Chat Extractor for Signal

Chat Extractor for Signal is a Linux app for extracting selected chats from Signal Desktop exports as Markdown or JSON, with optional media.

This independent project is not affiliated with Signal Messenger LLC.

Features

• Selects one or more chats, with name filtering and sorting.
• Exports an inclusive date range.
• Writes Markdown or JSON as separate files or one combined file.
• Optionally copies referenced media alongside the export.

Install

For 64-bit Intel/AMD Debian or Ubuntu, download chatextractor_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb. Open the downloaded file with your package installer, or run this in its folder:

sudo apt install ./chatextractor_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb

Then open Chat Extractor for Signal from the applications menu.

Workflow

In Signal Desktop, open Settings → Chats → Export chat history, choose a folder, and wait for completion.

0. Follow the guide to export chat history from Signal Desktop.
1. Select the export folder; main.jsonl is found automatically.
2. Filter, sort, and select chats.
3. Set the inclusive date range, files, and format, then select Export. One output opens a Save chooser; multiple files open a folder chooser.

Media goes in a sibling <output-name>-media folder. Combined exports use numbered media subfolders to prevent name collisions. Single or separate files default to <chat-name>-YYYY-MM-DD; combined files use N-conversations-YYYY-MM-DD. Save suggestions are editable; separate files use each chat name and last-message date.

Build from source

Building requires Rust, GTK 4.8 development files, pkg-config, and xvfb-run for GTK tests. On Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev pkg-config xvfb
make build
./dist/chatextractor

Project checks:

make test
make lint
make audit
make source-audit
make validate-package

License

Free as Air Licence — CC0 1.0 Universal. No copyright, restrictions, or attribution required.