How to create a zipped SVG + JSON so Penpot can import?

Hello everyone!

I’m working on a different project where the goal is to “generate” clickable prototypes. So I thought, it would be cool to generate them as penpot files so they can be edited & modified. Unfortunately it’s very hard to find the documentation on how the two formats work (.penpot and the zipped svg+json).

While trying to figure out the format, I did the following (on macOS 12):

  1. Exported a simple penpot project as SVG+JSON (zipped)
  2. Unzipped + modified the SVG
  3. Zip the folder
  4. Import into penpot

Unfortunately penpot doesn’t recognize the new zip as something to import at all, where as if I simply do export + import (without unzipping etc) it works.

Would be great to understand why this doesn’t work. Maybe the native macOS zip action creates some kind of different zip than what penpot expects?

I am running penpot locally on docker, so maybe that also contributes.

Many thanks in advance :slight_smile: Any help appreciated.

Hello @tigertomjones i would love to understand why you would like to modify the SVG outside penpot and import it again? What you were trying to active with that?

HI Carolina,
fair question :wink: Actually, I want to write a script that generates me a couple of different variants for clickable prototypes, similar to what a static site generator would do. So, in the end, I want to create something that I can import into penpot and it seems the annotated SVG that I get when exporting, would be the most ‘open’ format.