Export and import layouts #

Layouts live in the database, but they need not stay there: ./console exp:layouts writes them to a .zip and reads them back, on the same or another installation. The administration has the same under Layouts > Export and Layouts > Import.

Contents #

1. List
2. Export
3. What is in the file
4. Import with a dry run
5. Strategies
6. After a command-line import

List #

$ ./console exp:layouts list
ID     Identifier                               Name                                 Status     Shared    Rules  Links to
2      fd0aa7af77a85a03bf1080018f5db1dc         Header / Footer                      published  shared        0
7      d14c82715a0c5f1da1e6df4d0b77e638         Prefooter                            published  shared        0
...

--drafts adds open drafts, --json prints JSON.

Export #

$ ./console exp:layouts export --only=d14c82715a0c5f1da1e6df4d0b77e638 --output=prefooter.zip
Wrote prefooter.zip: 1 layouts (1 shared, 0 drafts), 4 blocks, 0 mappings, 3 content references.

What is in the file #

layouts.json (layouts, zones, blocks, parameters, collections and items), rules.json (mappings), references.json and manifest.json. Content is referred to by remote ID and path, not only by node ID, so an import into another installation can find the same content:

"node": {
    "93": { "remote_id": "media-n-725", "path": "fit_healthy/fitness/7_keystone_habits_to_maximize_your_mornings" },
    "98": { "remote_id": "media-n-731", "path": "fit_healthy/fitness/why_track_your_workouts" }
}

manifest.json names the format (exponential-layouts-transfer, version 1), the source site and Exponential version, the database, the selection and counts.

Import with a dry run #

Always start with --dry-run. Importing the file into the installation it came from:

$ ./console exp:layouts import prefooter.zip --dry-run
File: format version 1, made 2026-10-19T12:37:15+00:00 on www.example.com.
State        Action      Kind       Key
identical    none        layout     layout:d14c82715a0c5f1da1e6df4d0b77e638:published
Totals: 0 new, 1 identical, 0 changed, 0 conflicting.
Dry run: nothing was written.

An older export of the same layout, after the layout was changed:

$ ./console exp:layouts import prefooter-before.zip --dry-run
State        Action      Kind       Key
changed      skip        layout     layout:d14c82715a0c5f1da1e6df4d0b77e638:published
Totals: 0 new, 0 identical, 1 changed, 0 conflicting.
Dry run: nothing was written.

Strategies #

--item=<key>=<strategy>,... sets a strategy per item, with the keys the dry run prints. --unmapped=drop|keep|fail decides what happens to references to content that the target installation does not have (default drop).

After a command-line import #

Since explayouts_core 1.0.10, an import that publishes a layout (--publish) or writes a rule purges every page of the page cache itself, on the command line too, as publishing in the editor does. Clearing the content cache by hand after a command-line import is no longer needed. Drafts, dry runs and refused imports purge nothing. The import still ends with the line N items written; M resolver cache entries removed. (for example 1 items written; 0 resolver cache entries removed.).

Related pages #

• Roll a layout back
• Shared layouts and zone linking
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.