hone supports two data formats: a playlist format for sharing problem lists, and a JSON backup format for full data portability.

Playlist format¶

The playlist format is a plain text file that hone import and hone export both understand. It's designed to be human-readable and easy to edit.

# Favorites
https://neetcode.io/problems/two-sum/question
https://neetcode.io/problems/valid-anagram/question

# Week 1
https://neetcode.io/problems/climbing-stairs/question
https://leetcode.com/problems/house-robber/

https://neetcode.io/problems/coin-change/question

Rules:

• # Name — starts a playlist section; all URLs below belong to that playlist
• URLs before any # header are imported without a playlist
• Blank lines and // comments are ignored
• Any URL order is preserved within each section
• A # header with no URLs below it is silently skipped

Importing¶

hone import my-list.txt

hone processes URLs sequentially. For each URL:

• If the problem doesn't exist in your library — scrape and insert it
• If it does exist — skip scraping, but still add it to the playlist
• If the playlist doesn't exist — create it

Progress is shown inline as each URL completes:

  Importing 5 problems across 2 playlist(s)

  ✓  neetcode/two-sum  [Favorites]
  ✓  neetcode/valid-anagram  [Favorites]
  –  neetcode/climbing-stairs  already in library
  ✓  leetcode/house-robber  [Week 1]
  ✗  neetcode/coin-change  scrape: timeout

  ████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  4 / 5

  ✓ 3 added  – 1 skipped  ✗ 1 failed  1 playlist(s) created

Exporting¶

hone export
hone export -o my-list.txt

The output groups problems by playlist and round-trips cleanly with hone import.

JSON backup format¶

The --backup flag produces a complete snapshot of your database — problems, SRS state, attempt history, and playlists.

hone export --backup -o backup.json

Example output:

{
  "version": 1,
  "exported_at": "2026-03-30T14:00:00Z",
  "problems": [
    {
      "platform": "neetcode",
      "slug": "two-sum",
      "title": "Two Sum",
      "difficulty": "easy",
      "created_at": "2026-03-01 09:00:00",
      "topics": ["array", "hash table"],
      "easiness_factor": 2.6,
      "interval_days": 6,
      "repetition_count": 2,
      "next_review_date": "2026-04-05",
      "mastered_before": false
    }
  ],
  "playlists": [
    {
      "name": "Favorites",
      "problems": ["neetcode/two-sum", "neetcode/valid-anagram"]
    }
  ],
  "attempts": [
    {
      "problem": "neetcode/two-sum",
      "started_at": "2026-03-28 10:00:00",
      "completed_at": "2026-03-28 10:08:30",
      "result": "success",
      "duration_seconds": 510,
      "quality": 5
    }
  ]
}

Restoring¶

hone init backup.json

rm ~/.local/share/hone/data.db && hone init backup.json

Moving to a new machine¶

1. On the old machine:

   hone export --backup -o hone-backup.json

2. Transfer hone-backup.json to the new machine (AirDrop, scp, etc.)

3. On the new machine:

   brew install pricklywiggles/hone/hone
   hone init hone-backup.json

Your entire history, SRS state, and playlists are restored. You'll need to re-authenticate with problem platforms (hone auth neetcode), since the browser profile is not included in the backup.