Guide

CMS and headless export formats

5 min read 992 words Updated 14 August 2026

WXR for WordPress itself, and JSON shaped for the migration tool of Drupal, Ghost, Strapi and Contentful. These formats keep the content model — posts, pages, taxonomies, authors and media as separate entities rather than flattened rows.

WordPress WXR Export Format

The WordPress export format generates a WXR (WordPress eXtended RSS) XML file that can be imported into another WordPress installation. This is the standard format used by WordPress for content migration.

Output Files

When exporting to WordPress format, the following file is generated:

File Description
wordpress_export.xml Complete WXR export with all content

WXR Content Mapping

WordPress Source WXR Element
Posts <item> with <wp:post_type>post</wp:post_type>
Pages <item> with <wp:post_type>page</wp:post_type>
Media/Attachments <item> with <wp:post_type>attachment</wp:post_type>
Categories <wp:category>
Tags <wp:tag>
Authors <wp:author>
Featured Images <wp:postmeta> with _thumbnail_id
SEO Data <wp:postmeta> with Yoast-compatible keys

Usage Example

1# Export WordPress content to WXR format
2wpexportjson export --url https://your-wordpress-site.com -f wordpress
3
4# Export to WordPress WXR and create ZIP for easy transfer
5wpexportjson export --url https://your-wordpress-site.com -f wordpress --zip

Importing to WordPress

  1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard
  2. Go to Tools > Import
  3. Click Install Now under WordPress (if not already installed)
  4. Click Run Importer
  5. Upload wordpress_export.xml
  6. Assign authors and select whether to import attachments
  7. Click Submit to complete

Note: WXR is the official WordPress import/export format. For best results, review the WordPress Import documentation.

Drupal Export Format

The Drupal export format generates JSON files compatible with Drupal's Migrate module. This format is designed for migrating WordPress content to Drupal 8/9/10.

Output Files

When exporting to Drupal format, the following files are generated:

File Description
drupal_export.json Complete export with all content types
drupal_nodes.json Posts and pages as Drupal nodes
drupal_terms.json Categories and tags as taxonomy terms
drupal_users.json Users as Drupal user accounts
drupal_media.json Media files as Drupal media entities

Drupal Content Mapping

WordPress Source Drupal Destination
Posts Node type: article
Pages Node type: page
Categories Taxonomy vocabulary: categories
Tags Taxonomy vocabulary: tags
Featured Image Media entity reference (field_image)
Post Content Body field with full_html format
Post Excerpt Body summary field
SEO Data Metatag module fields

Usage Example

1# Export WordPress content to Drupal format
2wpexportjson export --url https://your-wordpress-site.com -f drupal
3
4# Export to Drupal and create ZIP for easy transfer
5wpexportjson export --url https://your-wordpress-site.com -f drupal --zip

Importing to Drupal

  1. Install the Migrate and Migrate Source JSON modules
  2. Upload the JSON files to your Drupal server
  3. Create migration configuration files referencing the JSON sources
  4. Run migrations using Drush: drush migrate:import --all

Note: Drupal migration requires custom migration YAML configuration. The JSON structure is designed to work with migrate_source_json plugin. For best results, review the Drupal Migrate documentation.

Ghost Export Format

The Ghost export format generates a JSON file compatible with Ghost CMS import.

Output Files

File Description
ghost_export.json Complete Ghost import format

Ghost Content Mapping

WordPress Source Ghost Destination
Posts Posts
Pages Pages
Categories Tags (with category prefix)
Tags Tags
Users Users
Featured Image Feature image
SEO Data Meta fields

Usage Example

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

Importing to Ghost

  1. Log in to your Ghost Admin panel
  2. Go to Settings > Labs
  3. Find Import content section
  4. Upload ghost_export.json

Strapi Export Format

The Strapi export format generates JSON files compatible with Strapi v4 headless CMS.

Output Files

File Description
strapi_export.json Complete export with all content types
strapi_articles.json Blog articles
strapi_pages.json Pages
strapi_categories.json Categories
strapi_tags.json Tags
strapi_authors.json Authors
strapi_media.json Media files

Strapi Content Mapping

WordPress Source Strapi Destination
Posts Articles (collection type)
Pages Pages (collection type)
Categories Categories (collection type)
Tags Tags (collection type)
Users Authors (collection type)
Media Media library
SEO Data SEO component fields

Usage Example

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

Contentful Export Format

The Contentful export format generates a JSON file compatible with Contentful's import tool.

Output Files

File Description
contentful_export.json Complete Contentful import format

Contentful Content Mapping

WordPress Source Contentful Destination
Posts blogPost content type
Pages page content type
Categories category content type
Tags tag content type
Users author content type
Media Assets

Content Types Created

The export includes content type definitions for:

  • blogPost - Blog posts with title, slug, content, author, categories, tags
  • page - Static pages with title, slug, content
  • category - Categories with name, slug, description
  • tag - Tags with name, slug
  • author - Authors with name, slug, bio

Usage Example

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

Importing to Contentful

  1. Install the Contentful CLI: npm install -g contentful-cli
  2. Log in: contentful login
  3. Import: contentful space import --content-file contentful_export.json