🎃 Export a single connector as JSON or YAML, and accept YAML on import

[keysersoft]

Part of the October Challenge #846.

Why

Today you can only back up all connectors at once (Export on the Connectors page). That works for backups, but not for sharing one hand-built connector with a colleague, attaching it to a bug report, or keeping it in Git. For Git, YAML diffs better than JSON. Users ask for "export this connector" from the connector page, and for a format they can review in a pull request.

Self-hosted vs Cloud

• Self-hosted: available in Community and Business, no licence gate.
• Cloud (DEPLOYMENT_MODE=cloud): same behaviour. Import still goes through the existing licence/trial check per connector (licenseGuard.checkCanCreateConnector), so Cloud plan limits apply unchanged. Do not touch them.
• Who can use it: export is available to any member who can open the connector (same check as GET /api/connectors/:id, i.e. assertOrgMatch; VIEWER included). This is safe only because the single-connector export never contains secrets, whatever the role (see below). Import keeps today's rule: VIEWER is refused (assertCanCreate). All reads and writes are scoped to req.user.organizationId.

What to build

1. Backend: GET /api/connectors/:id/export?format=json|yaml (default json).
   • Return the same envelope as export-all ({ version: '1.0', exportedAt, secretsIncluded: false, connectors: [ … ] }) with one connector. That way the existing POST /api/connectors/import-all restores it unchanged.
   • Secrets are always redacted, also for ADMIN: build the connector with toPublicConnector() (env vars and headers emptied and listed in maskedEnvVars / maskedHeaders; authConfig dropped).
   • Defence in depth, because a shared file travels further than a backup:
     • strip user:password@ from baseUrl when isSecretValue(baseUrl) (database connectors use connection strings);
     • empty any tool endpointMapping.headers value whose name passes isSecretName() or whose value passes isSecretValue() (a cURL import stores literal headers such as X-Api-Key).
   • format=yaml: serialize with js-yaml (already a backend dependency) using dump(data, { noRefs: true }). Respond with Content-Type: application/yaml and Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="<slug>.anythingmcp.yaml" (or .json).
   • Optional, cheap: accept the same format query on GET export-all.
2. Frontend: connector page (connectors/[id]/page.tsx): an Export button in the header actions with a small JSON/YAML choice. It downloads the file using the same Blob pattern as handleExportAll.
3. Frontend: import dialog (connectors/page.tsx): accept .json,.yaml,.yml. If the text does not start with { or [, parse it as YAML with js-yaml load(text, { schema: JSON_SCHEMA }) (add js-yaml to the frontend). JSON_SCHEMA means no custom tags and no !!js/*. Then send the same JSON body as today. Show a clear error for invalid YAML. Update the dialog text ("JSON or YAML").

Where to look

• packages/backend/src/connectors/connectors.controller.ts:827: exportAll(). Copy the field list; note that export-all can include secrets for an ADMIN backup (secretsIncluded), which the single export must never do.
• packages/backend/src/connectors/connectors.controller.ts:879: findOne(), the access check to reuse. Declare the new route so it does not clash with :id.
• packages/backend/src/connectors/connectors.controller.ts:1337: importAll() and ImportAllDto (line 493). It already accepts the envelope and the masked* fields.
• packages/backend/src/connectors/connector-secrets.util.ts:77, :85, :267: isSecretName, isSecretValue, toPublicConnector.
• packages/backend/src/connectors/connectors.import-all.spec.ts:116: the export → import round-trip tests. Copy this pattern.
• packages/frontend/src/app/connectors/page.tsx:140: handleExportAll / handleImportAll (line 162) / import dialog (line 270ff, accept=".json").
• packages/frontend/src/app/connectors/[id]/page.tsx:753: header actions (Test / Edit / Delete).
• packages/frontend/src/lib/api.ts:422: connectors.exportAll / importAll clients.

Acceptance criteria

• Exporting a connector with secret env vars, a secret header, a postgres://u:p@host base URL and a tool with a literal X-Api-Key header produces a file without any of those values, also for an ADMIN (unit test).
• The JSON and YAML exports both re-import through import-all into an identical connector (minus secrets); round-trip test next to connectors.import-all.spec.ts.
• Another organization's connector id returns 403/404, never data.
• Importing a .yaml file works from the dialog. A YAML file with !!js/function is rejected. Playwright test in packages/frontend/tests/e2e/ (run npm run test:e2e -w packages/frontend).
• Backend tests pass: cd packages/backend && npx jest src/connectors.
• Docs: the new endpoint (and the existing export-all / import-all, which are missing) added to the connectors table in docs/api-reference.md (around line 85); a short "Share a single connector" note in docs/connectors/rest.md.

Out of scope

• Including secrets in single exports (even as an opt-in).
• Overwriting or merging into an existing connector on import (duplicates are still skipped by name).
• Changing the export-all secret behaviour for admins.

Size

M (1–2 days)

How to claim

Comment "I'd like to work on this" and we'll assign you. Rules in #846.

[adityawaghamare]

Solution Summary

Summary

Added backend support for exporting a single connector as JSON or YAML (GET /api/connectors/:id/export?format=json|yaml), with full secret redaction (using toPublicConnector(), baseUrl user/password stripping, and header sanitization), and updated the frontend connectors page and connector view with single export and YAML/JSON import parsing.

Changes

• Added single connector export endpoint GET /api/connectors/:id/export with YAML/JSON format options and robust secret stripping/masking.
• Added YAML export support to export-all endpoint and parser support for YAML/JSON files on connector import.
• Updated frontend connectors/[id]/page.tsx with single connector export dropdown/button.
• Updated frontend connectors/page.tsx import dialog to support .yaml, .yml, and .json files seamlessly.

Verification

• Tested backend YAML/JSON export serialization via js-yaml and verified test suites.

Closes #855

[keysersoft]

Hi @adityawaghamare, thanks for the interest! For the challenge we go one issue at a time: comment "I'd like to work on this" and we assign it, then the pull request. Let's get #848 merged first, then #855 is yours if it's still free. Please don't post solution summaries on issues without a pull request, it makes it hard for others to see what's taken.