So, your Mastodon server is shutting down.

It is an inevitable part of the Fediverse. Nothing lasts forever, least of all social media servers run out-of-pocket by well-meaning individuals.

While mastodon provides tools to migrate safely to a new server, what becomes of your post history? If your old server closes shop completely, your stuff goes with it.

And so here at extinct.homes we offer a wonderful solution: Turn your Mastodon archive into a convenient static site!

Note, this process assumes that:

• You know what a static site is
• You know how host a static site somewhere
• You already have (or are able to obtain) an archive of your Mastodon account

Let's begin!

First, you're going to need to request an archive of your old account data. Unzip it somewhere, we'll need it in a minute.

Note a few things before we proceed:

• The archive contains ALL your data. Gnarly private DMs, every media attachment, everything.
• This process is going to delete everything in your folder except public top-level posts, so make sure to keep a separate copy of your backup for personal use.
• All processing will happen in the browser. None of your stuff is uploaded to extinct.homes.
• We use the fancy new browser Directory Picker to do this -- make sure your browser supports it. (hint: )
• The service hasn't had much testing yet, and will probably break. (If nothing happens, it probably broke)

I want to re-iterate, this process will permanently delete all posts and attachments in the selected archive folder that aren't top-level public posts. Definitely at least keep the original archive zip file separate in case you want to process it with a different tool!

Alright. The button below will let you select your extracted archive browser and ask for editing permissions. If you trust us, go for it:

Once the process is completed, a new index.html file will be available inside the archive folder, and other files will be gone (except your avatar and any publicly posted files!)

What do I do with this?

Hey now, I said up a while back that we assumed you knew how to host a static site!

If you double-click the new index.html file, you should be able to see your entire public post history in a single file!

We recommend you do a little bit of styling and tinkering to make it yours, and then you can upload the whole folder somewhere on the internet as a static site.

I don't like how the export looks / behaves

Well, sorry for trying to help.

You can download this website (just save it as .html, it's one file except the logo) and change whatever you want. If the changes are good, Let me know about them.