Guide

Command line reference

4 min read 687 words Updated 14 August 2026

Every flag wpexportjson export accepts, what it defaults to, and the configuration-file form of the same settings — plus the checkpoint that makes an interrupted export resumable instead of a restart.

Usage

Basic Export

1wpexportjson export --url https://your-wordpress-site.com

Advanced Options

1wpexportjson export \
2  --url https://your-wordpress-site.com \
3  --format markdown \
4  --output ./my-export \
5  --brute-force \
6  --max-id 10000 \
7  --download-media \
8  --concurrent 10

Configuration File

Create a config.yaml file:

1url: "https://your-wordpress-site.com"
2output: "./export"
3format: "json"
4brute_force: true
5max_id: 10000
6download_media: true
7concurrent: 10

Then run:

1wpexportjson export --config config.yaml

Command line options

Option	Description	Default
`--url`	WordPress site URL	Required
`--output`	Output directory or file	`./export`
`--format`	Export format (json/ markdown/ ssg/ shopify/ magento/ wordpress/ drupal/ wix/ squarespace/ webflow/ weebly/ prestashop/ ghost/ strapi/ contentful)	`json`
`--brute-force`	Enable brute force ID discovery	`false`
`--max-id`	Maximum ID for brute force	`10000`
`--scan-range`	Rescan a specific inclusive ID range for posts/pages/media, e.g. `100-200`	`""`
`--max-media-mb`	Per-file media download size cap in MB (0 = built-in default of 2048)	`0`
`--download-media`	Download images and videos	`true`
`--no-media`	Disable media downloads (alias for --download-media=false)	`false`
`--relevant-media-only`	Download only featured images and media linked in content (images, PDFs, videos, etc.)	`false`
`--exclude-media-types`	Media types to skip (comma-separated: images,videos,audio,documents,archives,pdf,gif)	-
`--media-path-style`	Form of rewritten media paths: `root` (`/media/…`, resolves at any URL depth) or `relative` (`media/…`)	`root`
`--link-style`	Form of `link`/`canonical_url`/`hreflangs`: `absolute` (source URL) or `root` (root-relative path)	`absolute` (`root` for `ssg`)
`--extract-meta`	Which meta tags to keep beyond the named SEO fields: `all`, `none`, or a comma-separated allow-list	`all`
`--report-a11y`	Write `a11y-report.md` flagging WCAG 2.2 contrast and missing alt-text issues	`false`
`--concurrent`	Concurrent downloads	`5`
`--zip`	Create ZIP archive of export	`false`
`--no-files`	Remove export files after creating ZIP (requires --zip)	`false`
`--no-posts`	Skip exporting blog posts	`false`
`--no-pages`	Skip exporting pages	`false`
`--no-products`	Skip exporting WooCommerce products	`false`
`--no-custom-types`	Skip the custom post types a theme or plugin registered	`false`
`--custom-types`	Export only these custom types (comma-separated slugs, e.g. `cpt_services,cpt_portfolio`)	-
`--no-users`	Skip exporting users	`false`
`--no-tags`	Skip exporting tags	`false`
`--no-menus`	Skip exporting navigation menus (they need authentication — see the navigation menus guide)	`false`
`--no-comments`	Skip exporting reader comments	`false`
`--path-filter`	Filter posts/pages by URL path pattern (e.g., /fr/arts/)	-
`--flat-html`	Convert HTML to Markdown (Bricks Builder, Elementor support)	`false`
`--basic-html`	Clean HTML to basic elements (tables, lists, links - for Shopify)	`false`
`--ssg-sections`	Markdown: emit `## Excerpt`/`## Content` sections and omit the duplicate body H1 (for ssg)	`false`
`--preserve-classes`	CSS classes to preserve from HTML processing (comma-separated, supports wildcards like `klaviyo-form-*`)	-
`--preserve-ids`	Element IDs to preserve from HTML processing (comma-separated, supports wildcards)	-
`--assisted-crawl`	Crawl URLs to extract SEO metadata (title, description, og tags)	`false`
`--exclude-tags`	SEO tags to exclude (comma-separated: title,meta:description,og:title,canonical,lang,hreflangs)	-
`--crawl-content`	Crawl pages with empty content (Bricks, Elementor page builders)	`false`
`--skip-empty-content`	Skip posts/pages with empty content from export	`false`
`--auth-user`	Username for Basic Auth (prompts for password if --auth-pass not provided)	-
`--auth-pass`	Password for Basic Auth	-
`--auth-token`	Bearer token for authentication	-
`--rate-limit`	Delay between API requests in milliseconds (prevents server rate limiting)	`0`
`--retries`	Attempts for a request the site answers with 5xx or 429, or drops. Exponential backoff with jitter, honouring `Retry-After`	`3`
`--resume`	Resume from checkpoint if previous export was interrupted	`false`
`--timeout`	HTTP request timeout in seconds (increase for slow servers)	`30`
`--verbose`, `-v`	Enable verbose output	`false`
`--quiet`, `-q`	Suppress all output, only return exit code	`false`
`--config`	Configuration file path	-

Resume / checkpoint

When exporting large sites, the --resume flag enables automatic checkpoint saving. If the export is interrupted (network error, server timeout, etc.), you can resume from where it left off:

1# First export attempt (interrupted at 90%)
2wpexportjson export --url https://large-site.com --resume -f markdown
3# Error: connection timeout...
4
5# Resume from checkpoint
6wpexportjson export --url https://large-site.com --resume -f markdown
7# Resuming from checkpoint: export/large-site.com.2026-02-02/.wpexport_checkpoint.json
8# Checkpoint: posts=1500 (done=true), pages=42 (done=false)...

The checkpoint file (.wpexport_checkpoint.json) is automatically deleted on successful completion.