capture-via-api

name	capture-via-api
description	Capture a ChatGPT conversation as raw JSON by calling the authenticated backend API from inside the browser tab. Use when importing from a chatgpt.com/c/ URL or a /share/ link. This is the primary, complete capture route.

Capture via the backend API

Runs a fetch in the page's own context, so it inherits the logged-in session. Returns the complete conversation: every message, timestamps, model slugs, tool calls, artifact payloads and all branches.

Steps

1. Load the browser tools in one call:

   ToolSearch "select:mcp__claude-in-chrome__tabs_context_mcp,mcp__claude-in-chrome__tabs_create_mcp,mcp__claude-in-chrome__navigate,mcp__claude-in-chrome__javascript_tool"
   

2. tabs_context_mcp for tab ids, then tabs_create_mcp for a fresh tab unless the user asked to use one they already have open.
3. navigate to the conversation URL. Wait for it to settle.
4. Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/browser/capture-via-api.js and pass its contents to javascript_tool.
5. The snippet returns a JSON summary and writes the conversation to the browser's download directory.

Reading the result

Success looks like:

{"ok":true,"filename":"chatgpt-conversation-<id>.json","bytes":126173,
 "nodes":35,"roles":{"user":17,"assistant":17},"branch_points":0,"leaves":1}

Only the summary comes back. The conversation body goes to disk on purpose — returning it would copy a private thread into the transcript and spend a large amount of context on something no one needs to read in-band.

branch_points > 0 means the thread has edited or regenerated turns. The normalizer renders the branch the UI last displayed and reports the rest in stats. Say so when reporting, because the user may want a different branch.

Finding the downloaded file

Do not assume ~/Downloads. Chrome's download directory is a per-profile setting and is not always the default — ~/Desktop is a common alternative. Locate the file by name instead:

find ~ -maxdepth 3 -name 'chatgpt-conversation-*.json' -mmin -3 2>/dev/null

Move it out of the download directory before working on it — those folders get cleaned, and the file is private.

Failure modes

Returned	Meaning	Do next
{}	The snippet lost its await prefix	Re-run with the file's exact contents
not_authenticated	No accessToken from /api/auth/session	Ask the user to log in to chatgpt.com in this Chrome profile; do not attempt to log in yourself
http_401 / http_403	Token expired, or the conversation belongs to another account	Ask the user to reload the tab
http_404	Wrong id, or a deleted conversation	Re-check the URL
not_on_a_conversation_page	Tab is on the chat list, not a thread	Navigate to the /c/<id> URL
no_mapping_in_payload	Response shape changed	Fall back to capture-via-dom and flag that the API route needs updating

Never enter credentials. If the account is logged out, that is the user's job.