> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://helpdocs.getthread.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Flow Backup Export

> Dump every flow definition to a JSON or markdown snapshot for archive and diffing — a point-in-time backup of the desk's automation, read-only with no restore path. Answers the "back up / snapshot our flows" workflow; runs manually on demand.

<Info>
  **Category:** Automation & Flows · [View source ↗](https://github.com/bryan-getthread/skills/blob/main/skills/automation-and-flows/flow-backup-export/SKILL.md)
</Info>

**Connectors:** none — works with Thread out of the box

**Role:** [Service & Ops Manager](/start-here/roles/service-ops-manager)

**Outcome:** Risk & Compliance

**When to use:** "Back up all our flows" / "snapshot the flow definitions so I can diff them later" / "export every flow to JSON / markdown for the archive" / before a big automation cleanup, or to establish a known-good baseline.

**Run it:** across all of the desk's flows — manually on demand (Flows can't schedule an export, so there's no Flow trigger for this one).

## Prompt

```
Capture a full point-in-time snapshot of every flow's definition to archive or diff.
Member-invoked only; no unattended variant (Flows can't schedule an export).

1. List every flow, then open each one to pull the full definition:
   trigger, filter conditions, actions, notification targets, and enabled/disabled state.
   Capture faithfully — the dump must reflect exactly what each flow definition contains;
   never summarize away fields that matter for a diff, and never fabricate a flow or field.

2. Serialize the collection into the requested format:
   - JSON — the faithful machine-readable dump, best for diffing two snapshots.
   - Markdown — a human-readable one-section-per-flow rendering, best for review/archiving.

3. Stamp the snapshot with the capture date/time and the flow count at the top, so a later
   diff knows what it's comparing.

4. Deliver the file/content and state clearly: this is a point-in-time snapshot that EXPORTS
   definitions but CANNOT re-import or restore them — it's for archive and diff, not
   recovery. Don't imply a snapshot can be "loaded back". Re-running produces a fresh one.

Don't include secrets — if a flow definition surfaces credential-like values, note their
presence rather than dumping them in plain text into an archive.
```


## Related topics

- [Backup Failure Triage](/skill-library/devices-and-infrastructure/backup-failure-triage.md)
- [Axcient Backup Alerts](/skill-library/vendor-runbooks/axcient-backup-alerts.md)
- [Ticket Export for LLM](/skill-library/documentation/ticket-export-for-llm.md)