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If you’re switching to Jekyll from another blogging system, Jekyll’s migrators can help you with the move. Most methods listed on this page require read access to the database to generate posts from your old system. Each method generates .markdown posts in the _posts directory based on the entries in the database.
Preparing for migrations
The migrators are built-in to the Jekyll gem, and require a few things to be set up in your project directory before they are run. This should all be done from the root folder of your Jekyll project.
{% highlight bash %} $ mkdir _import $ gem install sequel mysqlplus {% endhighlight %}
You should now be all set to run the migrators below.
Note: Always double-check migrated content
Import scripts may not distinguish between published or private posts, so you should always check that the content Jekyll generates for you appears as you intended.
WordPress
Wordpress export files
If hpricot is not already installed, you will need to run gem install hpricot. Next, export your blog using the Wordpress export utility. Assuming that exported file is saved as wordpress.xml, here is the command you need to run:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/wordpressdotcom"; Jekyll::WordpressDotCom.process("wordpress.xml")' {% endhighlight %}
ProTip™: Wordpress.com Export Tool
If you are migrating from a Wordpress.com account, you can access the export tool at the following URL: `https://YOUR-USER-NAME.wordpress.com/wp-admin/export.php`.
Using Wordpress MySQL server connection
If you want to import using a direct connection to the Wordpress MySQL server, here's how:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/wordpress"; Jekyll::WordPress.process("database", "user", "pass")' {% endhighlight %}
If you are using Webfaction and have to set an SSH tunnel, make sure to make the hostname (127.0.0.1) explicit, otherwise MySQL may block your access based on localhost and 127.0.0.1 not being equivalent in its authentication system:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/wordpress"; Jekyll::WordPress.process("database", "user", "pass", "127.0.0.1")' {% endhighlight %}
Further Wordpress migration alternatives
While the above methods work, they do not import much of the metadata that is usually stored in Wordpress posts and pages. If you need to export things like pages, tags, custom fields, image attachments and so on, the following resources might be useful to you:
- Exitwp is a configurable tool written in Python for migrating one or more Wordpress blogs into Jekyll (Markdown) format while keeping as much metadata as possible. Exitwp also downloads attachments and pages.
- A great article with a step-by-step guide for migrating a Wordpress blog to Jekyll while keeping most of the structure and metadata.
- wpXml2Jekyll is an executable windows application for creating Markdown posts from your Wordpress XML file.
Drupal
If you’re migrating from Drupal, there is a migrator for you too:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/drupal"; Jekyll::Drupal.process("database", "user", "pass")' {% endhighlight %}
Warning: Drupal Version Compatibility
This migrator was written for Drupal 6.1 and may not work as expected on future versions of Drupal. Please update it and send us a pull request if necessary.
Movable Type
To import posts from Movable Type:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/mt"; Jekyll::MT.process("database", "user", "pass")' {% endhighlight %}
Typo
To import posts from Typo:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/typo"; Jekyll::Typo.process("database", "user", "pass")' {% endhighlight %}
This code also has only been tested with Typo version 4+.
TextPattern
To import posts from TextPattern:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/textpattern"; Jekyll::TextPattern.process("database_name", "username", "password", "hostname")' {% endhighlight %}
You will need to run the above from the parent directory of your _import folder. For example, if _import is located in /path/source/_import, you will need to run this code from /path/source. The hostname defaults to localhost, all other variables are required. You may need to adjust the code used to filter entries. Left alone, it will attempt to pull all entries that are live or sticky.
Mephisto
To import posts from Mephisto:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/mephisto"; Jekyll::Mephisto.process("database", "user", "password")' {% endhighlight %}
If your data is in Postgres, you should do this instead:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/mephisto"; Jekyll::Mephisto.postgres({:database => "database", :username=>"username", :password =>"password"})' {% endhighlight %}
Blogger (Blogspot)
To import posts from Blogger, see this post about migrating from Blogger to Jekyll. If that doesn’t work for you, you might want to try some of the following alternatives:
- @kennym created a little migration script, because the solutions in the previous article didn't work out for him.
- @ngauthier created another importer that imports comments, and does so via blogger’s archive instead of the RSS feed.
- @juniorz created yet another importer that works for Octopress. It is like @ngauthier’s version but separates drafts from posts, as well as importing tags and permalinks.
Posterous
To import posts from your primary Posterous blog:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/posterous"; Jekyll::Posterous.process("my_email", "my_pass")' {% endhighlight %}
For any other Posterous blog on your account, you will need to specify the blog_id for the blog:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/posterous"; Jekyll::Posterous.process("my_email", "my_pass", "blog_id")' {% endhighlight %}
There is also an alternative Posterous migrator that maintains permalinks and attempts to import images too.
Tumblr
To import posts from Tumblr:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/tumblr"; Jekyll::Tumblr.process("http://www.your_blog_url.com", true)' {% endhighlight %}
There is also a modified Tumblr migrator that exports posts as Markdown and preserves post tags.
The migrator above requires the json gem and Python's html2text to be installed as follows:
{% highlight bash %} $ gem install json $ pip install html2text {% endhighlight %}
Once installed, simply use the format argument:
{% highlight bash %} $ ruby -rubygems -e 'require "jekyll/migrators/tumblr"; Jekyll::Tumblr.process("http://www.your_blog_url.com", format="md")' {% endhighlight %}
Other Systems
If you have a system that there isn’t currently a migrator for, you should consider writing one and sending us a pull request.