import-course

Import Course into Simplero

You import online courses from external platforms into Simplero. You handle the entire pipeline: scraping the source, downloading media, uploading assets, and creating the lesson structure.

Step 1: Gather Information

Ask the user for anything you don't already have:

1. Source URL — the course/classroom URL on the source platform
2. Source credentials — email/password for the source platform
3. Simplero API key — header name is X-API-Key (not X-Simplero-API-Key)
4. Simplero target — where to put the content. Ask: "Which Simplero course and module should I import into?" Then use GET /courses.json to list courses, or GET /courses/{id}.json to show modules in a specific course. Help them pick or create the right target.

Step 2: Understand the Simplero Structure

Simplero's course hierarchy:

Site
└── Course
    └── Module (a section/grouping)
        └── Lesson
            ├── title (string)
            ├── body (HTML — the lesson's text/copy content)
            ├── asset_id (a single video or audio file)
            ├── attachments[] (PDFs, downloads, links)
            ├── publish_status ("published" or "draft")
            ├── default_playback_speed (float, e.g. 1.0 or 1.5)
            ├── allow_multiple_completions (boolean)
            └── remember_playback_position (boolean)

Mapping rules:

• If the source has a flat list of lessons → import into a single Simplero module
• If the source has sections/categories/sub-modules → each becomes a Simplero module (ask user first, or create modules via POST /courses/{course_id}/course_modules.json with {"title": "...", "publish_status": "published"})
• Every video/audio → one Simplero lesson with the file as the asset_id
• Text/HTML content from the lesson page → lesson body
• PDFs, downloads, Google Drive files → lesson attachments (download the actual file when possible, don't just link)
• External links that can't be downloaded → link-type attachments
• SoundCloud/audio embeds → download as mp3 and upload as the lesson asset

Step 3: Scrape the Source Platform

Use Playwright (headless Chromium) to log in and scrape. Key patterns per platform:

General Approach

1. Launch browser with anti-detection: headless=True, custom user-agent, remove webdriver flag
2. Log in via the platform's login form
3. Navigate to the course page
4. Extract lesson list with titles and URLs — check for pagination, "Show More" buttons, and "Load More" triggers. Many platforms only show 10-20 lessons at a time. Always look for:
   • ?page=N pagination links
   • "Show More" / "Load More" buttons (may reveal pagination after clicking)
   • Infinite scroll (scroll to bottom, wait, check for new items)
   • A total lesson count displayed on the page — compare against how many you've found
5. Visit each lesson page to get: video URLs, body HTML, download links, audio embeds

Platform-Specific Notes

Skool:

• After login, go to /GROUP/classroom
• Read window.__NEXT_DATA__ for buildId and allCourses (in pageProps)
• Course titles are in metadata.title, not name
• Navigate to each course URL to get children — each child has course.metadata with title, videoStream (BunnyCDN HLS), resources (JSON string of links)
• Children with unitType: "set" are sub-modules — recurse into their children
• Children with unitType: "module" are individual lessons

Kajabi:

• Login at /login — fields are #member_email and #member_password. Submit button may be input[type="submit"] OR button#form-button — check the page.
• Course page lists categories with links to /categories/{id}
• Each category page has lesson links to /posts/{id}
• Videos are typically Wistia embeds — look for wistia_async_{ID} in div classes
• Pagination and "Show More" (CRITICAL): Kajabi paginates lesson lists. You MUST handle this:
  1. The course listing page (/products/{slug}) may show only the first 10 lessons with a "Show More" link at the bottom. Click it.
  2. After clicking "Show More", check for pagination links (?page=2, ?page=3, etc.) that appear at the bottom. These are NOT visible until after Show More is clicked.
  3. Also check ?page=N on the course URL itself — some courses paginate at the top level (e.g., /products/{slug}?page=2).
  4. For category pages (/categories/{id}), also check for ?page=N pagination.
  5. Always verify the total lesson count — Kajabi shows "X of Y Lessons Completed" in the sidebar. Compare Y against how many lessons you've found. If they don't match, you're missing pages.
  6. Keep paginating until you've found all lessons. A course claiming 16 lessons but only showing 10 means there's a page 2.
• Body content varies by theme:
  • Try .post-body, .kjb-post__body, .post__body first
  • If those are empty, check .panel__block inside .section__body — strip the h1.panel__title and h5.panel__sub-title, keep the remaining h2, p, and other content elements
  • Also check the course listing page for p.syllabus__text descriptions (these may be truncated — always prefer the full content from the lesson page)
  • Do not skip body scraping — always visit each individual lesson page and extract all text/HTML content. This is the lesson's copy and must be imported.

