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Sanity Migration

SanityOfficialPublished by Sanity

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • MIT
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From the author

Plans, implements, and reviews migrations from other CMSes and content systems into Sanity. Use when migrating or replatforming to Sanity from AEM, Adobe Experience Manager, Contentful, Strapi, Webflow, WordPress, Payload, Drupal, Markdown/MDX/frontmatter files, WXR/XML exports, CMS APIs, database dumps, static HTML, or when designing extraction, transformation, Portable Text conversion, asset migration, redirects, validation, and cutover workflows.
— the description by Sanity

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a systematic approach to migrating content from various CMS platforms into Sanity. It treats migration as an ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) project, emphasizing deterministic scripts, content modeling, and validation over manual operations. The skill includes specific guidance for platforms such as AEM, Contentful, Strapi, Webflow, WordPress, Payload, Drupal, and Markdown-based systems, ensuring that content is properly mapped, transformed into Portable Text, and validated before final cutover.

What it does

  • Provides a structured workflow for planning and executing CMS-to-Sanity migrations.
  • Offers platform-specific guidance for extracting data from common CMS environments.
  • Defines best practices for mapping source content to Sanity schemas and Portable Text.
  • Requires the creation of migration plans, content inventories, and validation reports.
  • Encourages the use of deterministic scripts for repeatable and reliable data imports.
  • Includes procedures for handling assets, redirects, and final cutover synchronization.

When to use it

  • When replatforming a website or application to use Sanity as the content backend.
  • When moving content from legacy systems like AEM, Drupal, or WordPress.
  • When migrating static files like Markdown or MDX into a structured CMS.
  • When you need to perform a complex data transformation and cleanup during an import.
  • When you need to ensure data integrity through validation checks and delta syncs.

Advantages

  • Reduces risk by mandating planning and validation steps before execution.
  • Promotes repeatable migrations through script-based ETL patterns.
  • Ensures content is modeled for Sanity's capabilities rather than just copied.
  • Provides clear paths for handling complex data like rich text and assets.
  • Supports iterative development through deterministic ID management.

Usage examples

“I need to migrate my site from Contentful to Sanity. Where do I start?”
The agent will guide you through the Contentful-specific extraction process, help you plan your content mapping, and suggest using the contentful-to-sanity toolkit for an initial pass.
“How should I handle AEM content fragments during a migration?”
The agent will provide instructions on using AEM GraphQL to extract fragments and mapping them to Sanity document types or page builder blocks.
“Create a migration plan for my WordPress site.”
The agent will outline the steps to export WXR data, map WordPress posts to Sanity schemas, convert HTML to Portable Text, and set up redirects.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/sanity-io/sanity-migration/download

  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip sanity-migration.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Sanity

Sanity Migration

Use this skill for CMS-to-Sanity migration work. Treat migration as a content strategy and ETL project, not a blind lift-and-shift.

Required Workflow

  1. Read references/general.md first.

  2. If the source platform is known, also read its guide:

    • AEM / Adobe Experience Manager: references/aem.md

    • Contentful: references/contentful.md

    • Strapi: references/strapi.md

    • Webflow: references/webflow.md

    • WordPress / WXR / Elementor: references/wordpress.md

    • Payload: references/payload.md

    • Drupal: references/drupal.md

    • Markdown / MDX / frontmatter files: references/markdown.md

  3. Before writing code, produce a short migration plan covering source access, content scope, schema decisions, extraction, transformation, import, validation, redirects, and cutover.

  4. Prefer deterministic, repeatable scripts for real migrations. Write and review migration scripts, mappings, and validation checks; do not rely on one-off content operations for large content volumes.

Deliverables to Produce

For implementation or planning tasks, produce these artifacts or explain why they are not needed:

  • Content inventory: source types, counts, locales, status/draft scope, assets, and relationship types.

  • Source-to-Sanity mapping: document types, object types, references, Portable Text fields, asset fields, IDs, and skipped content.

  • Extraction approach: credentials/access needed, API/export commands, raw snapshot location, and known blind spots.

  • Transform/import plan: deterministic IDs, write order, asset handling, rich text conversion, validation, and rerun strategy.

