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Export posts out of NodeBB into HTML and Markdown flat files -> Halo ITSM

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    At work, we are transitioning from NodeBB for our Knowledge Base to Halo ITSM, which we require for SOC2 compliance amongst other things. Because I had 165 articles in NodeBB I didn’t want to have to re-type, or even copy and paste, I decided to write a Python script to walk the target category and create a file for each.

    Here’s the script to complete that. There are a number of prerequisities here, which I’ve identified below

    		import os
    		import re
    		import time
    		import requests
    		import html2text
    		from datetime import datetime
    		 
    		# --- CONFIGURATION ---
    		# Your Forum URL goes here
    		BASE_URL = "https:/yourforum.com"
    		#The category ID you want to target goes here
    		CATEGORY_ID = 3
    		# In my case, I needed to define a new "home" for the exported files under `/public/uploads` as this contained all the images I needed to embed into the new flat files. Therefore, ASSET_DOMAIN is nothing more than a basic website where I can grab the images from afterwards.
    		ASSET_DOMAIN = "https://assetlocation.com"
    		# The below directories are created at the same level as the script. If they do not exist, you need to create them. They will contain both `HTML`  and `markdown` copies of the posts.
    		HTML_DIR = "nodebb_export_html"
    		MD_DIR = "nodebb_export_markdown"
    		os.makedirs(HTML_DIR, exist_ok=True)
    		os.makedirs(MD_DIR, exist_ok=True)
    		 
    		h = html2text.HTML2Text()
    		h.ignore_links = False
    		h.body_width = 0
    		 
    		page = 1
    		total_exported = 0
    		 
    		print(f"🔄 Starting export for category {CATEGORY_ID} from {BASE_URL}")
    		 
    		while True:
    		    print(f"📄 Fetching page {page}...")
    		    url = f"{BASE_URL}/api/category/{CATEGORY_ID}?page={page}"
    		    res = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
    		    if res.status_code != 200:
    		        print(f"❌ Failed to fetch page {page}: {res.status_code}")
    		        break
    		 
    		    data = res.json()
    		    topics = data.get("topics", [])
    		    if not topics:
    		        print("✅ No more topics found. Export complete.")
    		        break
    		 
    		    for topic in topics:
    		        tid = topic['tid']
    		        title = topic['title']
    		        print(f"→ Exporting topic {tid}: {title}")
    		 
    		        topic_url = f"{BASE_URL}/api/topic/{tid}"
    		        topic_res = requests.get(topic_url, timeout=10)
    		        if topic_res.status_code != 200:
    		            print(f"⚠️ Failed to fetch topic {tid}")
    		            continue
    		 
    		        topic_data = topic_res.json()
    		        posts = topic_data.get("posts", [])
    		        tags = topic_data.get("topic", {}).get("tags", [])
    		        tag_list = ", ".join(tags) if tags else ""
    		 
    		        safe_title = title.replace(' ', '_').replace('/', '-')
    		        html_file = f"{HTML_DIR}/{tid}-{safe_title}.html"
    		        md_file = f"{MD_DIR}/{tid}-{safe_title}.md"
    		 
    		        # --- HTML EXPORT ---
    		        with open(html_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f_html:
    		            f_html.write(f"<html><head><title>{title}</title></head><body>\n")
    		            f_html.write(f"<h1>{title}</h1>\n")
    		            if tag_list:
    		                f_html.write(f"<p><strong>Tags:</strong> {tag_list}</p>\n")
    		 
    		            for post in posts:
    		                username = post['user']['username']
    		                content_html = post['content']
    		                timestamp = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(post['timestamp'] / 1000).strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC')
    		                pid = post['pid']
    		 
    		                # Rewrite asset paths in HTML
    		                content_html = re.sub(
    		                    r'src=["\'](/assets/uploads/files/.*?)["\']',
    		                    rf'src="{ASSET_DOMAIN}\1"',
    		                    content_html
    		                )
    		                content_html = re.sub(
    		                    r'href=["\'](/assets/uploads/files/.*?)["\']',
    		                    rf'href="{ASSET_DOMAIN}\1"',
    		                    content_html
    		                )
    		 
    		                f_html.write(f"<div class='post'>\n")
    		                f_html.write(f"<h3><strong>Original Author: {username}</strong></h3>\n")
    		                f_html.write(f"<p><em>Posted on: {timestamp} &nbsp;|&nbsp; Post ID: {pid}</em></p>\n")
    		                f_html.write(f"{content_html}\n")
    		                f_html.write("<hr/>\n</div>\n")
    		 
    		            f_html.write("</body></html>\n")
    		 
