📮 Postman Collection Dump

🚀 A zero-dependency Python script to bulk-export Postman collections to local JSON files — perfect for migrating to Bruno, archiving your work, or backing up collections you can only view.

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✨ Why this exists

Postman's free tier limits how many collections, requests, and runs you can store before things get locked behind a paywall. If you're stuck as a read-only viewer of someone else's workspace (because the owner is on a locked/limited plan), the UI offers no convenient way to bulk-export everything.

This script side-steps that limitation by talking directly to the Postman API. Your API key inherits the same visibility you have in the Postman desktop/web UI — so if you can see it, this script can dump it. 🎯

Common use cases:

• 🐂 Migrating to Bruno (open-source, offline-first, git-friendly)
• 💾 Backing up collections before a plan downgrade or team migration
• 📦 Archiving historical API definitions
• 🔄 Multi-team migrations when you belong to several Postman teams

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🌟 Features

• 🪶 Zero dependencies — only the Python 3 standard library
• 🔑 Multi-key sessions — paste keys from multiple teams in one run; each team lands in its own subfolder
• 🎚️ Three export modes — single collection, whole workspace, or everything visible
• 🛡️ Read-only friendly — works even when you're just a viewer
• 📄 Bruno-compatible output — Postman Collection v2.1 JSON, imports cleanly into Bruno
• 🤐 No secrets on disk — API keys are taken from getpass (hidden input) or env vars; nothing is cached
• 🧼 Safe filenames — collection names are sanitized; collisions get auto-suffixed (_2, _3, …)

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📋 Prerequisites

• 🐍 Python 3.8+ (uses only stdlib — no pip install needed)
• 🔐 A Postman API key for each team you want to export from

That's it. No virtualenv, no requirements.txt, no extras.

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🔑 Getting a Postman API key

⚠️ Important: Postman API keys are scoped to one team. If you belong to multiple teams, one key only sees one team's data.

1. In Postman, use the team switcher (top-left) to select the team you want to export from
2. Go to 👉 https://postman.com/settings/me/api-keys
3. Click Generate API Key, name it something memorable (e.g. bulk-dump-acme)
4. Copy the key — you'll paste it into the script

🔁 Repeat for each team if you're migrating from multiple teams.

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📥 Installation

Just clone and run:

git clone https://github.com/esiteltd/postman-collection-dump.git
cd postman-collection-dump
python3 dump_postman_collection.py

Or grab the single file directly:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/esiteltd/postman-collection-dump/main/dump_postman_collection.py
python3 dump_postman_collection.py

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🚀 Usage

Run the script and follow the interactive prompts:

python3 dump_postman_collection.py

You'll be asked to pick a mode:

1️⃣ Single Collection

Paste a Postman collection URL or a bare UID:

Collection URL or UID: https://www.postman.co/workspace/Team-Workspace~abc.../collection/39131400-9241ca79-eca8-483e-b668-94dc153933f7

✅ Exports just that one collection.

2️⃣ Whole Workspace

Paste a workspace URL or UUID:

Workspace URL or UUID: https://www.postman.co/workspace/Team-Workspace~e1234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef

✅ Exports every collection in that workspace that your key can see.

3️⃣ Everything 🌍

No input needed — the script lists every workspace your key can access and dumps all collections from all workspaces.

Choice [1/2/3]: 3
Found 7 workspace(s):
  - My Workspace [abc...] (personal)
  - Acme Team [def...] (team)
  - ...

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🔐 Using an environment variable (skip the prompt)

For automation, set POSTMAN_API_KEY and the first prompt is skipped:

export POSTMAN_API_KEY="PMAK-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
python3 dump_postman_collection.py

🧠 Only the first key is read from the env var. Subsequent keys (multi-team mode) are still prompted via hidden input.

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👥 Multi-team workflow

After the first key finishes, you'll be asked:

Add another team's API key? [y/N]: y
Next team's Postman API key (input hidden, blank to quit):

Each team's collections land in their own subfolder, named after the team:

.
├── Acme_Team/
│   ├── Public_API.postman_collection.json
│   └── Internal_Tools.postman_collection.json
├── Side_Project_Org/
│   └── Webhooks.postman_collection.json
└── personal/
    └── Scratchpad.postman_collection.json

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📂 Output structure

Files are written into the current working directory. Each file is named after the collection (sanitized) with the .postman_collection.json suffix:

<cwd>/
└── <team_label>/
    ├── <Collection Name>.postman_collection.json
    └── <Workspace Name>/                       ← only in mode 2 & 3
        ├── <Collection A>.postman_collection.json
        └── <Collection B>.postman_collection.json

The JSON is Postman Collection v2.1, with the outer {"collection": ...} envelope stripped — exactly the format Bruno expects.

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🐂 Importing into Bruno

1. Open Bruno
2. File → Import Collection → Postman Collection
3. Select any .postman_collection.json file produced by this script
4. ✨ Done

Repeat for each file, or use Bruno's bulk-import if available in your version.

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🩺 Troubleshooting

HTTP code	What it usually means	Fix
401 🚫	API key invalid or revoked	Re-generate the key in Postman settings
403 🛑	Key can't read this resource	The key was made on the wrong account/team — switch teams first, regenerate
404 🔍	Wrong ID, or resource not visible to this key	Double-check the URL/UID; confirm you can see it in the Postman UI
429 ⏱️	Rate-limited (monthly free-tier quota)	Wait a bit, or upgrade the Postman plan

Other tips:

• 🧭 "Could not find a collection UID" — the URL you pasted didn't contain a recognizable UID. Try copying the URL from the collection's Share → Get public link dialog, or use the bare UID (e.g. 39131400-9241ca79-eca8-483e-b668-94dc153933f7)
• 🪟 Workspace not found — workspace UUIDs sit after a ~ in URLs: …/workspace/My-Workspace~e1234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef
• 🧪 Empty workspace — your key might be scoped to a different team than the workspace; switch teams in Postman, regenerate the key, retry

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🤝 Contributing

PRs welcome! 🎉 Keep it dependency-free and stdlib-only — that's the whole point of this script.

Ideas that would be nice:

• 📜 Optional environment-variable export
• 🗃️ Mock servers / monitors export
• 🏷️ Filter by collection name regex
• 📈 Progress bar for large workspaces

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⚖️ License

Released under the MIT License — do what you want with it. 🪄

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🙏 Acknowledgements

• Built for everyone migrating away from Postman's freemium walls
• Bruno team for building a sane open-source alternative 🐂
• The Postman API team for keeping /collections/{uid} and /workspaces accessible to viewers

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Made with ☕ and a strong dislike of vendor lock-in.