Export All Architect Flows as JSON Using Genesys Cloud CX as Code

How-To-Articles
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Export All Architect Flows as JSON Using Genesys Cloud CX as Code

What You Will Build

  • You will build a script that authenticates with Genesys Cloud and uses the CX as Code CLI to export every flow in your organization into a structured JSON directory.
  • This tutorial uses the Genesys Cloud CX as Code Command Line Interface (CLI) and the underlying REST API for validation.
  • The implementation covers Bash scripting for orchestration and Python for post-processing and validation of the exported JSON artifacts.

Prerequisites

  • OAuth Client Credentials: You need a Genesys Cloud OAuth Client with client_credentials grant type.
  • Required Scopes: The client must have the flow:read scope. If you are exporting flows that are in use or have specific permissions, you may also need user:read or organization:read depending on your tenant configuration, but flow:read is the mandatory minimum for exporting flow definitions.
  • CX as Code CLI: Installed and configured on your local machine. Version 3.0.0 or higher is recommended for stable JSON output formats.
  • Python 3.9+: Required for the validation script.
  • External Dependencies:
    • pip install requests (for the Python validation script)
    • npm install -g @genesys/cloud-cx-as-code-cli (if not already installed globally)

Authentication Setup

CX as Code CLI handles OAuth token management internally. You do not need to write custom OAuth logic for the CLI itself, but you must configure the environment correctly.

Configuring the CLI

Run the following command to set up your environment. This creates a profile that stores your environment URL and client credentials.

# Replace with your actual environment and credentials
genesyscloud auth:login \
  --environment us-east-1 \
  --client-id "YOUR_CLIENT_ID" \
  --client-secret "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  --profile export-flows

Verifying Authentication

Ensure the profile is active and valid by checking the current context.

genesyscloud auth:whoami --profile export-flows

If this command returns your user ID or environment details, the authentication is successful. If it fails, verify your client-id and client-secret in the Genesys Cloud Admin Console under Security > OAuth clients.

Implementation

Step 1: Identify All Flows via API

Before exporting, it is useful to understand what flows exist. CX as Code CLI exports flows based on their IDs. We can use the Genesys Cloud API to list all flows. This step ensures you know the volume of data you are handling.

We will use Python to fetch the list of flows. This demonstrates how to interact with the API directly, which is helpful for debugging CLI issues.

import requests
import json
import os
import sys

def get_access_token(client_id: str, client_secret: str, environment: str) -> str:
    """
    Retrieves an OAuth2 access token using client credentials grant.
    """
    token_url = f"https://{environment}.mygenesys.cloud/oauth/token"
    payload = {
        "grant_type": "client_credentials",
        "client_id": client_id,
        "client_secret": client_secret
    }
    
    try:
        response = requests.post(token_url, data=payload)
        response.raise_for_status()
        return response.json().get("access_token")
    except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
        print(f"Error fetching token: {e}")
        sys.exit(1)

def list_all_flows(access_token: str, environment: str) -> list:
    """
    Lists all flows in the organization using pagination.
    """
    api_base = f"https://{environment}.mygenesys.cloud/api/v2"
    flows = []
    page_size = 250
    page_number = 1
    
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }

    while True:
        params = {
            "pageSize": page_size,
            "pageNumber": page_number
        }
        
        try:
            response = requests.get(f"{api_base}/architect/flows", headers=headers, params=params)
            response.raise_for_status()
            
            data = response.json()
            items = data.get("entities", [])
            
            if not items:
                break
                
            flows.extend(items)
            
