Granola Transcript Backup

A simple Python script to automatically backup your Granola.ai meeting transcripts before they expire from the 2-day cache.

Why This Exists

Granola only keeps transcripts in its local cache for about 2 days. If you have many meetings, you might lose valuable transcripts before you can review them. This script automatically saves them as markdown files so you never lose a conversation.

Features

🕐 Daily Automation - Set it up once, runs automatically every night at 11 PM
📝 Markdown Export - Saves transcripts as readable, searchable markdown files
🔒 100% Local - All data stays on your machine, no external API calls
🚫 Smart Deduplication - Never overwrites existing backups
⚙️ Easy Configuration - Simple environment variables or one-line edits
🌍 Timezone Smart - Auto-detects your timezone or customize it

Quick Start

Prerequisites

macOS with Granola.ai installed
Python 3.8+ (comes with macOS)
Granola cache file at ~/Library/Application Support/Granola/cache-v3.json

Installation

1. Download the script:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bonus414/granola-transcript-backup/main/backup_transcripts.py
chmod +x backup_transcripts.py

Or just clone this repo:

git clone https://github.com/bonus414/granola-transcript-backup.git
cd granola-transcript-backup

2. Customize the backup location (optional):

Edit backup_transcripts.py line 23 to set where you want backups saved:

OUTPUT_DIR = os.path.expanduser("~/Documents/granola-transcripts")  # Change this

Or use an environment variable:

export GRANOLA_BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/Dropbox/Granola"

3. Test it:

python3 backup_transcripts.py

You should see output like:

=== Granola Transcript Backup ===
Time: 2025-12-09 18:50:13
Output: /Users/you/Documents/granola-transcripts

Loading Granola cache...
Parsing meetings and transcripts...
Found 1132 meetings and 7 transcripts

  ✓ Saved: 2025-12-09_1430_Team_Standup.md
  ✓ Saved: 2025-12-09_1600_Product_Review.md

=== Backup Complete ===
Saved: 2 new transcripts

4. Set up daily automation (optional):

./install_daily_backup.sh

This creates a launchd job that runs the script every night at 11 PM.

5. Grant Full Disk Access (REQUIRED for daily automation):

Due to macOS privacy protections, you must grant Full Disk Access to /bin/bash:

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access
Click the "+" button
Press Command+Shift+G and enter: /bin/bash
Select bash and click Open
Enable the toggle next to bash

Without this permission, the automated backup will fail with "Operation not permitted" errors.

Configuration

Output Directory

Option 1: Edit the script (line 23)

OUTPUT_DIR = os.path.expanduser("~/Documents/my-backups")

Option 2: Environment variable

export GRANOLA_BACKUP_DIR="$HOME/path/to/backups"
python3 backup_transcripts.py

Timezone

By default, the script auto-detects your timezone. To override:

Option 1: Edit the script (line 28)

TIMEZONE = "America/Chicago"  # CST/CDT

Option 2: Environment variable

export GRANOLA_TIMEZONE="America/New_York"

Common US timezones:

America/New_York (EST/EDT)
America/Chicago (CST/CDT)
America/Denver (MST/MDT)
America/Los_Angeles (PST/PDT)

Backup Schedule

The default installation runs at 11:00 PM. To change this, edit the plist file:

# After running install script, edit:
nano ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.granola.backup.plist

Change the Hour and Minute values, then reload:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.granola.backup.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.granola.backup.plist

Output Format

Transcripts are saved as markdown files with this format:

YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM_Meeting_Title.md

Example file contents:

# Team Standup

**Date:** 2025-12-09 14:30 PST
**Meeting ID:** abc123-def456
**Participants:** Alice, Bob, Charlie
**Speakers:** microphone, system

---

## Transcript

[Full conversation transcript here...]

Manual Operations

Run Backup Manually

python3 backup_transcripts.py

Check if Daily Backup is Running

launchctl list | grep com.granola.backup

View Backup Logs

cat backup.log
cat backup.error.log

Uninstall Daily Backup

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.granola.backup.plist
rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.granola.backup.plist

Troubleshooting

"Operation not permitted" error (MOST COMMON)

If you see this in backup.error.log, it means macOS is blocking access due to privacy protections.

Solution: Grant Full Disk Access to /bin/bash:

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access
Click the "+" button
Press Command+Shift+G and enter: /bin/bash
Select bash and click Open
Enable the toggle next to bash
Test: launchctl start com.granola.backup && cat backup.log

"Cache file not found"

Make sure Granola.ai is installed and has processed some meetings:

ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Granola/cache-v3.json

"Permission denied"

Make the script executable:

chmod +x backup_transcripts.py

Daily backup not running

Check if the job is loaded:

launchctl list | grep com.granola.backup

If not, reload it:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.granola.backup.plist

Check error logs:

cat backup.error.log

If you see "Operation not permitted", see the first troubleshooting step above.

No new transcripts appearing

Granola may not have new transcripts in cache (only keeps ~2 days)
Check if Granola is running and recording meetings
Run the script manually to see what it finds

How It Works

Reads Granola's local cache file (~/Library/Application Support/Granola/cache-v3.json)
Parses meetings and transcript data
Converts transcripts to markdown format
Saves to your specified directory
Skips files that already exist

All processing is done locally. No data is sent anywhere.

Credits

This script was created to work alongside the Granola MCP Server by @proofgeist. The MCP server integrates Granola with Claude Desktop for real-time meeting queries. This backup script is a standalone utility that solves the transcript expiration problem.

License

MIT License - Feel free to use, modify, and share!

Support

If you find this useful, give it a ⭐️ on GitHub!

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