WordPress/LearnDash:

• Login at /wp-login.php
• Check for Vimeo, Wistia, YouTube iframes in lesson pages
• Body content in .entry-content or .learndash-content

Teachable:

• Login at /sign_in
• Course curriculum available at /courses/{slug}/curriculum
• Videos often Wistia or direct MP4

Extracting Video URLs

Look for these in order on each lesson page:

1. wistia_async_{ID} classes on divs → Wistia
2. <iframe src="...player.vimeo.com/video/{ID}..."> → Vimeo
3. <iframe src="...youtube.com/embed/{ID}..."> → YouTube
4. videoStream in JSON data → BunnyCDN HLS
5. <video> or <source> elements → direct MP4/HLS
6. <iframe src="...soundcloud.com/..."> or soundcloud.com links → SoundCloud audio
7. <audio> elements → direct audio files

Extracting Body Content (CRITICAL — do not skip)

Every lesson's text/copy content MUST be scraped and imported. This is the lesson description, instructions, or written content that accompanies the video/audio.

• Always visit each individual lesson page and extract the body content. Do not rely solely on listing page excerpts (they are often truncated).
• Look for content in these selectors (in order): .post-body, .kjb-post__body, .entry-content, .lesson-content, .panel__block (Kajabi — strip title elements)
• Preserve meaningful HTML structure (headings, lists, links, bold/italic)
• Strip navigation, player UI, "Mark as Complete" buttons, "Next Lesson" links, platform chrome — only keep the actual lesson copy
• Remove data-* attributes from extracted HTML for cleanliness
• If the body is truly just the video embed with no text, set body to empty string — but verify by checking multiple selectors first

Extracting the Main Asset (not always video)

Not every lesson's primary content is a video. The main asset could be an image (infographic, map, diagram), a PDF (workbook, guide, checklist), an audio file (podcast, meditation, voice note), or something else entirely. Look for whatever the lesson is built around:

• Image lessons: Check .player__video img, .post-hero img, or the main content area for large images. Use the CDN URL (e.g., kajabi-storefronts-production.kajabi-cdn.com/...) rather than /courses/downloads/ URLs which may redirect to HTML.
• PDF lessons: Some lessons are just a downloadable PDF with no video — the PDF is the main content, not an attachment. Upload it as the lesson's asset_id.
• Audio lessons: Look for <audio> elements, SoundCloud embeds, or direct .mp3/.m4a links. These go in asset_id just like video.
• No media at all: Some lessons are text-only (instructions, welcome messages). Set asset_id to null and put everything in the body.

Upload whatever the primary content is as the lesson's asset_id — Simplero supports video, audio, images, and PDFs as lesson assets. If a lesson has both a video AND supplementary files (PDFs, images), the video goes in asset_id and the rest go as attachments.

Extracting Attachments/Resources

Look for ALL downloadable files on each lesson page — PDFs, images, spreadsheets, docs, everything:

• Download links (PDFs, docs, spreadsheets)
• "Downloads" sidebar — Kajabi often has a separate downloads section with files (check for links containing /courses/downloads/ or file extensions)
• Image files (.jpg, .png) that are lesson content (not thumbnails/navigation)
• Google Drive links — convert to direct download: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id={FILE_ID}
• Dropbox links — append ?dl=1 for direct download
• Resource lists in JSON metadata (Skool resources field)
• Any <a> tags pointing to downloadable files

For Kajabi download URLs: The /courses/downloads/{id}/filename pattern may return an HTML page instead of the file. If the downloaded file is suspiciously small (<10 KB) or is HTML, fall back to the direct CDN URL from the img tag or use Playwright to follow the download redirect and capture the actual file URL.

Step 4: Download Media

Video Downloads (CRITICAL: must include audio)

Use yt-dlp for all video platforms — it handles auth, format selection, and audio merging correctly.

Wistia:

yt-dlp -f "hd_mp4-720p/best[height<=720]" -o output.mp4 "https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/{WISTIA_ID}"

Wistia files are pre-muxed (video+audio in one file), so no merge needed.

Vimeo:

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4][height<=720]+bestaudio" --merge-output-format mp4 -o output.mp4 "https://player.vimeo.com/video/{ID}?h={HASH}"

Include the ?h= hash parameter if present in the iframe src — it's required for private videos.

YouTube:

yt-dlp -f "bestvideo[ext=mp4][height<=720]+bestaudio" --merge-output-format mp4 -o output.mp4 "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={ID}"

BunnyCDN HLS (Skool):

ffmpeg -y -headers "Referer: https://www.skool.com/\r\n" -i "{HLS_URL}" -c copy output.mp4

Use 1200s timeout. These streams are already muxed.

SoundCloud:

yt-dlp -f "bestaudio" -o output.mp3 "{SOUNDCLOUD_URL}"

Direct MP4/HLS:

yt-dlp -f "best[height<=720]" -o output.mp4 "{URL}"
# Or for raw HLS:
ffmpeg -y -i "{URL}" -c copy output.mp4

After each download, verify audio exists:

ffprobe -v quiet -show_streams -print_format json output.mp4

Check that there's a stream with codec_type: "audio". If missing, re-download with a different format selector that includes audio.

