What the export really contains
How to Export Your Base44 App
Here’s the honest guide: what Base44’s export gives you, what it quietly leaves behind, and what to do about the parts that don’t come out.
The export
What the Base44 export gives you
Base44 lets you take your project’s frontend with you: the screens you designed, the styles, the flows between pages. What you get is a working user interface — the part of your app people see and click.
That’s genuinely useful if all you want is the design. But an app isn’t its screens. The moment that exported frontend tries to load data, check a login, or run a backend function, it’s calling out to services that still live on Base44’s servers — and an export doesn’t bring those along.
Think of it this way: the export is the bodywork of the car. The engine, the fuel, and the keys are still in Base44’s garage.
What’s missing
What the export leaves behind
This is the list that matters. None of the following comes out in a standard export:
In the export
Frontend code — screens, styles, navigation, and the UI logic that runs in the browser.
Not in the export
- Your database — tables, schema, and every row of data
- Your users — accounts, roles, and permissions
- Auth — passwords and sign-in can’t be exported at all
- Backend functions — the server-side logic your UI calls
- File storage — uploads and assets hosted on Base44
- Integrations — API keys and third-party connections
If your app is mostly screens with a little data, the gap is small. If your app is its data — user accounts, records, uploads, workflows — the export leaves the valuable part behind. Our migration guide covers how each of those pieces moves.
Why
Why the export works this way
This isn’t an oversight — it’s the architecture. On Base44, your “backend” isn’t code sitting next to your frontend; it’s Base44’s platform doing the work: their database holding your rows, their auth checking your logins, their servers running your functions. The export hands you the part that was ever really yours to hold — the client — because the rest was never a file you owned. It was a service you rented.
That’s worth understanding before you plan a move, because it reframes the job. You’re not “downloading your app.” You’re rebuilding the rented half on infrastructure you own — recreating the database, re-implementing the functions, re-creating the users — and reattaching the frontend you already have.
Once you see it that way, the question stops being “how do I export?” and becomes “who rebuilds the backend, and where does it live?” Which is exactly the question owning your stack answers.
Eject
The eject command, explained
You may have seen advice to run Base44’s eject command to “take your app with you.” Despite the name, eject doesn’t eject you from Base44. It clones your project onto a brand-new Base44 backend — your database calls, logins, and files still run on their servers, under their control, on their billing.
If your goal is a fresh Base44 project, eject does that. If your goal is to leave Base44 — to have your data and backend somewhere you control — eject moves you sideways, not out.
Don’t run it expecting an exit. It’s a reset button labeled as a door.
The rest
How to get the rest of your app out
You have two honest options for the parts the export doesn’t cover. The first is manual: rebuild the database schema by hand, re-enter or script-migrate the rows, rewrite each backend function, re-upload every file, recreate every user, and rewire every integration — then reattach your exported frontend to all of it. For a small app that’s a long weekend; for a real one it’s a project.
The second is to have it done for you. That’s what OffRamp is: instead of exporting a frontend shell, you connect your Base44 account and we pull the whole project — data, users, functions, files — then rebuild every layer on Supabase, Vercel, and GitHub accounts in your name.
Either way, start from the same place: a clear inventory of what you actually have. Our free analysis produces exactly that — a plain-English report of what’s portable, every gap that needs your input, and a fixed quote — in about a minute.
Our pull
How OffRamp pulls your app (read-only)
Connect
On the OffRamp home page, approve a one-time code on Base44’s own site. Read-only — nothing in your Base44 account changes.
We pull directly
We pull your app’s full project — not just the frontend export — straight from your account.
Free analysis
About a minute later: what’s portable, every gap, your fixed quote. Yours to keep either way.
Your Base44 app is never modified, and your data never passes through anyone else’s account on the way — it goes from Base44 to infrastructure you own. If you’re comparing approaches, see Base44 vs Supabase for where everything lands.
FAQ
Questions, answered honestly
What does the Base44 export actually contain?
Your frontend — screens, styles, and browser-side UI logic. It does not include your database, users, passwords, backend functions, file storage, or integrations.
Can I export my Base44 database?
Not through the standard export — your tables and rows stay on Base44’s servers. Moving them requires a migration that pulls the data directly and recreates it elsewhere, which is what OffRamp does.
Does the eject command export my app?
No. Despite the name, eject clones your project onto a new Base44 backend — your data and logins still run on Base44’s servers. It’s a reset, not an exit.
Can user passwords be exported from Base44?
No — Base44 doesn’t export password data, so no tool can move them. User accounts are recreated on the new stack and each user sets a new password via a reset email.
Is the export enough to rebuild my app elsewhere?
Only the frontend half. The backend — database, auth, functions, files — has to be rebuilt on the new infrastructure and reattached to that frontend.
Does connecting my Base44 account change anything in it?
No. The connection is read-only: we pull a copy of your project and never touch your Base44 app, data, billing, or settings.
It’s your app. Take it with you.
Connect your Base44 account from the OffRamp home page. The free analysis takes about a minute, and your fixed quote comes with it.
Start your free analysis