#tumblbee

After many weeks of coding, designing, testing, and re-testing, the first release of my new Tumblr export app is finally available for download!

✨ https://lilacpixel.itch.io/tumblbee ✨

TumblBee is a pay-what-you-want cross-platform desktop app for backing up or exporting your original Tumblr posts. It supports both main and side blogs and exports to your choice of Markdown or HTML formats, with plenty of configurable options to choose from. Export to Markdown for compatibility with a variety of apps and site generators, or export straight to HTML with beautiful responsive styling, courtesy of Pico CSS.

If you share art or writing on your Tumblr account, or if you just want to have a backup of your post history, TumblBee makes it easy to save all of your original posts and pages. Keep them as a local copy for personal browsing, or upload them wherever you like.

You'll find more info on TumblBee, along with FAQs, setup guides, usage instructions, and more, on the documentation site.

I've just pushed TumblBee's first update of 2026 to itch.io, which seems as good an occasion as any for making a quick introductory post for the blog!

For the uninitiated, TumblBee is my Tumblr backup and export tool, originally released in August of last year.

TumblBee is a friendly cross-platform desktop application for exporting your Tumblr posts and pages. It exports to both Markdown and HTML formats and supports all Tumblr block types, including polls, in both legacy and NPF posts. Back up your posts for safe keeping, browse your own tags in Obsidian, or export your whole blog for uploading elsewhere. Let your posts be yours forever.

Today's update brings a couple of nice new features, including the ability to back up your entire blog--reblogs and all. This feature has been requested by a few users, so I'm excited to finally be rolling it out!

You can read the full details on the itch.io dev log.

https://lilacpixel.itch.io/tumblbee/devlog/1522928/version-126-export-everything-

The docs have been updated to reflect the latest changes.

Are you there, internet? It's me, more TumblBee updates.

A few nice additions in this release: self-reblogs are now linked to the exported original post, and you can now exclude empty self-reblogs from your exports. A handful of minor issues have also been fixed. And there's a sprinkling of something extra in there, for anyone who wants to go Easter egg hunting.

Happy exporting!

Version 1.1.0 of TumblBee is now available for download! This version adds the ability to resume unfinished exports, so hardcore posters and victims of flaky internet need no longer live in fear. More details are available on the devlog.

(In case you missed it: TumblBee is a friendly cross-platform tool for exporting your original Tumblr posts and pages. Original announcement post is over here!)

I'm doing a little better, maybe, health-wise, which is good (I almost hate saying that because it feels like a jinx, but eh). Trying the low-histamine thing! TumblBee is not quite setting the world on fire, but it's gotten a few tens of downloads and one whole rating! Five stars!! yayyyy, thank you, lovelies. Please keep downloading because it makes me very happy to see the numbers go up 😌 If you want to include a little tip to show your appreciation, it will really help during what is sure to be lean times for us, financially speaking. But please don't feel obligated! Please also consider sharing if you found it useful, because my peak engagement on this site was well over a decade ago and I don't think Mashable is gonna write about me again. (I still can't believe it happened even once.)

Oh yeah.  I finally got around to making a header image for my tumblr.