Attachment Downloads

• Google Drive: curl -sL "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id={FILE_ID}" -o file.pdf
• For large Google Drive files, handle the confirmation page
• Direct URLs: curl -sL "{URL}" -o file.ext
• Determine file type from Content-Type header or file extension

Step 5: Upload to Simplero

Simplero API Reference

Base URL: https://simplero.com/api/v1 Auth header: X-API-Key: {key}

Upload an asset (video, audio, PDF):

curl -s -X POST -H "X-API-Key: {key}" \
  -F "[email protected];type=video/mp4" \
  https://simplero.com/api/v1/assets.json

Returns {"id": 12345, ...}. Use the ID as asset_id on a lesson (for video/audio) or to create an attachment.

Content types: video/mp4, audio/mpeg, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.*, etc.

Create a module:

POST /courses/{course_id}/course_modules.json
{"title": "Module Name", "publish_status": "published", "position": 1}

Create a lesson:

POST /course_modules/{module_id}/course_lessons.json
{
  "title": "Lesson Title",
  "body": "<p>HTML content here</p>",
  "asset_id": 12345,
  "position": 1,
  "publish_status": "published",
  "default_playback_speed": 1.0,
  "allow_multiple_completions": true,
  "remember_playback_position": false
}

The last three fields are optional — only set them for meditation/workout/repeat-listen content (see Playback Settings section below).

Update a lesson:

PUT /course_lessons/{lesson_id}.json
{"body": "...", "asset_id": 12345}

Note: PUT endpoint is flat (/course_lessons/{id}.json), NOT nested under modules.

Add a file attachment to a lesson:

POST /course_lessons/{lesson_id}/attachments.json
{"asset_id": 12345}

The asset must be uploaded first via /assets.json.

Add a link attachment to a lesson:

POST /course_lessons/{lesson_id}/attachments.json
{"title": "Resource Name", "link": "https://example.com/resource"}

Use this as fallback when file download isn't possible.

List courses:

GET /courses.json

Get course with modules and lessons:

GET /courses/{id}.json

Step 6: Execute the Import

Write a Python script that:

1. Loads or scrapes source data (cache scraped data to a JSON file so re-runs don't re-scrape)
2. Checks existing state — fetch the Simplero module to see which lessons already exist (match by title)
3. Tracks progress — use a state file (import_state.json) mapping "module:lesson" keys to Simplero lesson IDs or "error:..." strings
4. For each missing lesson: a. Download video/audio → verify it has audio → upload to Simplero → get asset_id → delete local file b. Download any attachment files (PDFs from Google Drive, etc.) → upload to Simplero → get asset_ids c. Create the lesson with title, body HTML, asset_id, position, publish_status d. Add attachments via the attachments endpoint e. Save progress to state file
5. Errors are retryable — mark errors in state but allow re-running to retry them
6. Delete local files after each upload to save disk space
7. Log everything to a log file AND stdout

Run the script and monitor progress. For large imports (100+ lessons), run in background with nohup and check periodically.

Important Rules

• Import ALL lesson content. Every piece of a lesson must be imported: video/audio (as asset), body copy/description (as body HTML), downloadable files (as attachments), and resource links (as link attachments). Do not skip any of these — visit each lesson page individually.
• Always verify audio after downloading video. If ffprobe shows no audio stream, try a different format or download method.
• Prefer downloading files over linking. Download Google Drive PDFs, Dropbox files, etc. as actual file attachments rather than adding them as link attachments.
• Body content is separate from attachments. The lesson body is HTML text content (descriptions, instructions, copy). Attachments are downloadable files. Don't put download links in the body — use proper attachments.
• Don't put resource links in body HTML. Use Simplero's attachment system instead (file or link type).
• Position matters. Set lesson positions to maintain the original course order.
• Rate limit. Add small delays between API calls if doing many in sequence.
• Resume gracefully. The state file lets you re-run after errors or interruptions without re-creating existing lessons.
• Clean titles. Strip numbering prefixes if already handled by position (e.g., "01: " prefix when it's already position 1). But keep them if they're meaningful (e.g., "Step # 1 - ...").

Playback Settings for Meditations, Workouts, and Repeat-Listen Content

When the content is a meditation, guided visualization, workout, breathwork session, hypnosis, affirmation track, or similar content that people listen to repeatedly and should experience at normal speed:

Set these fields when creating the lesson:

{
  "default_playback_speed": 1.0,
  "allow_multiple_completions": true,
  "remember_playback_position": false
}

• default_playback_speed: 1.0 — prevents the player from defaulting to a faster speed. Meditations, workouts, and similar content should always start at 1x.
• allow_multiple_completions: true — lets users mark the lesson complete more than once, since these are designed to be repeated.
• remember_playback_position: false — the lesson starts from the beginning each time instead of resuming where they left off, since users want the full experience each listen.

How to detect this type of content: Look at the lesson title and description for keywords like: meditation, guided, visualization, breathwork, workout, exercise, affirmation, hypnosis, tapping, EFT, yoga, relaxation, sleep, journaling prompt (audio), prayer. Also consider the context — if the entire course is a meditation series or wellness program, apply these settings to all lessons.