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Connecting Sources

Athlete Vault supports four ways to get your training data in. You can use any combination.

Strava

Strava API requires a paid subscription. As of 2025, Strava restricts third-party API access to Premium subscribers (~$80/year). If you don't have a Premium subscription, use the File Upload or Watched Folder sources instead — they work with any GPS device and don't require Strava at all.

Migrating existing Strava data: go to Strava → Settings → My Account → Download or Delete Your Data. The bulk export contains all your activities as FIT/GPX files. Drop them on the Upload page and they'll be imported with full GPS, HR, and metadata.

Once connected, Strava syncs are incremental — only new activities are fetched after the first full import.

1. Create a Strava API app

  1. Go to strava.com/settings/api
  2. Create an application with any name (e.g. "Athlete Vault")
  3. Set Authorization Callback Domain to localhost
  4. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret

2. Enter credentials

Either:

  • Open Settings in the app → paste Client ID and Client Secret → Save, or
  • Add to .env in the project root:
STRAVA_CLIENT_ID=12345
STRAVA_CLIENT_SECRET=abc123...

3. Connect and sync

  1. Open the Sources page
  2. Click Connect Strava — Strava opens in your browser for authorisation
  3. After authorising, you land back on Sources with the connection active
  4. Click Sync now

The first sync imports your full activity history (a few minutes for large accounts). Subsequent syncs are fast.

Nike Run Club

NRC requires a bearer token extracted from your browser.

Get your bearer token

  1. Open nikeplus.nike.com and log in
  2. Open Developer Tools → Network tab
  3. Reload the page; find any api.nike.com request
  4. In the request headers, copy the value after Authorization: Bearer

Connect

  1. Open the Sources page
  2. Paste your token into the NRC field → Connect
  3. Click Sync now

NRC tokens expire. If sync fails with an authentication error, repeat the steps above to get a fresh token.

File Upload (FIT / GPX / TCX)

Upload individual workout files from any device.

Supported formats

Format Notes
.fit Garmin / Wahoo native format; richest data (HR, cadence, GPS, power)
.gpx Universal GPS format; HR and cadence supported via standard extensions
.tcx Garmin Training Center XML; laps, HR, cadence

How to upload

  1. Open the Upload page
  2. Drag files onto the drop zone, or click to browse
  3. Multiple files upload in sequence
  4. Each file shows its result: ✓ imported, duplicate (already exists), or error

Uploading the same file twice is safe — deduplication is by SHA-256 of file content.

Getting files from your device

  • Garmin: Garmin Express → copies .fit files to your computer
  • Apple Watch: HealthExport exports workouts as GPX
  • Wahoo: Wahoo app → activity → share → save .fit file
  • Strava: Settings → My Account → Download or Delete Your Data (bulk GPX)

Watched Folder

The watched folder source monitors a local directory and imports any new .fit, .gpx, or .tcx file that appears there — automatically, without any manual upload step.

This is the most seamless way to import from a Garmin watch: plug in the USB cable, let Garmin Express sync, and Athlete Vault picks up the new files in seconds.

Set up a watched folder

  1. Open the Sources page
  2. Scroll to Add a source → Watch a local folder
  3. Enter the full path to the directory (e.g. /Users/you/Downloads/Garmin)
  4. Click Watch folder

The folder is scanned immediately on connection. After that, new files are detected via filesystem events (with a 5-minute polling fallback for network drives).

File log

Each watched-folder source card has an expandable file log showing the last 20 processed files with their status:

Status Meaning
imported New activity created
duplicate File already exists (same SHA-256); skipped
error Parse or save error; message shown

Manual scan

Click Scan now on the source card to trigger an immediate full scan of the folder. Useful after copying a batch of files.

Removing a watched folder

Click the trash icon on the source card. This stops the watcher and removes the source connection. Previously imported activities are not affected.

Tips

  • You can add multiple folders — one per device, for example.
  • The folder must exist on the machine where Athlete Vault is running. For Docker deployments, mount the folder into the container via docker-compose.yml (see Setup).
  • NFS / SMB network mounts work; polling ensures files are caught even when filesystem events don't propagate.