> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.prodexlabs.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Export & Import
> Back up, transfer, and hand off factories as portable .prdx files.
## Overview
ProDex can export an entire factory to a portable `.prdx` file and import one into any ProDex workspace. Both actions live in the factory selector: click the **factory name at the top of the sidebar**, then open **Factory files** → **Export Factory** or **Import Factory**.
A `.prdx` file is a snapshot of a factory at the moment of export — models, entities, BOMs, pipelines, and configuration in one self-contained file. The recipient doesn't need access to your organization to use it.
For sharing with teammates **inside your organization**, the in-app [Share factory](/product/factory-management#sharing-a-factory-with-teammates) flow is usually the better tool — it delivers a copy directly and supports published updates. Export is the right tool for **backups you hold as files**, **moving between environments**, and **working across organizations**.
## Exporting a Factory
1. Open the factory you want to export
2. Click the **factory name** at the top of the sidebar to open the factory selector
3. Open **Factory files** and click **Export Factory**
4. The file downloads as `{factory-name}.prdx`
The export captures the factory's state at the moment you click. If your account doesn't have certain features enabled (for example, planning), those sections are omitted and the rest exports normally.
## Importing a Factory
1. Open the factory selector and choose **Factory files** → **Import Factory**
2. Select a `.prdx` file
3. ProDex creates a **new factory** in your workspace with the imported contents
Importing always creates a new, independent factory — it never merges into or overwrites an existing one. If the import shares a name with a factory you already have, both exist side by side. Changes to the imported factory never affect the original, and vice versa.
You can import a `.prdx` from any ProDex user, including one in a different organization. Factories are fully self-contained, so there are no cross-factory identifier collisions to worry about.
## What's Included in an Export
| Included | Not Included |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| Simulation models (all models in the factory) | Simulation time-series and animation datasets (see below) |
| Entities, constants, and lookup tables | Files uploaded to Dexter |
| Schedules and model snapshots | Report files generated by Dexter |
| KPI and chart queries — the query definitions *and* the run summary values they produce | Dexter conversation history |
| Experiments and Monte Carlo configurations | Scheduled jobs |
| BOMs, configuration templates, configurations, and revisions | Integration configurations |
| Pipelines, insights, and cost models | User account or team settings |
| Dexter's knowledge base (operational rules, terminology, learned context) | |
| Custom workflows | |
| Agent projects (each project's durable state — not scratch drafts or produced phase artifacts) | |
| Planning models, planning runs, and demand/supply orders (when enabled) | |
**Simulation datasets do not travel between environments.** A run's summary values — its KPIs and chart data — are part of the export, but the large underlying artifacts (the full event time-series and animation datasets) live outside the file. When you import into a *different* ProDex environment, those imported runs arrive as placeholders: re-run the simulation to regenerate their detailed output. (Within the same environment, the datasets remain available.)
Because the knowledge base travels with the export, a transferred factory keeps its operational knowledge — process rules, terminology, and corrections Dexter has learned — not just its structure.
## File Format
`.prdx` files use a compressed binary format: not plain JSON, not human-readable, and — importantly — **obfuscated rather than encrypted**. Treat one like any unencrypted data file and share it through channels appropriate to the factory's sensitivity. The files contain no secrets, credentials, or API keys.
The format is versioned internally: importing a `.prdx` created by an older version of ProDex migrates the data to the current schema automatically, so old exports remain importable.
## Choosing the Right Mechanism
| You want to… | Use |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Give a teammate their own copy, with the option to push updates later | [Share factory](/product/factory-management#sharing-a-factory-with-teammates) |
| Keep a backup you control as a file | **Export** |
| Roll back to an earlier state of this factory | [Version history](/product/factory-management#version-history) |
| Move a factory to another organization or environment | **Export**, then **Import** there |
| Combine several factories into one (admin) | [Merge factories](/product/team-management#merge-factories) |
| Freeze a single model's configuration for comparison | [Snapshots](/reference/snapshots) |
## Use Cases
### Backups Before Major Changes
Before rebuilding a model, restructuring BOMs, or reconfiguring planning inputs, export the factory. If something goes wrong, importing the backup restores the previous state as a new factory, leaving your current one untouched until you're ready to switch.
### Collaboration Across Organizations
`.prdx` files let you work with external consultants, partners, or clients without granting them access to your ProDex instance. Export, send the file, and they import it into their own organization. Each party works independently on their own copy.
### Moving Between Environments
Most teams work in a single ProDex workspace, but if you ever need to move a factory to a separate workspace or instance, export it and import it there. The same mechanism seeds a reference or starter setup: build one factory, then hand the `.prdx` to others so each can spin up their own copy to build on.
## Limitations
* **One-way transfer**: export and import create independent copies; there is no sync back to the original.
* **No selective export**: you export the whole factory, not individual models or components.
* **No merge on import**: importing always creates a new factory. (Admins can consolidate factories afterward with [Merge factories](/product/team-management#merge-factories).)
* **Some Dexter context stays behind**: conversation history, uploaded files, generated report files, and scheduled jobs are not part of the export. (Its knowledge base and custom workflows *do* travel.)
## Related
* [Factory Management](/product/factory-management) — create, version, share, and delete factories
* [Team Management](/product/team-management) — admin tools, including cross-owner factory merges
* [Snapshots](/reference/snapshots) — freeze individual model versions for experiments