            # Check if more pages exist
            if page_number >= data.get("pageCount", 1):
                break
                
            page_number += 1
            
        except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
            if e.response.status_code == 429:
                print("Rate limited. Waiting 5 seconds before retrying...")
                import time
                time.sleep(5)
                continue
            else:
                print(f"Error fetching flows: {e}")
                break

    return flows

if __name__ == "__main__":
    CLIENT_ID = os.getenv("GENESYS_CLIENT_ID")
    CLIENT_SECRET = os.getenv("GENESYS_CLIENT_SECRET")
    ENVIRONMENT = os.getenv("GENESYS_ENVIRONMENT", "us-east-1")

    if not CLIENT_ID or not CLIENT_SECRET:
        print("Please set GENESYS_CLIENT_ID and GENESYS_CLIENT_SECRET environment variables.")
        sys.exit(1)

    token = get_access_token(CLIENT_ID, CLIENT_SECRET, ENVIRONMENT)
    flows = list_all_flows(token, ENVIRONMENT)
    
    print(f"Found {len(flows)} flows.")
    for flow in flows:
        print(f"ID: {flow['id']}, Name: {flow['name']}, Type: {flow.get('type', 'N/A')}")

Required OAuth Scope: flow:read

Expected Response:
A list of flow objects containing id, name, type, status, and version.

Error Handling:

  • 401 Unauthorized: Check your client credentials.
  • 403 Forbidden: Ensure the OAuth client has the flow:read scope.
  • 429 Too Many Requests: Implement retry logic with exponential backoff.

Step 2: Export Flows Using CX as Code CLI

Now that you have the list, you can use the CX as Code CLI to export them. The CLI supports exporting all flows of a specific type or by ID. To export all flows, you can use the flow:export command with the --all flag.

# Create a directory for exports
mkdir -p ./exports/flows

# Export all flows as JSON
genesyscloud flow:export \
  --profile export-flows \
  --output-dir ./exports/flows \
  --all \
  --json

Key Parameters:

  • --profile: Specifies the authenticated profile.
  • --output-dir: Directory where JSON files will be saved.
  • --all: Exports every flow in the organization.
  • --json: Ensures the output format is pure JSON. Without this, the CLI might output YAML or other formats depending on your global configuration.

Expected Result:
A directory structure like this:

./exports/flows/
├── flow_123456.json
├── flow_789012.json
└── ...

Each file contains the full definition of the flow, including nodes, edges, and properties.

Step 3: Validate and Process Exported JSON

Exporting is only the first step. You should validate the JSON structure to ensure it is well-formed and contains the expected data. This is critical for CI/CD pipelines.

Create a Python script to validate the exported files.

import os
import json
import sys
from pathlib import Path

def validate_flow_json(file_path: str) -> bool:
    """
    Validates that a flow JSON file has the required structure.
    """
    try:
        with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
            data = json.load(f)
        
        # Check for required fields
        required_fields = ["id", "name", "type", "status", "version", "nodes", "edges"]
        
        for field in required_fields:
            if field not in data:
                print(f"Error: Missing field '{field}' in {file_path}")
                return False
        
        # Validate nodes and edges structure
        if not isinstance(data["nodes"], list):
            print(f"Error: 'nodes' is not a list in {file_path}")
            return False
            
        if not isinstance(data["edges"], list):
            print(f"Error: 'edges' is not a list in {file_path}")
            return False
            
        print(f"Validated: {file_path}")
        return True
        
    except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
        print(f"Error: Invalid JSON in {file_path}: {e}")
        return False
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: Unexpected error processing {file_path}: {e}")
        return False

def main():
    export_dir = "./exports/flows"
    
    if not os.path.exists(export_dir):
        print(f"Error: Directory {export_dir} does not exist.")
        sys.exit(1)
    
    json_files = list(Path(export_dir).glob("*.json"))
    
    if not json_files:
        print(f"No JSON files found in {export_dir}.")
        sys.exit(0)
    
    valid_count = 0
    invalid_count = 0
    
    for file_path in json_files:
        if validate_flow_json(str(file_path)):
            valid_count += 1
        else:
            invalid_count += 1
            
    print(f"\nValidation Complete:")
    print(f"Valid: {valid_count}")
    print(f"Invalid: {invalid_count}")
    
    if invalid_count > 0:
        sys.exit(1)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Expected Output:

Validated: ./exports/flows/flow_123456.json
Validated: ./exports/flows/flow_789012.json

Validation Complete:
Valid: 2
Invalid: 0

Error Handling:

  • JSONDecodeError: Indicates a malformed JSON file. Check the CLI export logs for errors.
  • Missing Fields: Indicates the flow definition is incomplete. This can happen if the flow is in a transitional state during export.

