Making the Switch: Your Complete Guide to Craft CMS Migration and Team Onboarding in 2025

Craft CMS has earned its reputation as the developer's choice for content management. Version 5, released in 2024, brings even more performance improvements and modern features to the table. But here's the thing about migrations – they can feel overwhelming. You're not just moving content; you're potentially changing how your entire team works with your website.

This guide walks you through both sides of the equation: the technical migration process and the human side of getting your team up to speed. We'll cover everything from your initial assessment to that satisfying moment when everyone's working smoothly in their new environment.

Why Craft CMS Makes Sense for Your Next Migration

Before diving into the how-to, let's talk about why Craft CMS has become such a popular migration destination. Unlike platforms that try to be everything to everyone, Craft focuses on giving you complete control over your content structure and presentation.

The performance benefits are immediate and noticeable. Craft's lean core means fewer security vulnerabilities and faster load times. You're not dealing with the plugin bloat that often slows down WordPress.

From a developer perspective, Craft's modern PHP foundation and Composer-based architecture integrate seamlessly with contemporary development workflows. Your team can use Git for version control, implement proper staging environments, and deploy with confidence.

For content editors, the admin interface is intuitive without being restrictive. The live preview feature alone often wins over editorial teams who are tired of publishing content blind.

Planning Your Craft CMS Migration Strategy: The Foundation of Success

Every successful migration starts with thorough planning. You need to understand exactly what you're working with before you can map out where it's going.

Start by creating a complete inventory of your current site. List every page, blog post, custom content type, and piece of media. Don't forget about things like contact forms, user accounts, and any custom functionality provided by plugins. This inventory becomes your migration checklist – nothing should go live until everything on this list has been accounted for.

Next, audit your plugins and custom features. Some functionality might translate directly to Craft's built-in capabilities. For example, if you're using Advanced Custom Fields in WordPress, those custom fields can be replicated natively in Craft without any plugins. Other features might require Craft plugins or custom development.

Take this opportunity to clean house. Every migration is a chance to remove unused plugins, delete old draft content, and simplify your content structure. The cleaner your current site, the smoother your migration will be.

Setting Up Your Craft CMS Development Environment

Getting Craft CMS running locally is straightforward, especially if your team is already comfortable with modern PHP development practices. The system requirements are reasonable – PHP 8 or higher, a MySQL or PostgreSQL database, and Composer for dependency management.

Installation through Composer is the recommended approach:

composer create-project craftcms/craft my-project

This command creates a new Craft project with all the necessary files and dependencies. Configure your `.env` file with your database credentials and other environment-specific settings. For local development, tools like Laravel Valet, MAMP, or DDEV can get you running quickly.

Once you can access the Craft control panel at `/admin`, you're ready to start modeling your content structure.

Content Modeling Best Practices: Thinking in Craft Terms

One of Craft's strengths is its flexible approach to content modeling. Instead of being locked into predefined structures, you define exactly what fields and content types you need.

Sections in Craft are similar to post types in WordPress – they're containers for related content. You might have sections for blog posts, case studies, team members, or landing pages. Within each section, you can define entry types that determine the available fields and layout options.

Fields are where Craft really shines. Instead of relying on plugins for custom fields, Craft includes a comprehensive set of field types out of the box. Text, rich text, images, matrices for flexible content blocks, relationships between entries – it's all built in.

Take time to map your existing content structure to Craft's approach. A WordPress site with custom post types and ACF fields translates quite naturally, but the process of thinking through your content model often reveals opportunities for improvement.

Step-by-Step Migration Process: Getting Your Content Moved Efficiently

With your content model defined in Craft, you're ready to move your actual content. The approach you take depends on your source platform and the complexity of your content.

For WordPress migrations, the wp-import CLI tool is often the fastest path forward. This Composer package can handle WordPress XML exports automatically, mapping posts to entries, categories to Craft categories, and even custom fields to Craft fields. The command is straightforward:

php craft wp-import/path/to/your-export.xml

The tool handles user accounts, media files, and relationships between content automatically. For most WordPress sites, this covers 80% of the migration work.

For more complex scenarios or non-WordPress platforms, the Feed Me plugin provides fine-grained control over the import process. You can prepare CSV or XML files for each content type and use Feed Me's interface to map fields precisely. This approach takes more setup time but gives you complete control over how data is transformed during import.

Custom migration scripts are worth considering for unique requirements. Craft's migration API lets you write PHP scripts that can transform data during import, handle complex relationships, or integrate with external APIs. These scripts live in your project's `migrations/` directory and can be version controlled alongside your code.