    		        # --- MARKDOWN EXPORT ---
    		        with open(md_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f_md:
    		            # Metadata block
    		            f_md.write(f"<!-- FAQLists: Knowledge Base -->\n")
    		            if tag_list:
    		                f_md.write(f"<!-- Tags: {tag_list} -->\n")
    		            f_md.write("\n")
    		 
    		            f_md.write(f"# {title}\n\n")
    		 
    		            for post in posts:
    		                username = post['user']['username']
    		                content_html = post['content']
    		                timestamp = datetime.utcfromtimestamp(post['timestamp'] / 1000).strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S UTC')
    		                pid = post['pid']
    		 
    		                # Convert HTML to Markdown
    		                content_md = h.handle(content_html).strip()
    		 
    		                # Rewrite asset paths
    		                content_md = re.sub(
    		                    r'(!\[.*?\])\((/assets/uploads/files/.*?)\)',
    		                    rf'\1({ASSET_DOMAIN}\2)',
    		                    content_md
    		                )
    		                content_md = re.sub(
    		                    r'(\[.*?\])\((/assets/uploads/files/.*?)\)',
    		                    rf'\1({ASSET_DOMAIN}\2)',
    		                    content_md
    		                )
    		 
    		                f_md.write(f"**Original Author: {username}**\n\n")
    		                f_md.write(f"_Posted on: {timestamp}  |  Post ID: {pid}_\n\n")
    		                f_md.write(f"{content_md}\n\n---\n\n")
    		 
    		        total_exported += 1
    		        print(f"✔ Saved: {html_file} & {md_file}")
    		 
    		    page += 1
    		    time.sleep(1)
    		 
    		print(f"\n🎉 Done! Exported {total_exported} topics to '{HTML_DIR}' and '{MD_DIR}'")

    Run the script using python scriptname.py.

    If the script fails, it’s likely because you do not have the required modules installed in Python

    		import os
    		import re
    		import time
    		import requests
    		import html2text

    In this case, you’d need to install them using (for example) pip install html2text

    To get them into an Excel file where they can all be bulk imported, we’d then use something like the below script

    		import os
    		import re
    		import pandas as pd
    		from datetime import datetime
    		import markdown
    		 
    		# --- CONFIGURATION ---
    		export_dir = "nodebb_export_markdown"
    		output_file = "Halo_KB_Import_HTML.xlsx"
    		# This value can be whatever suits your needs
    		created_by = "Import"
    		today = datetime.today().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
    		 
    		# --- BUILD DATAFRAME FOR HALO ---
    		import_rows = []
    		 
    		for filename in sorted(os.listdir(export_dir)):
    		    if filename.endswith(".md"):
    		        filepath = os.path.join(export_dir, filename)
    		        with open(filepath, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
    		            lines = f.readlines()
    		 
    		        # Default values
    		# Change "Knowledge Base" to reflect what you are using in Halo
    		        faqlists = "Knowledge Base"
    		        tags = ""
    		 
    		        # Parse metadata comments from top of file
    		        metadata_lines = []
    		        while lines and lines[0].startswith("<!--"):
    		            metadata_lines.append(lines.pop(0).strip())
    		 
    		        for line in metadata_lines:
    		            faq_match = re.match(r"<!-- FAQLists:\s*(.*?)\s*-->", line)
    		            tag_match = re.match(r"<!-- Tags:\s*(.*?)\s*-->", line)
    		 
    		            if faq_match:
    		                faqlists = faq_match.group(1)
    		            if tag_match:
    		                tags = tag_match.group(1)
    		 
    		        markdown_content = ''.join(lines)
    		        html_content = markdown.markdown(markdown_content)
    		 
    		        # Extract summary from filename
    		        summary = filename.split('-', 1)[1].rsplit('.md', 1)[0].replace('_', ' ')
    		 
    		        import_rows.append({
    		            "Summary": summary,
    		            "Details": html_content,
    		            "Resolution": "",
    		            "DateAdded": today,
    		            "CreatedBy": created_by,
    		            "FAQLists": faqlists,
    		            "Tags": tags
    		        })
    		 
    		# --- EXPORT TO EXCEL ---
    		df = pd.DataFrame(import_rows)
    		df.to_excel(output_file, index=False)
    		 
    		print(f"✅ Done! Halo HTML import file created: {output_file}")

    This then generates a file called Halo_KB_Import_HTML.xlsx which you can then use to import each exported post into Halo.

    Cool eh? Huge time saver 🙂

    Author of OGProxy, Swatch, Threaded, Card, and most of Sudonix's bugs…

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9 Apr 2025, 16:15

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