How to Import Your ChatGPT History Into idapt

Years of conversations are the real switching cost of any chat app. idapt removes it: the ChatGPT importer takes the official export ZIP and rebuilds your history, branches included, in your personal workspace. Here's the whole process.

1. Export your data from ChatGPT

In ChatGPT, open Settings → Data controls → Export data and confirm. OpenAI emails you a download link for a ZIP archive. The link expires after 24 hours, so grab it when it arrives.

The ZIP contains conversations.json (every conversation you've ever had, as a branching tree) plus your uploaded files and generated images.

2. Upload the ZIP in idapt

In idapt, open Settings → Import and choose ChatGPT. Pick the ZIP; no need to unpack it. The import streams progress live: conversations first, then binary attachments, each with a per-item result.

Uploads are capped at 1 GB compressed and by your remaining storage. A multi-year archive with thousands of DALL·E images fits comfortably on paid plans; a very large one may need a cleanup first.

3. What you get

• Every conversation, with its branches. ChatGPT's edit-and-regenerate siblings import as real branches: idapt's message tree keeps them all and restores the branch you had active. Flip between them like you did in ChatGPT.
• Tool calls preserved. Python runs, DALL·E prompts, and browsing steps survive as structured tool rows; when a model re-reads an imported chat they're folded into readable text so nothing breaks.
• Your files and images, in a "ChatGPT Import" folder in Drive, attachable to any new chat.
• Continuable chats. Open any imported conversation and keep typing. Your default agent answers, on GPT models, Claude, Gemini, or any of 200+ others.

Good to know

• Skips are reported, not hidden. Oversized or over-quota attachments are skipped individually with a reason; the import itself still completes.
• Re-importing the same ZIP creates duplicate copies of the chats today (titles get a numeric suffix); the attachments folder is reused. Import once, or delete the first batch before retrying.
• What doesn't come over yet: custom instructions, ChatGPT memories, and custom GPTs. Instructions paste naturally into an idapt agent's system prompt; memory import is on the roadmap.

The full mapping table lives on the ChatGPT migration page, and the help article covers every limit.

After the import

Two things people do next:

1. Recreate your custom instructions as an agent. Agents carry a system prompt, a default model, tool permissions, and their own memory notes: a strict upgrade over a single instructions box.
2. Point your API code at idapt. If you also use the OpenAI API, swap one base URL and reach every model through one key.