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    <title>sqlite &amp;mdash; Nat Knight</title>
    <link>http://natknight.xyz/tag:sqlite</link>
    <description>Reflections, diversions, and opinions from a progressive ex-physicist programmer dad with a sore back.</description>
    <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 16:55:33 -0700</pubDate>
    <item>
      <title>Migrating Follows from GoToSocial to Mastodon</title>
      <link>http://natknight.xyz/migrating-follows-from-gotosocial-to-mastodon</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[#selfhosting #fediverse #mastodon #gotosocial #sqlite&#xA;&#xA;This article describes how to migrate your subscriptions from GotoSocial] to [Mastodon]. I recently made this migration; I talk about my motivations [here.&#xA;&#xA;[Mastodon]: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon&#xA;[GotoSocial]: https://docs.gotosocial.org/en/latest/&#xA;&#xA;This procedure doesn&#39;t handle getting folks over to your new account. It will get you a list of your subscriptions that you can import with Mastodon&#39;s data import feature so you don&#39;t have to re-follow everyone by hand.&#xA;&#xA;I&#39;m not aware of an account migration or user-facing data export feature in GotoSocial, so you&#39;ll need access to your instance&#39;s database (or help from someone who has it, anyways). With those caveats out of the way, here&#39;s the procedure.&#xA;&#xA;!--more--&#xA;&#xA;Extract your Subscriptions&#xA;&#xA;To get your subscriptions (or &#34;Follows&#34;, as the database calls them), you&#39;ll first need to get your user id:&#xA;&#xA;SELECT username, id&#xA;FROM accounts&#xA;WHERE username = &#39;YOURUSERNAMEHERE&#39;&#xA;&#xA;Once you&#39;ve got the id, you can plug it into the following query to get your follow list:&#xA;&#xA;SELECT&#xA;  accounts.username || &#39;@&#39; || accounts.domain&#xA;  AS &#39;Account address&#39;&#xA;FROM accounts&#xA;JOIN follows ON accounts.id = follows.targetaccountid&#xA;WHERE follows.accountid = &#39;YOURID_HERE&#39;&#xA;&#xA;You&#39;ll need the results of this query as a CSV file. There are lots of ways to do that; I used the CSV export feature built into Datasette because I was already using it to figure out the data.&#xA;&#xA;Upload to Mastodon&#xA;&#xA;Once you&#39;ve got your follows in a CSV file you should be able to import them using Mastodon&#39;s [data import feature]. It should be available on your Mastodon instance&#39;s Settings page under Import.&#xA;&#xA;[data import feature]: (https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/06/how-to-migrate-from-one-server-to-another/#importing-your-data)&#xA;]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://natknight.xyz/tag:selfhosting" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">selfhosting</span></a> <a href="http://natknight.xyz/tag:fediverse" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">fediverse</span></a> <a href="http://natknight.xyz/tag:mastodon" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">mastodon</span></a> <a href="http://natknight.xyz/tag:gotosocial" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">gotosocial</span></a> <a href="http://natknight.xyz/tag:sqlite" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">sqlite</span></a></p>

<p>This article describes how to migrate your subscriptions from <a href="https://docs.gotosocial.org/en/latest/">GotoSocial</a> to <a href="https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon">Mastodon</a>. I recently made this migration; I talk about my motivations <a href="migrating-to-hachyderm.html">here</a>.</p>

<p>This procedure doesn&#39;t handle getting folks over to your new account. It will get you a list of your subscriptions that you can import with Mastodon&#39;s data import feature so you don&#39;t have to re-follow everyone by hand.</p>

<p>I&#39;m not aware of an account migration or user-facing data export feature in GotoSocial, so you&#39;ll need access to your instance&#39;s database (or help from someone who has it, anyways). With those caveats out of the way, here&#39;s the procedure.</p>



<h2 id="extract-your-subscriptions" id="extract-your-subscriptions">Extract your Subscriptions</h2>

<p>To get your subscriptions (or “Follows”, as the database calls them), you&#39;ll first need to get your user id:</p>

<pre><code class="language-sql">SELECT username, id
FROM accounts
WHERE username = &#39;YOUR_USERNAME_HERE&#39;
</code></pre>

<p>Once you&#39;ve got the <code>id</code>, you can plug it into the following query to get your follow list:</p>

<pre><code class="language-sql">SELECT
  accounts.username || &#39;@&#39; || accounts.domain
  AS &#39;Account address&#39;
FROM accounts
JOIN follows ON accounts.id = follows.target_account_id
WHERE follows.account_id = &#39;YOUR_ID_HERE&#39;
</code></pre>

<p>You&#39;ll need the results of this query as a CSV file. There are lots of ways to do that; I used the CSV export feature built into <a href="https://datasette.io/">Datasette</a> because I was already using it to figure out the data.</p>

<h2 id="upload-to-mastodon" id="upload-to-mastodon">Upload to Mastodon</h2>

<p>Once you&#39;ve got your follows in a CSV file you should be able to import them using Mastodon&#39;s data import feature. It should be available on your Mastodon instance&#39;s <code>Settings</code> page under <code>Import</code>.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>http://natknight.xyz/migrating-follows-from-gotosocial-to-mastodon</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
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