Complete Working Example

Here is a complete Bash script that orchestrates the entire process: authentication, export, and validation.

#!/bin/bash

# Exit on error
set -e

# Configuration
PROFILE="export-flows"
EXPORT_DIR="./exports/flows"
ENVIRONMENT="${GENESYS_ENVIRONMENT:-us-east-1}"
CLIENT_ID="${GENESYS_CLIENT_ID}"
CLIENT_SECRET="${GENESYS_CLIENT_SECRET}"

# Validate environment variables
if [ -z "$CLIENT_ID" ] || [ -z "$CLIENT_SECRET" ]; then
    echo "Error: GENESYS_CLIENT_ID and GENESYS_CLIENT_SECRET must be set."
    exit 1
fi

# Step 1: Create export directory
echo "Creating export directory..."
mkdir -p "$EXPORT_DIR"

# Step 2: Login to CX as Code CLI
echo "Authenticating with Genesys Cloud..."
genesyscloud auth:login \
  --environment "$ENVIRONMENT" \
  --client-id "$CLIENT_ID" \
  --client-secret "$CLIENT_SECRET" \
  --profile "$PROFILE"

# Step 3: Export all flows
echo "Exporting all flows..."
genesyscloud flow:export \
  --profile "$PROFILE" \
  --output-dir "$EXPORT_DIR" \
  --all \
  --json

# Step 4: Validate exports
echo "Validating exported JSON files..."
python3 validate_exports.py

# Step 5: Cleanup (optional)
# genesyscloud auth:logout --profile "$PROFILE"

echo "Export complete."

Make the script executable:

chmod +x export_flows.sh

Run the script:

GENESYS_CLIENT_ID="your_id" GENESYS_CLIENT_SECRET="your_secret" ./export_flows.sh

Common Errors & Debugging

Error: 401 Unauthorized

Cause: Invalid client credentials or expired token.

Fix:

  1. Verify your client-id and client-secret in the Genesys Cloud Admin Console.
  2. Ensure the OAuth client is active.
  3. Re-run the genesyscloud auth:login command.
genesyscloud auth:login \
  --environment us-east-1 \
  --client-id "CORRECT_CLIENT_ID" \
  --client-secret "CORRECT_CLIENT_SECRET" \
  --profile export-flows

Error: 403 Forbidden

Cause: Missing OAuth scope.

Fix:

  1. Go to Genesys Cloud Admin Console > Security > OAuth clients.
  2. Select your client.
  3. Add the flow:read scope.
  4. Save and re-authenticate.

Error: 429 Too Many Requests

Cause: Rate limiting due to high volume of flows or concurrent requests.

Fix:

  1. Implement retry logic with exponential backoff in your Python script.
  2. Reduce the number of concurrent exports by exporting in batches.
import time

def retry_request(func, retries=3, backoff_factor=2):
    for attempt in range(retries):
        try:
            return func()
        except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
            if e.response.status_code == 429:
                wait_time = backoff_factor ** attempt
                print(f"Rate limited. Waiting {wait_time} seconds...")
                time.sleep(wait_time)
            else:
                raise
    raise Exception("Max retries exceeded")

Error: Invalid JSON

Cause: Corrupted export or incomplete flow definition.

Fix:

  1. Check the flow status in Genesys Cloud. Flows in PENDING_PUBLISH or DRAFT status may have incomplete definitions.
  2. Re-export the specific flow by ID.
genesyscloud flow:export \
  --profile export-flows \
  --output-dir ./exports/flows \
  --id "FLOW_ID" \
  --json

Official References