Export/import jobs in Jenkins

Probably use jenkins command line is another option, see https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Jenkins+CLI

• create-job: Creates a new job by reading stdin as a configuration XML file.
• get-job: Dumps the job definition XML to stdout

So you can do

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://server get-job myjob > myjob.xml
java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s http://server create-job newmyjob < myjob.xml

It works fine for me and I am used to store in inside my version control system

Jenkins has a rather good wiki, albeit hard to read when you're new to CI software...

They offer a simple solution for moving jobs between servers

The trick probably was the need to reload config from the Jenkins Configuration Page.

Update 2020.03.10

The JenkinsCI landscape has changed a lot... I've been using Job DSL for a while now. We have a SEED Job that generates the rest of the jobs.

This helps us both recreate or move for the Jenkins server whenever needed :) You could also version those files for even more maintainability!

A one-liner:

$ curl -s http://OLD_JENKINS/job/JOBNAME/config.xml | curl -X POST 'http://NEW_JENKINS/createItem?name=JOBNAME' --header "Content-Type: application/xml" -d @-

With authentication:

$ curl -s http:///<USER>:<API_TOKEN>@OLD_JENKINS/job/JOBNAME/config.xml | curl -X POST 'http:///<USER>:<API_TOKEN>@NEW_JENKINS/createItem?name=JOBNAME' --header "Content-Type: application/xml" -d @-

With Crumb, if CSRF is active (see details here):

Get crumb with:

$ CRUMB_OLD=$(curl -s 'http://<USER>:<API_TOKEN>@OLD_JENKINS/crumbIssuer/api/xml?xpath=concat(//crumbRequestField,":",//crumb)')
$ CRUMB_NEW=$(curl -s 'http://<USER>:<API_TOKEN>@NEW_JENKINS/crumbIssuer/api/xml?xpath=concat(//crumbRequestField,":",//crumb)')

Apply crumb with -H CRUMB:

$ curl -s -H $CRUMB_OLD http:///<USER>:<API_TOKEN>@OLD_JENKINS/job/JOBNAME/config.xml | curl -X POST -H $CRUMB_NEW 'http:///<USER>:<API_TOKEN>@NEW_JENKINS/createItem?name=JOBNAME' --header "Content-Type: application/xml" -d @-

In a web browser visit:

http://[jenkinshost]/job/[jobname]/config.xml

Just save the file to your disk.