Content management is evolving. The traditional monolithic CMS approach gives way to headless architectures where content management and presentation are disconnected. This shift brings new challenges, especially when organizations need to migrate from older systems to modern headless platforms.
Our team came across this scenario when we created a migration path from Drupal to Storyblock. These systems handle content architecture completely different-drupal uses a device field model integrated with PHP, while Storyblock uses a flexible stories and blocks structure designed for headless delivery.
If you just need to use a script to make a single-but still expandable content migration from Drupal to Storyblock, I have already shared step-by-step instructions on how to download and use it. If you are interested in the process of creating such a script so you can write your own (possibly) better version, stay here!
We observed that developers sometimes struggle with manual content transfers and custom scripts when migrating between CMSS. This led us to develop and share our migration method, which we implemented as an open source tool that others could use as a reference to their migration needs.
Our solution combines two main components: a custom drub command that handles content mapping and transformation and a new PHP client to Storyblok Management API that utilizes modern language features for improved developer experience.
We explore the technical decisions behind this tool’s development, explore our architectural choices, and how we addressed the real world’s migration challenges using modern PHP practices.
Note: You can find the complete source code for the migration tool in the Drupal Export repo.
Planning of the migration architecture
The journey from Drupal to the story block presents unique architectural challenges. The basic difference lies in how these systems conceptualize content: Drupal structures content such as units with fields, while Storyblock uses a component -based approach with stories and blocks.
Initial collar analysis
A successful migration tool must understand both systems intimately. Drupal’s content model is highly dependent on its entity API and stores content as structured field collections within devices. A typical Drupal article may contain fields for title, body content, images and taxonomies. Story block structures, on the other hand, content such as stories containing blocks, recyclable components that can be embedded and arranged in a flexible way. It is a subtle difference that shaped our technical requirements, especially around content mapping and data transformation, but in the end it is easy to see the relationship between the two content models.
Technical restrictions
Early in development, we identified several key limitations. Storyblok Management API enforces interest limits that affect how quickly we can transfer content. Media assets must first be uploaded and then linked. Error recovery becomes important when migrating hundreds of content pieces.
The brand new management API PHP client handles these limitations through built-in experimental mechanisms and response validation, so by writing a migration script we don’t have to worry about them.
Selection of tools
We chose Drub as our command line interface for several reasons. First, it is deeply integrated with the Drupal bootstrap process that provides direct access to Entity API and field data. Secondly, Drupal developers are already familiar with their conventions, making our tools more accessible.
The decision to develop a new Management API client Came from our experience with the development of PHP since we developed the first PHP client and our goal of giving developers a dedicated tool for this specific API that offered an improved DX and a tailor -made set of features.
This basic work shaped how we approached the migration work.
The building blocks: a new management API client
A content migration tool interacts strongly with Storyblok Management API & MDASH, creates stories, uploads assets and manages tags. Each operation must be reliable and predictable. Our brand new client simplifies these interactions through intuitive method calls: The client handles approval, request formatting and response that analyzes behind the scenes lets DEVS focus on content operations rather than API mechanics.
Design for reliability
Content migrations often involve hundreds of API calls. Our client includes built -in mechanisms for handling ordinary scenarios such as ratly limiting and unsuccessful requests. The response management pattern provides clear feedback on operating success: A logger can be injected into the client class, which we did with the help of the Drub log in our Migration Script from Drupal.
Improving the development experience
In addition to basic API operations, the client reduces cognitive load through predictable patterns. Data objects provide a structured way of preparing content for Storyblock: This pattern validates data early in the process and catches potential problems before reaching API.
Design of migration work
Moving from Drupal’s device -based structure to storyblox Component model Required careful planning of the migration work. Our goal was to create a process that would be both reliable and adaptable to different content structures.
Command structure
Migration exploits Drupals Device request System to extract content systematically. By default Access control was disabled (a reversible business decision) to focus solely on migration published nodes.
Key steps and insights
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Text fields
- Required minimal effort: values ​​that
value()Mapped directly to Storyblock fields. - Rich text made up no coding challenges, which enables straightforward 1: 1 transfers.
- Required minimal effort: values ​​that
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Handling pictures
- Upload: Assets were sent to an AWS S3 bucket.
- Connection: Storyblox Asset API
upload()Method returned oneobject_idSimplification of field mapping. - Assigned: Asset -id and file name were attached to the story.
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Handling of tags
- Brands that were extracted from Drupal were pre -created via storyblox Take API (Optional but ensures consistency).
- When assigning tags to stories, Storyblock automatically creates missing and streamline the process.
Why staged workflows mean something
Migration avoids broken references by prioritizing dependencies (assets first, tags next, content last). While pre-creation of tags adds control, Keep can customize this logic-for example to allow Storyblock Auto-Generate tags to save time.
Flexibility is key: Each decision (access control, tag workflows) can be adjusted to adapt to the project goals.
Real implementing challenges
Migrating content between drupal and story block presents challenges that you as implements can encounter.
For example, when dealing with large data sets, you may find that Drupal sites with thousands of nodes can quickly hit the rate boundaries enforced by Storyblok Management API. In such cases, a batch mechanism for your requests is worth considering. Instead of treating each knot at once, you can treat a subgroup of items, wait for a short period of time and then continue.
Alternatively you can use createBulk Method of history API in the Management API, which allows you to handle multiple historical creations with built -in speed limit handling and trials. Another potential obstacle is the conversion of complex field types, especially when Drupal’s embedded structures or section fields must be mapped to Storyblok’s more flexible block -based model.
One approach is to first analyze the rescue depth and the structure of the drupal content and then flatten deeply embedded elements of recyclable story block components while maintaining the correct hierarchy. For example, a paragraph Field with embedded media and text can be divided into blocks in the story block, where each component represents a logical part of the content. By structuring data in this way before migration, you ensure that the content remains edible and properly structured in the new system.
Data Consistence is another aspect that you need to manage carefully. When migrating hundreds of items, partial errors are always risky. An approach to managing this is to log detailed information to each migration operation and implement a sample extraction mechanism for unsuccessful operations.
E.g. Wrapping the API call in an try-catch Block and logging errors can be a practical way to make sure no items are silently lost. When dealing with fields such as taxonomy or tags created on the go in the story block, you can run into double problems. A good practice is to perform a check before creating a new roof. This may involve maintaining a local cache of previously created tags and control against them before sending a request for a request to API.
The same goes for images; A control can ensure that you do not upload the same asset twice.
Experience and looking forward
ONE Dedicated API client For Storyblock streamlined interactions, backend -complexity abstracting while improving code maintenance. Early use of Structured data objects To prepare content, proved critical, enabling preventative error detection and reduction of API errors.
We also ran into some challenges and see room for improvement:
- Coding problems In rich text (eg, HTML devices) were resolved with a pre-processing step
- Performance bottlenecks With great text/images required memory optimization and refined request for handling
Improvements may include support for Drupal Layout BuilderAdvanced validation layers or dynamic capital management systems.
💡 For deeper dives into our management API client or migration strategies, reach out via discord, explore the PHP clientrepo or connect me to Mastodon. Feedback and contributions are welcome!
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