Backup file format

See how a Link Manager Pro backup file is built, what each item holds and how a restore treats ids and secrets. Check what a backup leaves out.

A Link Manager Pro backup is one JSON file with six top-level keys. It holds the items you ticked, each as a list of rows.

The file is named link-manager-pro-backup-{YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS}.json, with the time in UTC. For the screen that makes and restores it, see Back up and restore.

Structure

Key	Type	What it holds
schema_version	integer	The file format. The current format is 1
plugin_version	string	The value of the option link_manager_pro_version when the file was made
exported_at	string	When the file was made, Y-m-d H:i:s in UTC
site_url	string	The site's home_url()
items	object	One list of rows per item
silent	object	The setup state, under onboarding

A short example, with values shortened:

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "plugin_version": "...",
  "exported_at": "2026-10-23 09:30:00",
  "site_url": "https://example.com",
  "items": {
    "categories": [
      { "term_id": 4, "name": "Tools", "slug": "tools", "description": "", "color": "#6B7280", "link_ids": [12] }
    ],
    "links": [
      { "id": "12", "slug": "abc123", "target_url": "https://example.org/...", "redirect_type": "302" }
    ],
    "link_meta": [
      { "entity_id": "12", "meta_key": "address:...", "meta_value": "..." }
    ],
    "settings": [
      { "general": { "link_prefix": "go" }, "ai": { "api_key": "..." } }
    ]
  },
  "silent": { "onboarding": { "status": "complete" } }
}

Items

The twelve items a backup can hold, in the order a restore applies them:

Item	Rows
categories	One per category: term_id, name, slug, description, color and link_ids
tags	The same as categories, without color
links	One per row of the links table, with every column
link_rules	One per row of the link_rules table
clicks	One per row of the clicks table, including ip_address, cookie_id and user_id
affiliates	One per row of the affiliates table
campaigns	Meta rows of the types campaign and utm_template: managed campaigns and UTM templates
link_health	One per row of the link_health table
redirects	One per row of the redirects table
settings	One object that maps each settings group to its stored values
webhooks	One per webhook, with its settings. The signing secret and custom headers (headers_encrypted) are stored encrypted
posts	Full rows of the WordPress posts table, for the post types the plugin scans

Column names are the ones in Database tables.

link_meta is added to the file whenever links is in it. Its rows are the meta table rows with entity_type link: other addresses and import bookkeeping. Each row holds entity_id, meta_key, meta_value, created_at and updated_at, and no row id. You can't choose it on its own. Older files without it still restore.

Some items bring sections you can't choose on their own: deleted_slugs (with links), click_meta (with clicks), affiliate_meta (with affiliates) and coverage_history (with link_health). A file made before campaigns and webhooks existed has no such section. Ticking them still restores the file, and the notes say yours were kept.

Secrets

The settings item holds each value as the database stores it, so ai.api_key stays encrypted in the file. Encryption is AES-256-CBC with a key derived from the site's AUTH_KEY.

• On the same site, a restore decrypts the key and saves it again.
• From another site, a restore keeps this site's own key. The file's key couldn't be read here anyway.
• A key that is empty, masked or can't be decrypted isn't restored, and the restore result counts it.

Webhooks are in a backup. Their signing secrets and custom headers are stored encrypted with the site's key, so another site can't read them. After a restore there, the notes say which webhooks need a new secret or custom headers.

Restore rules

• A file with a schema_version above 1 is refused before anything changes. A file without the key counts as 1. The plugin version that made the file isn't checked.
• webhooks and posts are opt-in: they start unticked in the restore dialog, and the CLI restores them only when --items names them. Webhooks from another site come back paused.
• Ticked items replace the current rows. The exceptions are settings, which merges, and posts, which only rewrites the content of posts that exist.
• Restored rows keep their ids from the file. After the restore, new ids start above both the file's highest id and the live table's highest id.
• Posts restore only on the site they were backed up from. The restore compares the file's site_url with this site's address.
• A restore from another site is refused when a ticked item would leave unticked rows that point at the wrong ids. For example, restoring links but not clicks on a site that already has clicks.
• Before each item is replaced, the plugin copies it to a __lmpsnap table, and puts it back if the restore fails. See Database tables.

Import limits

• Only a .json file is accepted.
• The browser uploads a large file in parts. Each part can be as large as the site's upload limit, wp_max_upload_size(), and the whole file up to 1 GB.
• A larger file restores with WP-CLI, which has no size limit. See WP-CLI for developers.

wp link-manager-pro backup export --items=links,clicks --file=/tmp/links.json
wp link-manager-pro backup restore /tmp/links.json --items=links,clicks --yes

Links-only CSV export

A separate route exports short links as a CSV file, named link-manager-pro-links-{YYYY-MM-DD}.csv.

GET /wp-json/link-manager-pro/v1/settings/backup/export/csv

Permission: a user with the manage_options capability.

The columns are ID, Slug, Target URL, Redirect Type, Source, Click Count, Autolink, Keywords and Created At. It is not a backup: you can't restore from it.

What a backup doesn't include

The code exports only the twelve items above plus the sections they bring. These are never in a backup file:

• The webhook delivery log
• The Link Audit table
• Post types the plugin doesn't scan, post meta, media and your theme

Related

• Back up and restore
• WP-CLI for developers
• Database tables
• Where Link Manager Pro stores data