Whatever import method you choose, always test on a staging environment first. Import a subset of your content, verify that everything looks correct, and have your content team review the results before running the full migration.

Developer Team Onboarding for Craft CMS Projects

Getting your developers productive in Craft requires a different approach than onboarding content editors. Developers need to understand the architecture, templating system, and development workflow.

Start with environment consistency. Use Docker, DDEV, or another containerization approach to ensure everyone's local environment matches staging and production. This eliminates the "works on my machine" problems that can derail a migration project.

Craft's Project Config feature is crucial for developer onboarding. This system stores your content model, field definitions, and other configuration in version-controllable YAML files. When a developer pulls the latest code and runs `php craft project-config/apply`, their local environment automatically matches the current configuration.

Template development in Craft uses Twig, which might be new to developers coming from PHP-based themes in WordPress. Twig's syntax is approachable, but it represents a different way of thinking about templates. Plan for some learning time and consider pair programming sessions to share knowledge across the team.

Document your content model thoroughly. Create a reference that explains each section, entry type, and field. Include code examples showing how to output each field type in templates. This documentation becomes invaluable as the project grows and new developers join the team.

Content Editor Training: Streamlining the Editorial Workflow

Content editors need a completely different onboarding experience. They don't care about the technical architecture – they want to know how to create and update content efficiently.

Start with role-based permissions. Craft's user management system lets you create groups with specific permissions. Editors might be able to create and edit entries but not change field definitions. Authors might only be able to work with their own content. Set these permissions up before the training begins.

Create step-by-step guides for common tasks. How do you add a new blog post? How do you update an existing page? How do you upload and manage images? These guides should include screenshots and be written in plain language.

The live preview feature in Craft is often the biggest selling point for content editors. Unlike WordPress, where you have to publish or preview in a separate tab, Craft shows you exactly how your content will look as you edit it. Make sure this feature is prominently highlighted in your training.

Consider creating video walkthroughs for complex workflows. Some editors learn better by watching than reading, and videos can capture the dynamic aspects of the interface that screenshots miss.

Progress tracking helps with adoption. Consider creating an onboarding checklist that editors can work through at their own pace. Items might include "Create your first blog post," "Upload and organize media files," and "Use live preview to review content before publishing."

Migration Testing and Quality Assurance: Making Sure Everything Works

Before going live, thorough testing ensures your migration was successful and your team is ready to work in the new system.

Content validation goes beyond checking that everything imported correctly. Test all the interactive features – contact forms, search functionality, user registration if applicable. Check that images display correctly and that all internal links still work.

Have your content team work through their typical workflows in the staging environment. Can they create the types of content they need? Are there any field types or features they're missing? This is your chance to address gaps before launch.

Performance testing is particularly important after a migration. Your new Craft site should be noticeably faster than your previous platform, but verify this with actual measurements. Test page load speeds, admin interface responsiveness, and any complex queries or reports.

User acceptance testing with a small group of actual editors can uncover usability issues that might not be obvious to developers or project managers. Give them real content to work with and observe how they navigate the interface.

Going Live with Your Craft CMS Website: Launch Day and Beyond

Launch day is just the beginning of your Craft CMS journey. Use Project Config to ensure your production environment exactly matches your staging setup. This eliminates configuration drift and makes deployments predictable.

Monitor your logs closely in the first few days after launch. Craft provides detailed logging that can help you identify and resolve any issues quickly. Pay particular attention to 404 errors, which might indicate broken internal links that need redirects.

Set up a feedback system for your content team. Even with thorough testing, people will discover preferences and workflows that could be improved. Creating a channel for this feedback – whether it's a shared document, help desk system, or regular check-in meetings – ensures these insights get captured and addressed.

Consider the migration complete when your team is working confidently in Craft and your site is performing better than before. This might take a few weeks as everyone gets comfortable with new workflows, but the investment in proper migration and onboarding pays dividends in the long run.

Craft CMS Migration Success: Building Long-Term Website Management Excellence

Technical migrations are ultimately about people – the developers who build and maintain the site, and the editors who create the content that drives your business. Success comes from addressing both the technical challenges and the human factors.

Start your migration planning early, involve your team in the process, and don't underestimate the importance of good documentation and training. Craft CMS provides a solid technical foundation, but your migration's success depends on how well you prepare your team to take advantage of it.

The investment in proper migration and onboarding processes pays long-term dividends in site performance, team productivity, and the flexibility to adapt as your needs evolve. Take the time to do it right, and you'll have a content management system that serves your organization well for years to come.