Your AI conversations, backed up automatically

March in ChatGPT, June in Claude, Carry keeps both in a folder you own.

Every ChatGPT, Claude and Grok conversation saved as Markdown, into a folder on your computer. Automatically.

Add to ChromeBuy license · $59See how it works
  • Local-only. No server.
  • Clean Markdown, not a JSON blob
  • ChatGPT · Claude · Grok

Why did our Postgres query plan change after the upgrade?

The planner now prefers a parallel sequential scan — the upgrade changed the default cost model, so the old index path no longer wins…

Your folderSaved

Each conversation is saved to a folder you own. One subfolder per provider.

The record

It keeps happening.

Bans, purges, redesigns, one wrong toggle. People lose their AI history in ways they never see coming. Every entry below is dated and sourced.

  1. Ongoing

    Grok permanently purges deleted chats after 30 days.

    And it has no export at all. What you don’t save in time is gone for good. (xAI)

  2. Jan 2026

    A professor lost two years of research to one data-consent toggle.

    The internet’s verdict: “why didn’t you have a local backup?” (Nature)

  3. Jul 2026

    Court filings revealed OpenAI retained ~78 million “deleted” conversations.

    Delete doesn’t mean deleted. It means the copy you could see is gone. Theirs remains. (TechCrunch)

  4. Dec 2025

    Extensions with 8M+ users were caught silently harvesting AI chats.

    The category that reads your conversations has a trust problem. Local-only is the only credible answer. (Koi Security)

The only copy that survives is the one you control, saved while the account still works. That’s the whole product.

How it works

Set it once. Forget it’s running.

Pick your folder

Connect providers

Then it’s automatic

What gets saved

The transcript is half of it.

Most backups stop at chat text. Carry saves the reports, documents, and project context around it.

ChatGPT

  • Recent chats every sync, full history with backfill
  • Deep Research reports, citations intact
  • Canvas writing & code docs, inline

Claude

  • Project chats, filed into project folders
  • Instructions, files & extracted docs
  • Claude Code artifacts, as real files

Grok

  • Recent chats, one click from the popup
  • DeepSearch & DeeperSearch reports
  • The only backup Grok has: there is no official export
Coming soonGeminiPerplexity

Whatever the shape, it’s saved as plain files. Readable in thirty years.

Features

Built like a tool, not a service.

Carry reads ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok through your own session. It writes plain Markdown to a folder you pick.

Automatic capture

Auto-capture checks ChatGPT and Claude in the background every couple of hours while Chrome is open. Grok syncs with one click from the popup.

High-fidelity Markdown

Read from each provider’s own API. Code fences, tables, and LaTeX arrive intact.

Local-only, no server

Written straight to your folder with the File System Access API. Nothing is uploaded.

No API keys, no plugin

Carry uses the session you’re already logged into, held in memory for one sync.

Re-sync never duplicates

One conversation, one file. Re-syncs match by id and update in place. Files you edit by hand are never overwritten.

Grok included

No official export, and deleted chats purge after 30 days. Carry saves it like the rest.

The format

One conversation. One Markdown file. Yours.

This is a real conversation Carry saved. Plain Markdown you can grep in a terminal, and the same file opened in Obsidian, where the frontmatter becomes a Properties panel and the thread renders in place. Flip between the two.

  • One file per conversation, named and filed for you: date, provider, title.
  • Frontmatter your queries can lean on: source, dates, canonical URL.
  • Search you inherit for free: Obsidian search, ripgrep, Spotlight.
  • Sync again any time. The same file updates in place. Never a duplicate.
Download this exact file and drop it into Obsidian
2026-07-24-ai-chat-history-knowledge-base.md
Properties
source
chatgpt
created
2026-07-24
tags
#capture/chatgpt
url
chatgpt.com/c/6a63a824…

AI Chat History Knowledge Base

You

Compare how to turn AI chat history into a permanent, local-first knowledge base in Markdown with Obsidian.

ChatGPT

Why chat history is fragile

AI chats live on proprietary servers with no guaranteed permanence. Deleting a chat schedules it for removal within 30 days1 — once gone, there is no recovery.

  • Vendor lock-in — lose the account, lose the history.
  • No real export — you get one JSON blob, not readable Markdown.2
  • Policy can change — retention has jumped from 30 days to ~5 years unilaterally.3

Approaches, compared

ApproachProvidersStorageAutomatic
Official exportAllCloudNo
Copy / pasteAllLocalNo
Auto-capture extensionAllLocalYes

Why Markdown + Obsidian is durable

Plain Markdown files stay readable for decades, work with any editor, and drop straight into your knowledge graph — frontmatter for Dataview, backlinks between notes, and ripgrep or Spotlight search for free.