  • Cutover plan: delta sync/content freeze, redirects, broken-link checks, SEO metadata, and manual cleanup.

Defaults

  • Use stable document IDs derived from source IDs, slugs, paths, or hashes.

  • Use createOrReplace, createIfNotExists, or sanity datasets import --replace so reruns converge.

  • Snapshot extracted source data to disk before transforming it.

  • Import or create referenced documents before documents that reference them.

  • Convert rich text to Portable Text instead of storing raw HTML or Markdown strings.

  • Upload assets to Sanity or the Media Library; do not leave production content dependent on legacy CDN URLs.

  • Track per-document quality issues and produce a validation summary before cutover.

  • Preserve legacy URLs and source IDs for redirects, QA, and future debugging.

Sanity Guardrails

  • Model what content is, not how the old site rendered it.

  • Use documents for reusable or independently managed entities; use objects for content owned by one document.

  • Use defineType, defineField, and defineArrayMember if authoring Sanity schemas.

  • Use image/file fields with uploaded Sanity assets or Media Library assets, not legacy CDN URLs.

  • Use Portable Text arrays for rich text and custom blocks; do not store raw HTML as the canonical body.

  • Run schema extraction and TypeGen after schema or GROQ query changes when the project uses TypeScript.

  • Deploy or apply schema changes before using MCP/content tools against the target dataset.

For deeper Sanity implementation guidance, use sanity-best-practices if it is already available. If it is not installed, tell the user they can add it with:

npx skills add sanity-io/agent-toolkit --skill sanity-best-practices

Stop and Ask

Stop before coding when any of these are unclear:

  • Source access path, credentials, export file, or database connection.

  • Target Sanity project/dataset or whether a scratch dataset should be used.

  • Draft, archived, scheduled, locale, or version history scope.

  • Whether media files should be migrated and whether asset URLs/files are accessible.

  • Whether the destination schema exists or should be designed as part of the migration.

Do Not Do This

  • Do not create random IDs for source-backed documents.

  • Do not fetch-then-create referenced documents; use deterministic IDs and createIfNotExists/createOrReplace.

  • Do not run bulk migrations through MCP content tools when NDJSON or scripts are appropriate.

  • Do not flatten locale fallback values into translations unless requested.

  • Do not leave TODOs for required media, authors, references, or rich text conversion.

  • Do not declare a migration done without count checks, sample checks, reference checks, and route/redirect checks.

Reference Map

Use references/general.md for shared migration principles and the platform references for source-specific extraction routes, modeling traps, and validation checks.

For source systems not explicitly covered, apply references/general.md and adapt the closest platform pattern:

  • API-first CMSes: start from Contentful, Strapi, or Payload.

  • Monolithic/page-builder systems: start from WordPress, Drupal, Webflow, or AEM.

  • HTML-heavy exports: start from the WordPress and Webflow rich-text guidance.

  • Markdown-first sources: start from references/markdown.md.

Files

references/webflow.md

Webflow to Sanity

What to Determine First

Before writing migration code, determine:

  • Which content lives in Webflow CMS collections and which content exists only in static pages.

  • Whether CSV export, Webflow Data API access, or static HTML export is available.

  • Whether the site uses Webflow Components, component variants, symbols, or repeated section patterns.

  • Which collection references and multi-references exist.

  • Whether assets are public on Webflow CDN and must be moved before cutover.

  • Which slugs and routes need to stay stable for SEO.

Extraction Paths

Use different extraction paths for CMS content and static pages:

  • CMS collections: export each collection as CSV or use the Webflow API if available. CSV is often sufficient and easy to audit.

  • References: Webflow reference fields commonly export IDs. Build lookup maps from item IDs to target Sanity document IDs.

  • Static pages: export HTML and analyze page sections separately from CMS collection data.

  • Components: inventory components in the Webflow designer before relying on HTML export; exported HTML does not preserve component intent.

  • Assets: collect asset URLs from CSV fields, rich text HTML, static page HTML, CSS, and Open Graph metadata.

Do not reorganize a live Webflow CMS just to make export cleaner. Audit and clean exported files instead.

