git_content

Git Content

Export and import Drupal content as Markdown files versioned in Git.

Each entity becomes a .md file with YAML frontmatter (metadata) and a Markdown body,
stored in a content_export/ directory at the Drupal root. Track content changes with
version control, sync between environments, or review diffs on any Git host.

Requirements

Drupal 10 or 11
Core modules: node, taxonomy, user, file
Optional core modules: media, block_content, menu_link_content
Composer libraries (installed automatically):
- league/html-to-markdown ^5.1
- league/commonmark ^2.4
Optional: PHP tidy extension — pretty-prints exported HTML; the module works without it.

Installation

composer require drupal/git_content
drush en git_content

The content_export/ directory is created automatically on first export. To use a different
path, add to settings.php:

$settings['git_content_export_dir'] = '../my-export';

Usage

Admin UI

Visit Administration > Git Content Sync (/admin/git-content) for a live preview
of pending changes before running an export or import.

Drush

drush git-content:export          # export all  (alias: gce)
drush git-content:export nodes    # export one type
drush git-content:import          # import all  (alias: gci)

Supported types: nodes, taxonomy, media, blocks, menus, files, users.

Features

Multilingual — default translations are processed before non-default translations.
Checksum-based skip — unchanged files are not re-exported or re-imported.
Correct import order — files → users → taxonomy → media → blocks → nodes → menus.
Author preserved — stored as username, resolved on import across environments.
Taxonomy term IDs preserved where possible so Views filters keep working.
Menu link URLs converted from entity:node/{id} to portable internal:/{alias}.
Auto-generated files excluded — image style derivatives and oEmbed thumbnails are
skipped (Drupal regenerates them on render).

File structure

Language is part of the filename ({slug}.{lang}.md):

content_export/
  site.yaml
  content/
    article/
      my-article.en.md
      my-article.es.md
  taxonomy/
    tags/
      drupal.en.md
  media/
    image/
      my-image.en.md
  blocks/
    basic/
      my-block-12.en.md
  menus/
    main/
      home.en.md
  files/
    my-file.md
  users/
    editor.md

File format

YAML frontmatter followed by a Markdown body. Fields after # Drupal are
Drupal-internal and ignored by static site generators.

---
type: article
lang: en
draft: false

title: My article
slug: my-article

date: 2024-01-15
author: editor

path: /my-article

taxonomy:
  field_tags:
    - 12

# Drupal
nid: 42
translation_of: null
checksum: 0beec7b5ea3f0fdbc95d0dd47f3c5bc275da8a33
---

Body content in **Markdown**.

Field Description type Entity bundle lang Language code draft true = unpublished date Creation date author Owner's Drupal username path URL alias nid / tid / mid Entity ID (Drupal section) translation_of UUID of default-translation entity (non-default translations only) checksum SHA1 used to skip unchanged files on re-import

Submodules

git_content_layout — exports Layout Builder per-entity overrides as structured YAML.
Inline blocks are referenced by UUID. Requires layout_builder.

git_content_paragraphs — embeds Paragraphs inline in the parent .md file.
Existing paragraphs are updated in place on re-import. Requires paragraphs.

Notes

Binary files are not exported. Only file metadata is stored; manage binaries
separately (git-lfs, rsync, etc.).
Passwords are never exported. User 1 is never overwritten on import.
Comments are not exported or imported.

Maintainers

xacobe