#296 PT Backup
How to script a simple Pivotal Tracker backup with python and the RESTful API
Notes
Pivotal Tracker does not have a built-in feature for direct project backups, but you can use its API to fetch and store project data.
See pt_backup.py for an example of a script to perform such a backup. It covers:
- epics
- stories
- story comments including file attachments
- story tasks
- story activity
- project memberships
Method/Algorithms
Epics
- Get all epics for a projects
- https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/api/rest/v5#Epics
GET /projects/{project_id}/epics- does not support pagination
Stories
- Get all stories for a project
- https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/api/rest/v5#Stories
GET /projects/{project_id}/stories- supports pagination (required for most real-world projects)
Story activity
- Get all stories for a project
- https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/api/rest/v5#Activity
GET /projects/{project_id}/activity- supports pagination (required for most real-world projects)
- history is limited:
- most recent six months for any non-Enterprise subscription plan
- last 25 months of activity for an Enterprise subscription plan
- Note: I originally tried to download attachments based on activity until I noted the limited horizon
Story Comments
- Get all comments for all stories in a project
- https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/api/rest/v5#Comments
GET /projects/{project_id}/stories/{story_id}/comments- does not support pagination
- attachment ids are not included in the response by default. Request
fields=:default,attachmentsto get full attachment details in the response- download attachments based on the attachments collection for each comment
Story Tasks
- Get all tasks for all stories in a project
- https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/api/rest/v5#Story_Tasks
GET /projects/{project_id}/stories/{story_id}/tasks- does not support pagination
Project memberships
- Get all memberships for a project
- https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/api/rest/v5#Project_Memberships
GET /projects/{project_id}/memberships- does not support pagination
Running the Script
Install the required packages using pip:
pip install -r requirements.txt
The script expects the Pivotal Tracker API token and project ID to be provided as environment variables:
export PIVOTAL_TRACKER_API_TOKEN='your_api_token_here'
export PIVOTAL_TRACKER_PROJECT_ID='your_project_id_here'
To run the script:
$ PIVOTAL_TRACKER_API_TOKEN=my-token PIVOTAL_TRACKER_PROJECT_ID=my-id ./pt_backup.py /MyBackups
Data saved to /MyBackups/memberships.json
Data saved to /MyBackups/epics.json
Data saved to /MyBackups/stories.json
Data saved to /MyBackups/tasks.json
Data saved to /MyBackups/comments.json
Data saved to /MyBackups/activities.json
Backup complete!