Leaving Bluesky? Take your archive with you

• Your posts, replies and threads.
• Your photos and videos — including every link to them, everywhere.
• Your likes, reposts, follows and lists.
• Your handle, which becomes available for someone else to take.

Bluesky's own data export does not include your media. If you export, delete, and later go looking for your photos, they are not in the file — and by then the servers no longer have them either.

This is the single most common way people lose things they cared about. Downloading the media pack takes a few minutes and is not recoverable afterwards.

1. 1Type your handle above, or drop your .car export.
2. 2Read through what is actually there — most people find at least one thing they had forgotten.
3. 3Download the media pack. This is the irreversible part.
4. 4Pick a destination for the text: Markdown for keeping, Obsidian or Notion for notes, WordPress for a blog, a scheduler CSV if you are moving to another platform.

AT Protocol lets you move an account to a different server, keeping your posts, handle and followers. It is a technical process with real risk of permanent lockout, so it is not for everyone — but if the reason you are leaving is who runs the server rather than the platform itself, it is worth reading about first.