# As plugin

> Export a plugin that imports its own bundle: install it on the other site, check what it needs, Run import, then delete it.

Source: https://eizport.github.io/docs/exporting/as-plugin/

**As plugin**, next to *Media files* in the Export screen's **Details** panel, makes the file a plugin `.zip` holding the bundle. Install it on the other site like any plugin, and it imports itself — no file to upload, no importer screen to go through.

*Screenshot: The plugin's screen on the other site after Run import: everything it needs checked, the result, and "Deactivate and delete this plugin".*

## What's inside

```
mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12.zip
└── mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12-k3x9q2m7a1b8c4d6/
    ├── mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12-k3x9q2m7a1b8c4d6.php   the plugin: "Import: mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12"
    ├── readme.txt                                         what it is, as WordPress.org's Plugin Check asks
    └── mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12-k3x9q2m7a1b8c4d6.wxrz  the bundle (content, media, settings, as chosen)
```

The plugin's folder and file are named after the export's file name, plus the random part of the copy's name in lowercase (the same one [Copies](https://eizport.github.io/docs/settings/copies/) shows). So no file name can turn it into another plugin: an export named `woocommerce` is still `woocommerce-<random>/`, never WooCommerce's folder. Each delivery installs as its own plugin.

**Settings → Export → As plugin holds the bundle as** can put the bundle's files in the plugin instead of the `.wxrz` — the same entries, the WXR formatted line by line, to look at or change before installing. **Next to the plugin's**, the plugin's folder is the bundle:

```
mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12.zip
└── mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12-k3x9q2m7a1b8c4d6/
    ├── mysite-wordpress-2026-10-12-k3x9q2m7a1b8c4d6.php
    ├── manifest.json
    ├── mysite.WordPress.2026-10-12.xml
    ├── post_content/home.html
    ├── options.json
    └── uploads/2026/10/photo.jpg
```

**In a bundle/ folder**, the same files go under `bundle/`, apart from the plugin's. The plugin's header (`Eizport Bundle:`) names `manifest.json` or `bundle/manifest.json`.

The default stays one `.wxrz`: a smaller download, and the files can't be told apart from the plugin's. Either way, the files are reachable by URL while the plugin is installed — delete it after the import. It doesn't work with the Playground format: the toggle is off and disabled there.

## On the other site

1. **Plugins → Add Plugin → Upload Plugin**, choose the `.zip`, **Install Now**, **Activate**.
2. A notice and an **Import** link in the plugin's row lead to its screen, **Tools → Import: EIZP-000**. Nothing redirects you on activation.
3. The screen lists what it needs, each with a ✓ or a link:
   - **Eizport**, active — it draws the screen and runs the import. Without it, the plugin shows how to activate or install it;
   - **the WordPress Importer**, installed — with an *Install Now* button that installs and activates it right there, like Tools → Import installs an importer (*Installing…*, *Activating…*, then ✓ and **Run import** ready);
   - **the bundle**, with its size and date;
   - **Update pages, posts and products that already exist (same slug)**, checked when the export had *Update existing* on (the plugin's `Eizport Update:` header). See [updating items that already exist](https://eizport.github.io/docs/getting-started/importing/#updating-items-that-already-exist).
4. **Run import** imports the bundle the plugin holds. The page waits while it runs (the WordPress Importer doesn't report progress), then shows how many items were imported, the settings set and the importer's messages.
5. Once imported, the screen's main button is **Deactivate and delete**: it did its job and holds a large file. Under **Also delete**, Eizport and the WordPress Importer can go in the same action — checked when they were installed for this import (the plugin notes, when activated, which were already there), unchecked otherwise. Where WordPress asks for FTP credentials to delete files, it is deactivated and you delete it from the Plugins screen.

After the import the screen doesn't offer to import again, unless the export had **Settings → Export → As plugin: allow importing again** on: then **Import again** stays, folded. Importing again finds the items already imported and doesn't duplicate them; with *Update existing*, a new delivery of the same content updates them.

The plugin is named after the export's file: *Import: EIZP-000* for `EIZP-000.zip`.

The same `.zip` also imports without installing it: upload it in **Tools → Import → WordPress**, like a `.wxrz`, or give it to `wp eizport import`. Eizport takes the bundle out of the plugin.

Without Eizport, the screen says how to get it: **Install Now** once Eizport is in the plugin directory — it installs and activates Eizport on the same screen, then **Continue** opens the import — until then its latest release to download and add in **Upload Plugin**.

## Safety

The plugin imports only the bundle its own header names (`Eizport Bundle:`), from its own folder. **Run import** needs the `import` capability and a nonce; deleting needs `delete_plugins`. The plugin's code is a small file anyone can read; it downloads nothing.

In [Copies](https://eizport.github.io/docs/settings/copies/) it shows as *Plugin .zip*: it can be downloaded, not imported into the same site — install it as a plugin instead.