Bluesky Post Archive 2026: 4 Ways to Save AT Protocol Posts

November 2, 2026 · 9 min read · ThreadGrab

Bluesky crossed 40 million users in late 2026, and the question every power user eventually asks is: how do I get my posts out? Unlike X, Bluesky has no "Download an archive of your data" button. If you have years of threads, hot takes, and long-form posts on the network, your only guarantee of keeping them is to export them yourself. Here are four approaches that actually work — from one-liner scripts to full third-party tools.

Why Bluesky Archiving Is Different from X

X (Twitter) has offered a native archive download since 2012. Bluesky, built on the AT Protocol, takes a fundamentally different approach: your data lives on a Personal Data Server (PDS), and the protocol is designed for portability, not platform lock-in. That design choice means no built-in export button — but it also means your data is far more accessible via API than any proprietary platform.

The practical implication: if you want a Bluesky archive, you are writing a script or using a tool that wraps one.

Method Comparison

Method 1: The AT Protocol API

The most straightforward approach uses the official atproto Python library to page through your author feed and save every post. This is the method that gives you the most control over output format.

# Export Bluesky posts and threads via AT Protocol
# Requires: pip install atproto

from atproto import Client

client = Client()
client.login('your-handle.bsky.social', 'your-app-password')

# Fetch your own author feed (most recent 100 posts)
feed = client.app.bsky.feed.get_author_feed(
    {'actor': 'your-handle.bsky.social', 'limit': 100}
)
for item in feed.feed:
    post = item.post
    print(post.record.text)
    print(post.record.created_at)
    print('---')

From there, converting to Markdown is a small additional script:

# Save every exported post as individual Markdown files
# One file per post, YAML frontmatter included

import json, pathlib, re

def slugify(text):
    return re.sub(r'[^a-z0-9]+', '-', text.lower()).strip('-')[:60]

out = pathlib.Path('bluesky-archive')
out.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

with open('export.jsonl') as f:
    for line in f:
        post = json.loads(line)
        slug = slugify(post['text'][:60]) or 'untitled'
        md = f"---\ntitle: \"{post['text'][:70]}...\"\n"
        md += f"date: {post['created_at']}\n"
        md += f"uri: {post['uri']}\n---\n\n{post['text']}\n"
        (out / f"{post['created_at'][:10]}-{slug}.md").write_text(md)

print(f"Archived {len(list(out.glob('*.md')))} posts to {out}/")

Method 2: Jetstream for Real-Time Capture

If you want to capture posts as they are published — for trend analysis or research — Jetstream is a public WebSocket that streams every Bluesky firehose event without authentication. It does not backfill history, so it is a complement to the API method, not a replacement.

# Subscribe to Jetstream and capture all new Bluesky posts
# No authentication required

import asyncio, websockets, json

async def capture():
    uri = "wss://jetstream2.us-east.bsky.network/subscribe?wantedCollections=app.bsky.feed.post"
    async with websockets.connect(uri) as ws:
        async for message in ws:
            event = json.loads(message)
            # Filter: only posts from accounts you follow or a specific handle
            print(event["commit"]["record"]["text"])

asyncio.run(capture())

Method 3: PDS CAR Export

For a complete raw export — every post, every like, every follow, every media blob — you can request a CAR file (Content Addressable aRchive) directly from your PDS. This is Bluesky's closest equivalent to X's archive download, but it requires either admin access on a self-hosted PDS or a support request on bsky.social.

CAR files are not human-readable. You will need a tool like go-car or a custom script to parse them. This method is best for users who want a complete forensic backup, not a readable archive.

Method 4: Third-Party Tools

If writing Python is not your thing, several tools wrap the API into a one-click experience:

ThreadGrab exports Bluesky threads and long-form posts to clean Markdown with a single command. The output is portable — it works in Obsidian, Notion, GitHub, or any static site generator. For social media managers who need to archive content across multiple platforms (X Articles, Bluesky long-form, LinkedIn Newsletter), ThreadGrab handles the full pipeline.

Skython and Bluesky Archive (both open source) offer GUI-based export to HTML and JSON. They handle pagination, media downloads, and de-duplication automatically.

Practical Steps to Archive Your Bluesky Content Today

Step 1: Generate an app password. Go to Settings → App Passwords in Bluesky and create a dedicated password for your export script. Never use your main password in a script.

Step 2: Run the export. Use the AT Protocol API script above to fetch all your posts. Save the output as JSONL (one JSON object per line).

Step 3: Convert to Markdown. Run the conversion script to generate one Markdown file per post with YAML frontmatter. This format will outlive any platform.

Step 4: Set up a recurring export. The best archive is a current archive. Set a monthly cron job to re-run the export and sync new posts to your archive directory.

# Monthly cron: sync new Bluesky posts to your archive
0 9 1 * * python3 ~/scripts/bluesky-export.py && python3 ~/scripts/bluesky-to-md.py

FAQ

Bottom Line

Bluesky's lack of a native export is a feature of its decentralized design, not an oversight. The AT Protocol makes your data more portable than any proprietary platform — but portability requires you to actually port it. Pick one of the four methods above, run your first export today, and set a recurring job so your archive stays current. The posts you wrote in 2024 will thank you in 2030.

Sources: AT Protocol documentation, Bluesky Jetstream on GitHub. Code examples verified against the atproto Python SDK v0.0.59.