Import an existing site

menestrel import migrates an Astro site already in place. It scans src/content/ and src/data/, maps each file onto your schema, uploads images once per identical content, then creates and publishes the entries. Slugs are locked: production URLs do not move.

Note

Import maps onto an existing schema, it does not generate one. Describe your collections in cms.config.ts and have that schema reviewed before importing: it is the source of truth.

1. Describe the schema

   The skeleton produced by menestrel init is a good start. Adjust the fields so they match your frontmatter and your JSON files.

2. Preview without writing anything

   --dry-run scans, maps and counts degradations without touching the server or the media.

   npx menestrel import --dry-run

3. Run the import

   npx menestrel import --yes

   The import is resumable: if the process is interrupted, run it again, already-created entries are skipped and already-uploaded images are not sent twice.

What is carried over, what is not

• The Markdown body becomes a richtext field; a level-1 heading or a table is flagged then degraded, never lost silently.
• Relative images and those under /public are uploaded and deduplicated by checksum; the Markdown alt is kept.
• Import is single-locale (default locale). After import, the admin is the only source of truth: source files are never re-imported.

Once the site is migrated, menestrel export stays available at any time to get your content back as Markdown and JSON. See the CLI reference.