Exporting and Importing Resources

On This Page

This tutorial guides you through the process of using the Nuclio CLI (nuctl) to export and import Nuclio functions and projects.

Exporting deployed functions

You can use the Nuclio CLI's export functions command (or the export function alias) to export the configurations of deployed Nuclio functions in your environment ("export functions"). You can save the exported configurations, for example, to a file, and import them later on any environment that is running Nuclio.

To export a specific function, set the optional <function> argument to the name of the function to export:

nuctl export functions --namespace nuclio <function>

For example:

nuctl export functions --namespace nuclio myfunction

By default, if you omit the <function> argument, the command exports all deployed Nuclio functions in your environment:

nuctl export functions --namespace nuclio

You can use the -o|--output flag to select the output format for the exported configuration — "json" for JSON or "yaml"for YAML (default).

The command prints the exported function configurations to the standard output (stdout). It's recommended that you save the output to a configuration file from which you can later import the configuration. You can do this by redirecting the output of the export command to a file. For example:

nuctl export functions --namespace nuclio myfunction > myfunction.yaml

Note

By default, the export functions command doesn't export all the data: it "scrubs" sensitive function data (such as authentication information that might be stored in the function triggers) and unnecessary data (such as the namespace). You can set the --no-scrub flag to override this default behavior and export all function data.

Tip

Run nuctl help export functions for full usage instructions.

Importing functions

You can use the Nuclio CLI's import functions command (or the import function alias) to import function configurations ("import functions"), typically from previously exported function configurations.

Note

The import functions command doesn't deploy the imported functions. See Deploying imported functions, which also outlines the option of using the deploy command to both import and deploy a function in a single command.

Use either of the following alternatives methods to pass the function configurations to the import command:

Set the optional <function-configurations file> command argument to the path to a YAML or JSON file that contains the configuration of one or more Nuclio functions (as saved, for example, from the output of a previous export command):
```
nuctl import functions --namespace nuclio <function-configurations file>
```
For example:
```
nuctl import functions --namespace nuclio myfunction.yaml
```
Provide the function configurations in the standard input (stdin) and don't pass any arguments to the command. For example, the following command passes the configuration via the standard input by piping the contents of a myfunction.yaml configuration file to the import command:
```
cat myfunction.yaml | nuctl import functions --namespace nuclio
```

You can also import function configurations to an instance of the Nuclio dashboard by using an HTTP POST command with an import=true query string to send a function-configurations file to the dashboard's functions API endpoint — /api/functions/. You can do this, for example, by using the http CLI tool; replace <function-configurations file> with the path to a Nuclio function-configurations file, and <Nuclio dashboard URL> with the IP address or host name of your Nuclio dashboard:

cat <function-configurations file> | http post 'http://<Nuclio dashboard URL>/api/functions/?import=true'

Tip

Run nuctl help import functions for full usage instructions.

Exporting projects

You can use the Nuclio CLI's export projects command (or the export project alias) to export and save the configurations of Nuclio projects in your environment ("export projects") — including the configuration of all of the projects' functions, function events, and API gateways. You can save the exported configurations, for example, to a file, and import them later on any environment that is running Nuclio.

To export a specific project, set the optional <project> argument to the name of the project to export:

nuctl export projects --namespace nuclio <project>

For example:

nuctl export projects --namespace nuclio myproject

By default, if you omit the <project> argument, the command exports all Nuclio projects in your environment:

nuctl export projects --namespace nuclio

You can use the -o|--output flag to select the output format for the exported configuration — "json" for JSON or "yaml"for YAML (default).

The command prints the exported project configurations to the standard output (stdout). It's recommended that you save the output to a configuration file from which you can later import the configuration. You can do this by redirecting the output of the export command to a file. For example:

nuctl export projects --namespace nuclio myproject > myproject.yaml

Note

The export projects command doesn't export all the data: it "scrubs" sensitive function data (such as authentication information that might be stored in the function triggers) and unnecessary data (such as the namespace).

Tip

Run nuctl help export projects for full usage instructions.

Importing projects

You can use the Nuclio CLI's import projects command (or the import project alias) to import project configurations ("import projects") — including the configurations of all of the projects' functions, function events, and API gateways — typically from previously exported project configurations.

Note

The import projects command doesn't deploy the functions in the imported projects. See Deploying imported functions.

Use either of the following alternatives methods to pass the project configurations to the import command:

Set the optional <project-configurations file> command argument to the path to a YAML or JSON file that contains the configuration of one or more Nuclio projects (as saved, for example, from the output of a previous export command):
```
nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio <project-configurations file>
```
For example:
```
nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio myproject.yaml
```
Provide the project configurations in the standard input (stdin) and don't pass any arguments to the command. For example, the following command passes the configuration via the standard input by piping the contents of a myproject.yaml configuration file to the import command:
```
cat myproject.yaml | nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio
```

You can set the --skip flag to the names of projects that are included in the input project configurations but shouldn't be imported (i.e., whose import should be skipped); replace <projects to skip> with a comma-separated list of project names:

nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio --skip <projects to skip> [<project-configurations file>]

For example:

nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio --skip "myproject1,myproject3"

The project display-name configuration (spec.displayName) is being deprecated in favor of the project metadata-name configuration (metadata.name). Therefore, by default, when the imported configuration sets spec.displayName and doesn't set metadata.name or sets it in the form of a UUID, the imported configuration will have a metadata.name field with the value of the original spec.displayName field and won't have a spec.displayName field. You can bypass this behavior by using the --skip-transform-display-name import flag:

nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio --skip-transform-display-name [<project-configurations file>]

For example:

nuctl import projects --namespace nuclio --skip-transform-display-name

Warning

Note that the spec.displayName project-configuration field will ultimately be fully deprecated and no longer supported.

You can also import project configurations to an instance of the Nuclio dashboard by using an HTTP POST command with an import=true query string to send a project-configurations file to the dashboard's projects API endpoint — /api/projects/. You can do this, for example, by using the http CLI tool; replace <project-configurations file> with the path to a Nuclio project-configurations file, and <Nuclio dashboard URL> with the IP address or host name of your Nuclio dashboard:

cat <project-configurations file> | http post 'http://<Nuclio dashboard URL>/api/projects/?import=true'

Note

As indicated, importing a project configuration also involves importing of all of the project's functions, function events, and API gateways. To allow this flow to run smoothly, if one of the resources fails to import, an error is printed to the standard error (stderr), but the command continues to run and attempts to import the other relevant resources.

For example, if the imported project contains a function named myfunction and a function by this name already exists in another project in the parent namespace, the function (and its function events) won't be imported, because function names in a namespace must be unique. But the project as a whole — including any other functions, function events, and API gateways in the imported configuration — will still be imported.

Tip

Run nuctl help import projects for full usage instructions.

Deploying imported functions

The import functions and import projects commands change the status of the imported functions to the imported state, but they don't automatically deploy these functions. To build and deploy an imported function, you need to use the deploy command; replace <imported function name> with the name of the imported function to deploy:

nuctl deploy --namespace nuclio <imported-function name>

For example:

nuctl deploy --namespace nuclio myfunction

Alternatively, you can use the deploy command with the -f|--file flag to import, build, and deploy a function from a function-configuration file without first running an import command; replace <function-configuration file> with the path to a function-configuration file (typically created from the output of a previous export command):

nuctl deploy --namespace nuclio -f|--file <function-configuration file>

For example:

nuctl deploy --namespace nuclio --file myfunction.yaml

Tip

Run nuctl help deploy for full usage instructions.

For more information about deployment of Nuclio functions, see /latest/tasks/deploying-functions/.