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How to export your code from Emergent, and keep it running

On Standard or Pro, Save to GitHub pushes the code to a repository you clone; on every plan you can browse and copy it in the code editor, but there is no download button. The preview database exports with mongodump from the workspace terminal, while exporting production data is not yet self-serve, its FAQ says: its database guide points to the Database Manager or to support. Secrets and the database are not in a code export, and an app that signs users in with Emergent Auth or calls AI through the Universal Key keeps relying on Emergent for them until you replace them.

From Emergent's own docs, read 2026-10-26. Every step links to the page it is from.

Push to GitHub (Standard and Pro)

1. The first time, connect your GitHub account from your profile and authorize Emergent to reach your repositories. (source)
2. Keep keys in the Secrets manager, never in the code, and make sure .env is git-ignored before you push. (source)
3. In the workspace, use Save → Save to GitHub. (source)
4. Choose a new or existing repository and a branch. Emergent commits your changes. (source)
5. Clone the repository to your computer. (source)

Copy it from the code editor (every plan)

1. Click the Code button in the top toolbar to browse the files, and copy them out. (source)

Your data

1. Open the Database Manager from inside Emergent, choose Preview or Production in the environment switcher in the top bar, and click a collection to see its documents. (source)
2. Emergent's data page says each collection also exports as CSV from the Database Viewer; it does not give the clicks. (source)
3. For the preview database: in the workspace's VS Code view, open the terminal with Ctrl+` (Cmd+` on a Mac) and run mongodump --uri="$MONGO_URL" --out=./dump. It writes a .bson file for each collection. (source)
4. Right-click the dump folder in the VS Code file explorer and select Download. It is zipped and saved to your computer; mongorestore loads it into your own MongoDB. (source)
5. For production data: the managed production cluster does not accept outside connections, so use the Database Manager, or email support@emergent.sh for help with a production export. (source)

Run it somewhere else

1. Code pushed to GitHub can be published with any hosting provider you choose, Emergent's FAQ says. (source)
2. Set your secrets again wherever it runs: they live only in Emergent, and the repository holds none of their values. (source)
3. To move a published app's data to your own MongoDB (Emergent suggests MongoDB Atlas): import your export with mongorestore, add Emergent's egress IPs from app.emergent.sh/ip-addresses to its network access list, set MONGO_URL (and DB_NAME if it differs) under System keys in Preview → Manage → Secrets, then re-publish. (source)

What comes out

• The source code: a React or Next.js front end with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui, a Python FastAPI or Next.js API back end, and React Native with Expo for mobile apps. (source)
• The data is in a MongoDB Atlas database provisioned for your project. (source)
• Emergent Auth's users live in your app's MongoDB database, with passwords hashed with bcrypt or Argon2. (source)
• Emergent's help centre says its Terms leave you all ownership rights to your content, the code its agents generate included. (source)

What stays behind, and needs replacing

• Environment variables and secrets, the database contents and node_modules are not in a code export. (source)
• There is no download or archive button: code leaves through a GitHub push or by copying it from the VS Code view. (source)
• Exporting production data is not currently self-serve, its FAQ says. (source)
• Emergent's pages disagree on that: its data ownership page says the database exports at any time, with mongodump or MongoDB Compass or as CSV per collection, though you may need to allowlist its IPs first. (source)
• The managed database rejects outside MongoDB connections, and the Database Manager edits live data with no undo. (source)
• Sign-in with Emergent Auth runs on Emergent's hosted page at auth.emergentagent.com. To move to Clerk, Supabase Auth or Auth0, you ask the agents to refactor the app, and moving users may need more steps. (source)
• AI calls through the Universal Key use the EMERGENT_LLM_KEY secret and draw on your Emergent credits; you switch to your own provider keys in the project's Secrets. (source)
• Uploaded files sit in Emergent Object Store, reached through the Universal Key. (source)
• A repository comes back into Emergent only when a new job starts: there is no pull mid-project. (source)
• After you cancel, published apps stay up only while credits cover the tier fee. (source)
• Within 45 days of expiry or termination, Emergent deletes your data, step by step and for good, and it cannot be returned after that. Cancelling a subscription alone deletes nothing. (source)
• Deleting a project permanently removes its code, its database and everything with it. (source)

Not on Emergent's pages

• Docker files, or the steps to run the code on your own server.
• How to download every file in Emergent Object Store at once.

How SPOE differs

• The whole project. A SPOE export is the whole project: the code, the Docker files that start it and, for a full-stack app, its database migrations, with a signed provenance manifest and the verifier inside. It starts with docker compose up, with nothing of SPOE inside, so there is nothing of ours to replace.
• Signed and recorded. Every export is signed by SPOE: an Ed25519-signed provenance manifest, with a record of it on APIR's hash-chained log. APIR is a sister company of SPOE, run by the same founder. spoe.ai/verify checks every file and that spoe.ai signed it, in your browser, so anyone can prove the code is exactly what was exported.
• Yours for good. Your first payment of any size unlocks export permanently, whether or not you ever pay again. Locked or not, the code is always visible and copyable in the editor.
• Coming from Emergent. SPOE does not import a Emergent project. If the app is live and you can show the site is yours, with a DNS record, a file on it or a tag in its pages, Bring your site copies the page at that address, with its styles and pictures, into a SPOE project to keep building; the data and the logic behind it are not copied. Otherwise, describe the app to SPOE and it is built as a Next.js, Fastify and Postgres project you hold. Keep your Emergent export either way: it is yours.

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