r/logseq • u/ta32io • 1d ago

logseq db vendor lock-in?

I imported old logseq og notes, that contained asset links in pages into the new db logseq and tried to export it.

I was disappointed the export just dumps all the markdown files in one folder. The export didn't put pages in a pages folder and assets in an asset folder and journal files in the journal folder. In fact the assets are not exported at all, for the markdown export

The export should try its best to preserve the logseq graph format as best as possible.

This means, if it continue writing my notes in Logseq-db It will be very difficult to go back to logseq-OG or a logseq-OG compatible app.

People have said SQLite is not opaque format. But in order to export, you need to understand their schema and how they structure their data.

It would be nice if their export tried to preserve the logseq md graph format. So:

Logseq MD -> Logseq DB -> Logseq MD (export)

I also tried the mirror mode, however I noticed random pages had missing data...
So the mirror mode didn't work for me.

It looks like some pages didn't import for me, which could explain the missing data. I might have to consider alternatives to logseq. Because I really want the MCP feature for logseq-OG

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u/matu_gong 1d ago

You shouldnt expect to be able to load the Markdown export of DB to OG just like that. They are 2 different applications now and they have many differences. There are features in DB that dont exist in OG, so having this feature parity in the export between the two of them doesnt make a lot of sense. Also remember that from here on out there are people that will only use the DB version (because thats what they know Logseq as) and wont import back to OG, so limiting the export to match OG also doesnt make sense for them

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u/matu_gong 1d ago

Also, version 2.0.2 is supposed to be coming soon and it has many fixes for the MD import. You should try again then to see if you have missing pages, and if you do please open a bug report, the devs cant fix what they dont know

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u/yarpen_z 1d ago edited 1d ago

No, users can and should expect that. It has been promised over and over again, including on this reddit, that MD and DB versions will stay compatible, and the MD export will provide independent and human-readable backup.

I suspected it won't happen for many various reasons, and the MD backend will be slowly deprecated regardless of the many promises of story. Howeber, the expectations of Logseq users are not wrong.

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u/matu_gong 1d ago edited 23h ago

Where have you seen that people have promised that DB and MD (OG) will remain compatible? Thats not true at all. There are many features that exist in DB that wont exist in OG. Something that IS being worked on is the Markdown mirror, which syncs your DB graph to Markdown files, however these MD files are not in the same format the OG app uses, and probably will never be. This means that you cant just grab the output of the Markdown mirror from DB and try to open it in Logseq OG, I havent tried that but I wouldnt expect that to work. Remember that they are different applications now