Mapping to Sanity

  • Webflow collections usually become Sanity document types.

  • Webflow references and multi-references become Sanity references.

  • Webflow rich text fields become Portable Text.

  • Webflow image/file fields become Sanity image/file fields.

  • Static pages can become singleton documents, semantic document types, or page documents with a page builder array.

  • Webflow components and repeated section patterns can inform page builder object types, but avoid copying visual class names into schema names.

  • Use singleton documents with fixed IDs for unique pages that do not belong in a collection.

Transformation Notes

  • Normalize CSV values before import: empty columns, inconsistent taxonomy spellings, boolean-like strings, and duplicate slugs.

  • Build a Webflow item ID to Sanity ID lookup before resolving references.

  • Convert rich text HTML with explicit image/link handling.

  • Upload or import assets before document import, then replace Webflow CDN URLs with Sanity asset references.

  • For static pages, identify section patterns first, then design Sanity objects. Ask what fields editors need to manage, not what CSS classes exist.

  • Use variant fields only when variants are editorially meaningful and stable, such as tone, emphasis, or layoutIntent.

Import Order

  1. Export and clean CMS collection CSVs.

  2. Import leaf collections first: categories, tags, authors, locations, or other records referenced by others.

  3. Import dependent collections using the Webflow item ID -> Sanity document ID lookup.

  4. Migrate assets and replace Webflow CDN URLs in rich text and image/file fields.

  5. Analyze static HTML and component inventory, then migrate singleton pages or page builder documents.

Static Page and Page Builder Workflow

Before analyzing exported static HTML, inventory Webflow Components in the designer:

  • Component name.

  • Variants.

  • Pages where each component appears.

  • Whether the component represents reusable content, layout only, or a one-off section.

This inventory is not recoverable from exported HTML. Use it alongside static page HTML when designing Sanity page builder objects.

Analyze pages in this order:

  1. Identify distinct section patterns before writing schemas.

  2. Group visually similar structures and note where variants differ.

  3. Decide whether each pattern is a page builder object, a singleton page field, a reference to a reusable document, or frontend-only layout.

  4. Add variant fields only for stable editorial choices; do not encode CSS classes as schema names.

Singleton examples: homePage, aboutPage, pricingPage, contactPage.

A useful analysis prompt for agents:

Identify all distinct content section patterns in this Webflow HTML. Group visually similar structures together, note where variants differ, and propose semantic Sanity fields for each section. Do not copy CSS class names into schema names.

Cutover

Build a URL map before launch:

  • Export/crawl every old Webflow route, including CMS item pages and static pages.

  • Map unchanged slugs 1:1 where possible.

  • Create 301 redirects for renamed, consolidated, or retired pages.

  • Check sitemap, canonical URLs, Open Graph images, and high-value inbound links.

Missing redirects are the most common Webflow-to-Sanity SEO regression.

Gotchas

  • Webflow HTML export loses component metadata, variants, and designer intent.

  • Webflow CMS reference fields can export opaque IDs; do not assume names or slugs are enough for reliable joins.

  • Rich text exports as HTML strings and may include embedded Webflow-specific markup.

  • Webflow-hosted assets can break after cutover. Do not leave production content dependent on Webflow CDN URLs.

  • Webflow forms, interactions, memberships, ecommerce, and custom code often require separate frontend or service replacement.

  • Static pages may contain content that should become structured documents rather than page builder sections.

Validation Checklist

  • Compare CSV row counts to Webflow collection item counts.

  • Confirm every reference and multi-reference field resolves to a Sanity reference.

  • Spot-check rich text fields with links, images, lists, and embeds.

  • Confirm all Webflow CDN asset URLs have Sanity replacements or intentional external handling.

  • Review the component inventory with a human before finalizing page builder schemas.

  • Crawl old Webflow URLs and verify new pages or 301 redirects.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs Node.js

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

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Attribution and licence

Published by
Sanity
Publisher
Sanity (Official)
Source
sanity-io/agent-toolkit · skills/sanity-migration · commit 3ed3a14
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
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Download ZIP

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