What is discordchatexporter?

tyrrrz/discordchatexporter — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

★ 11,113C#Audience · generalComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((discordchatexporter))
    What it does
      Export Discord messages
      Save to files offline
    Output formats
      HTML with formatting
      Plain text
      CSV and JSON
    Interfaces
      Desktop GUI
      Command-line CLI
      Docker support
    Features
      Date range filter
      Media attachments
      Split large exports
    Platforms
      Windows Mac Linux

mindmap root((discordchatexporter)) What it does Export Discord messages Save to files offline Output formats HTML with formatting Plain text CSV and JSON Interfaces Desktop GUI Command-line CLI Docker support Features Date range filter Media attachments Split large exports Platforms Windows Mac Linux

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Archive a Discord server channel's full message history to searchable offline HTML files

USE CASE 2

Export direct messages to CSV for data analysis or record keeping

USE CASE 3

Automate regular Discord channel backups using the command-line version in a script

USE CASE 4

Create self-contained offline archives of Discord conversations with media and formatting preserved

What is it built with?

C#.NETDocker

How does it compare?

	tyrrrz/discordchatexporter	coding-horror/basic-computer-games	file-new-project/eartrumpet
Stars	11,113	11,060	10,999
Language	C#	C#	C#
Setup difficulty	moderate	easy	easy
Complexity	2/5	2/5	2/5
Audience	general	developer	general

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires a Discord bot token, using a personal user account token violates Discord's terms of service.

So what is it?

DiscordChatExporter is a tool for saving Discord conversation history to files on your computer. It works with direct messages between two people, group chats, and channels inside Discord servers. You can export the messages in several formats: HTML (which shows the chat with formatting, much like it looks in Discord), plain text, CSV spreadsheet, or JSON. The tool comes in two versions. One is a desktop app with a graphical interface where you click through menus to select a channel and export it. The other is a command-line version for people comfortable with a terminal, which allows automation and scripting. Both versions are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Docker is also supported for the command-line version. To use the tool, you provide it with a Discord token so it can read your messages on your behalf. The README notes that automating a personal user account is against Discord's terms of service, and recommends using a bot token instead when possible, since bots are the officially supported way to access Discord data programmatically. Exports can capture media attachments, embedded content, emoji, and Discord's markdown formatting. You can filter exports by date range or specific messages, and split large exports into multiple files. The resulting HTML exports are self-contained, meaning you can view them offline without an internet connection. The project is currently in maintenance mode rather than active development, meaning it receives bug fixes but major new features are unlikely. The author funds development through community donations.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

How do I get a Discord bot token and use DiscordChatExporter to export a channel's history to an HTML file?

Prompt 2

Show me the DiscordChatExporter CLI command to export messages from a channel between two specific dates

Prompt 3

How do I run DiscordChatExporter with Docker to export channels without installing .NET on my machine?

Prompt 4

How do I split a large Discord channel export into multiple smaller files using DiscordChatExporter?

Frequently asked questions