team: {
  name: "team-name",
  display_name: "Team Display Name",
  type: "O",
  description: "The Team Description",
  allow_open_invite: true
  }
}

{
  type: "channel",
  channel: {
    team: "team-name",
    name: "channel-name",
    display_name: "Channel Name",
    type: "O",
    header: "The Channel Header",
    purpose: "The Channel Purpose",
  }
}

{
  type: "user",
  user: {
    username: "username",
    email: "email@example.com",
    auth_service: "",
    auth_data: "",
    password: "passw0rd",
    nickname: "bobuser",
    first_name: "Bob",
    last_name: "User",
    position: "Senior Developer",
    roles: "system_user",
    locale: "pt_BR",
    teams: [
      {
        name: "team-name",
        roles: "team_user team_admin",
        channels: [
          {
            name: "channel-name",
            roles: "channel_user",
            notify_props: {
              desktop: "default",
              mark_unread: "all"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  type: "post",
  post: {
    team: "team-name",
    channel: "channel-name",
    user: "username",
    message: "The post message",
    create_at: 140012340013
  }
}

{
  "type": "direct_channel",
  "direct_channel": {
    "members": [
      "username1",
      "username2",
      "username3"
    ],
    "header": "The Channel Header",
  }
}

{
  "type": "direct_post",
  "direct_post": {
    "channel_members": [
      "username1",
      "username2",
      "username3",
    ],
    "user": "username2",
    "message": "Hello Group Channel",
    "create_at": 140012340013
  }
}