README

Nitro Porter is the only multi-platform community migration tool. Its goal is fast no-code migrations for any community with accessible data.

Every community deserves the agency to choose the best software for its mission while preserving its history. All proprietary software has a finite lifespan and lock-in stifles competition, which leads to stagnation. When we own our data and can freely choose betweeen platforms, everyone wins.

Get Started

Working through a migration often takes weeks, not hours! Set reasonable expectations and be patient.

• User Guide — requirements & install steps.
• Migration Guide — plan a community migration.
• Sources & Targets — support details.

We greatly appreciate feedback! However, we check in periodically as our schedule allows, not daily.

What Can It Do?

Migrate a community from a supported Source to a supported Target as comprehensively as possible.

Supported Targets (where you're going) — 4 total 📥

Supported Sources (what you're using now) — 37 total 📤

...and MORE!

Don't see your software? Start a discussion to request it and check our informal roadmap.

What gets migrated, exactly? 🚥

All sources & targets support migrating:

• users & roles
• discussions (or threads) & posts (or comments)
• categories (or subforums, channels, etc.)

Beyond that, each package as different support based on feature availability, extension choice, and maturity of the package. These include things like badges, reactions, bookmarks, & polls. Both source and target must support a data type for it to transfer. Read more about how data is transferred.

Project Info

How does it work? 🤔

Data is first converted to an intermediary "porter schema," reducing the number of data paths from #sources x #targets to #sources + #targets. The result is repeatable results in a single multi-tool rather than myriad low-quality, single-purpose tools.

Why not use 1-off migration tools? 🪴

Data migrations typically require either time & skill (you are a programmer) or capital (you are a for-profit company). Nitro Porter aims to become increasingly accessible to everyone else by making both migrations & extensibility simple. Software tools should not be assumed disposible just because they don't have a 30% profit margin to exploit.

Can't AI do this? 📿

No.

Will you do it for me? 🙏

We encourage you to work through using the tool and ask us questions. Feedback on how the tool works for you (or doesn't) is very valuable! However, if you prefer to outsource, contact migrations@prosembler.com for a cost estimate.

How can I learn more or help? 🎟️

• Contribute — data, requests, & fixes.
• Changelog — latest fixes & updates.
• Roadmap — informal goals.

Where did this come from? 📚

Vanilla Porter was created in 2010 at Vanilla Forums as a single-script multi-source export tool, abandoned by 2020. Nitro Porter 3.0 was a rewrite¹ that preserved compatibility with existing sources while reimagining the framework. In 2026, the Open Social Fund, a fund established by NLnet, sponspored major development work in the 5.0 release. More history on our website.

Footnotes

1. 🚀 Forked 27 Sep 2021 in memory of Kyle ↩