How to sync/copy ACF (Advanced Custom Fields) field groups from staging to production without recreating them manually?

Problem

I maintain two WordPress environments — a staging site and a production site. Every time I create or update custom field groups using Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) on staging, I have to manually recreate all the same fields on production, which is time-consuming and error-prone.

Is there a reliable way to copy/export ACF field group configurations from staging and apply them to production in one step?

What I've tried

Manually recreating fields on production (current workflow — not scalable)

I'm aware ACF Pro has an Export/Import option under Custom Fields → Tools, but I'm unsure if this is the recommended long-term approach, especially for teams or CI/CD pipelines

What I'm looking for

A method to:

Define fields once on staging

Push/sync those field configurations to production — ideally via JSON export, PHP code registration, or a plugin/script

Environment

WordPress 6.x

ACF Pro (latest)

Staging and production are separate WordPress installs (not multisite)