klim export

Export detected tools to YAML. Without a subcommand, prints to stdout. Includes snapshot and profile management for saved exports.

Usage

klim export [flags]           # print manifest to stdout
klim export save [label]      # save as timestamped snapshot
klim export list              # list saved snapshots
klim export show <name>       # show a snapshot
klim export delete <name>     # delete a snapshot
klim export profile <command> # manage named profiles

Flags

Flag	Commands	Description
--refresh	export	Force fresh scan, ignoring on-disk cache

Subcommands

Snapshots (Saved Exports)

Command	Description
klim export save [label]	Save current tool state as a timestamped snapshot
klim export list	List saved snapshots
klim export show <name>	Show tools in a snapshot
klim export delete <name>	Delete a snapshot

Profiles (Named Snapshots)

Command	Description
klim export profile save <name>	Save current state as a named profile
klim export profile list	List saved profiles
klim export profile show <name>	Show a profile’s tools
klim export profile delete <name>	Delete a profile

Snapshots vs Profiles

• Snapshots are timestamped — for point-in-time backups before upgrades or experiments
• Profiles are named — for switching between configurations (“work”, “personal”, “client-x”)

Examples

# Export to stdout
klim export

# Save to file
klim export > my-tools.yaml

# Force fresh scan before export
klim export --refresh > my-tools.yaml

# Save before a big upgrade
klim export save "before-k8s-upgrade"

# List all snapshots
klim export list

# View what was in a snapshot
klim export show before-k8s-upgrade

# Save a named profile
klim export profile save work

# List profiles
klim export profile list

# Import on another machine
klim import my-tools.yaml

Output Format

The YAML manifest includes all installed tools with their versions and package IDs:

tools:
  - name: az
    version: "2.67.0"
    source: brew
    packages:
      brew: azure-cli
      winget: Microsoft.AzureCLI
      choco: azure-cli
  - name: docker
    version: "24.0.7"
    source: manual
    packages:
      brew: docker
      winget: Docker.DockerDesktop
      choco: docker-desktop

Cross-Platform Portability

The manifest is cross-platform — it contains package IDs for all supported package managers. When imported on a different OS, klim automatically picks the best available package manager.

Storage

• Snapshots: ~/.klim/snapshots/<timestamp>-<label>.yaml
• Profiles: ~/.klim/profiles/<name>.yaml

Both use the same YAML manifest format, so snapshots can also be used with klim diff and klim import.

Name Matching

The show and delete commands support fuzzy matching — you can use a label, prefix, suffix, or substring:

klim export show before-k8s    # matches "2026-04-30T...-before-k8s-upgrade"
klim export show upgrade       # also matches

See Also

• klim import — Install tools from a manifest
• klim share — Generate a compact share token
• klim diff — Compare against a snapshot or manifest