Ephemeral chat sessions become permanent, searchable, linkable knowledge you own.
Sources
  1. OpenAI — chat & file retention policies
  2. Anthropic Privacy Center — data export & retention
  3. xAI — Grok data controls and deletion window

Pricing

One price. No subscription.

Carry has no server and pays for none of your AI usage, so there is nothing to rent back to you. Pay once, get free updates, and it keeps saving for life.

Start here

14-day free trial

Freeno card required

  • Every new conversation saved as Markdown, automatically
  • Works with ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok
  • Into a folder you pick, or your Obsidian vault

The trial starts with your 25 most recent conversations per provider, then saves what you write from then on. Your full history, and Claude projects and artifacts in full, come with the license.

Add to Chrome
Lifetime license

Carry

regularly $79, $59 at launch, $59lifetime

Launch price: use code EARLY20 to get a $20 early launch discount.

Everything in the free trial, plus

  • Your entire ChatGPT and Claude history saved, back to the first conversation
  • Every Claude project in full: instructions, files, docs, and chats in one folder
  • Every Claude Code artifact saved as a real, openable file in your vault
  • Your backup keeps running for life
  • Free updates for life
Buy Carry · $59

Try it free for 14 days first. No account, no card.

Questions, answered

Privacy & ownership

Is my data private?

Yes. Carry is local-only. It reads each provider through your own logged-in session and writes Markdown straight into your folder. There is no Carry server and no account. The only thing Carry ever sends anywhere is your license key, once, to Polar when you activate. Never a conversation.

What happens to my files if I stop using Carry?

Nothing. They stay put. Everything Carry writes is plain Markdown in a folder you already own, so uninstalling the extension never touches what is on disk. Neither does a lapsed license; it only stops new syncing. No proprietary format, no lock-in. Open the files in any editor, forever.

Setup

Do I need an API key or an Obsidian plugin?

No. Pick a folder and connect the providers you use. That’s the whole setup. No API key, no REST endpoint, no certificates, no plugin.

Do I need Obsidian to use it?

No. Carry writes ordinary Markdown to whatever folder you pick. It works with anything that reads Markdown: Obsidian, Logseq, VS Code, or plain Finder. If you do use Obsidian, point Carry at your vault and the conversations show up as notes. No plugin required.

Which browsers does it work in?

Chrome and Chromium-based browsers: Brave, Edge, Arc, Vivaldi, and others. Carry uses the File System Access API to write to your folder, which those browsers support.

Do I have to press sync every time?

No. Auto-capture is on from the start. Carry checks ChatGPT and Claude in the background every couple of hours while Chrome is open. Grok blocks background reads, so it syncs with one click from the popup.

What gets saved

Which AI tools does it work with?

ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok. New ChatGPT and Claude conversations are saved automatically in the background. Grok blocks background reads, so it syncs with one click from the popup. Grok also has no official export and permanently purges deleted chats after 30 days, so Carry may be the only copy you keep. Gemini and Perplexity are on the way.

What exactly gets saved?

The full transcript, and the work around it: ChatGPT Deep Research reports with citations, Canvas docs, Claude projects as one folder (instructions, files, extracted docs, and chats together), Claude Code artifacts as real files you can open, and Grok DeepSearch reports. Anything a provider’s API doesn’t return gets an honest “not captured” marker.

Will it overwrite notes I’ve edited, or make duplicates?

Neither. One conversation is one file, matched by its id and updated in place. Never a duplicate. Files you edit by hand are never overwritten: Carry checks before it writes, and if you changed the file, it leaves your version alone.

What is full-history backfill?

After you activate a license, Carry can save every conversation already in ChatGPT and Claude, not just what it captured since you installed it. It runs once in the background; you can close the popup while it works. More detail at carry.md/backfill.

Pricing & license

How much does it cost?

$79 for a lifetime license. Never a subscription. At launch, use code EARLY20 to get a $20 early launch discount, so you pay $59. Try the full product free for 14 days first. No account, no card.

Can I use one license on more than one computer?

Yes. One license covers up to 5 of your own devices. Activate it once in each browser and you’re set. It’s tied to you, not a seat, and there’s nothing to renew. Swapping machines is fine too — you can free a slot whenever you need one.

What happens when I’ve used all 5 device slots?

Deactivate a machine you no longer use and the slot frees up straight away — do it in your Polar account at carry.md/account. Sign in with the email you bought with; your key and your invoices are there too.

What if Carry isn’t for me?

Email support@carry.md within 14 days of buying and we refund you in full, no questions asked. Your saved files stay yours either way. Full terms at carry.md/terms.

Save every conversation.

Two minutes from the Chrome Web Store to your first saved conversation. ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok, plain Markdown in a folder you pick.

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