**Version:** 2.0.0 **Updated:** 2026-06-30 **Freshly updated:** v2.0.0 wires in current Respira safety and precision. Pre-migration now inventories source pages with `respira_find_builder_targets`. Every write is preceded by a `respira_get_snapshot`, and the existing
Installs just this skill. Get the whole plugin for auto-invocation.
⚡ How it fires
How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.
Fires itselfClaude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.
You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
Slash command/migrate-wpbakery-to-bricks
👁️ Context preview
The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.
**Version:** 2.0.0 **Updated:** 2026-06-30 **Freshly updated:** v2.0.0 wires in current Respira safety and precision. Pre-migration now inventories source pages with `respira_find_builder_targets`. Every write is preceded by a `respira_get_snapshot`, and the existing
# Migrate WPBakery to Bricks
**Version:** 2.0.0
**Updated:** 2026-06-30
**Freshly updated:** v2.0.0 wires in current Respira safety and precision. Pre-migration now inventories source pages with `respira_find_builder_targets`. Every write is preceded by a `respira_get_snapshot`, and the existing draft-duplicate path is kept. After the first `respira_inject_builder_content`, validation issues (collapsed column widths from fraction conversion, broken parent refs, misdecoded Design Options) are corrected surgically with `respira_find_element` + `respira_update_element` (and `respira_batch_update` for multi-element or multi-page fixes) instead of re-injecting whole pages. Snapshot restore and draft deletion are now explicit rollback paths. Reflects the current 16 supported builders.
Converts WPBakery Page Builder pages to Bricks Builder. Parses WPBakery's shortcode-based content from post_content, maps each element to its Bricks equivalent, generates a migration plan for approval, and writes clean Bricks JSON to the target pages. Use this skill whenever someone wants to move from WPBakery to Bricks, modernize an older WPBakery site with Bricks, or switch page builders from WPBakery/Visual Composer to Bricks.
## What This Skill Does
WPBakery is one of the most common legacy page builders — it comes bundled with thousands of ThemeForest themes and millions of sites still use it. Moving to Bricks is a significant modernization: from shortcode-based content in `post_content` to clean JSON in `_bricks_page_content_2`, from heavy frontend CSS/JS to Bricks' lightweight rendering, and from an aging interface to a modern visual editor.
This skill handles the format translation — parsing WPBakery's `[vc_*]` shortcodes, decoding its URL encoding and Design Options CSS, and generating proper Bricks JSON with correct element hierarchies and settings.
**Handles:**
- el_class/el_id → Bricks custom CSS classes and attributes
**Preserves:**
- All text content and HTML formatting
- Image URLs, alt text, captions
- Typography where explicitly set
- Color values from Design Options
- Spacing from Design Options
- Background colors and images
- Button labels, URLs, targets
- Video embed URLs
- Gallery image sets
- CSS classes (el_class) and IDs (el_id)
## What This Skill Does NOT Do
- **Theme-bundled custom elements** — Many ThemeForest themes add custom WPBakery elements (team member, portfolio, testimonial, pricing, etc.). These are theme-specific shortcodes with no Bricks equivalent. They are flagged for manual recreation.
- **WPBakery addons** — Ultimate Addons for WPBakery, Starter Templates, Starter Sites, and other addon plugins add proprietary elements that cannot be auto-mapped.
- **vc_grid/vc_masonry_grid** — Post grid elements with complex queries. These need Bricks' Query Loop or posts element configured manually.
- **Revolution Slider / Layer Slider** — Often bundled with WPBakery themes but are separate plugins outside migration scope.
- **Complex Design Options** — WPBakery encodes CSS in a single attribute string. Background gradients, complex border configurations, and CSS filters may be partially extracted.
- **Frontend editor positioning** — Pixel-precise layouts from WPBakery's frontend editor may need spacing adjustment.
- **Templates** — WPBakery saved templates are not auto-converted to Bricks templates.
## Requirements
- Respira for WordPress plugin installed and connected
- MCP connection active (desktop or WebMCP)
- WPBakery Page Builder plugin active (to ensure shortcodes are parseable)
- Bricks theme installed and active (to write target content)
- Read access to scan WPBakery content
- Write access to create duplicates with Bricks content
## Trigger Phrase
- "migrate wpbakery to bricks"
## Alternative Triggers
- "convert wpbakery to bricks"
- "switch from wpbakery to bricks"
- "migrate visual composer to bricks"
- "rebuild wpbakery pages in bricks"
- "move from wpbakery to bricks"
- "replace wpbakery with bricks"
- "modernize visual composer site"
## Source Builder: WPBakery
WPBakery stores content as shortcodes in `post_content`:
Write Bricks content via `respira_inject_builder_content` with `builder=bricks`.
## Execution Workflow
### Phase 1: Pre-Migration Audit
1. Verify Respira + MCP connection via `respira_get_site_context`. If unavailable, stop and show setup guidance.
2. Confirm WPBakery is active via `respira_list_plugins`.
3. Confirm Bricks theme is installed via `respira_get_site_context`.
4. Identify active theme — note if it bundles WPBakery and adds custom elements.
5. Inventory and scope the source pages with `respira_find_builder_targets` (builder=wpbakery) — this gives a fast, ranked list of every WPBakery-built page/post before you touch anything. Fall back to `respira_list_pages` / `respira_list_posts` + `respira_get_builder_info` to confirm builder per item where needed.
6. Extract content via `respira_extract_builder_content` with `builder=wpbakery`
7. Build inventory:
- Total WPBakery pages/posts
- Element types (frequency count)
- Theme-bundled custom elements (flagged)
- Addon elements (flagged)
- Grid/masonry elements (flagged)
- Design Options complexity
- Inner row nesting depth
- Complexity per page
### Phase 2: Migration Plan
```
## WPBakery → Bricks Migration Plan
### Modernization Context
This migration moves your site from legacy shortcode-based content to Bricks'
modern JSON format. Expect significantly faster page loads and a much better
editing experience. Bricks also means switching your theme — plan for header,
footer, and template setup.
### Theme-Bundled Elements
[If applicable]: Your theme ([name]) bundles WPBakery and adds X custom
elements. These cannot be auto-migrated and are flagged below.
- Generate unique IDs and proper parent references
- Flag unmappable elements
4. Create duplicate via `respira_create_page_duplicate` or `respira_create_post_duplicate`
5. Before writing, take a snapshot with `respira_get_snapshot` so the duplicate's pre-write state can be restored if anything goes wrong
6. Write Bricks JSON via `respira_inject_builder_content` with `builder=bricks`
7. Surgical fix pass — if the injected page has validation issues (column widths that collapsed during fraction conversion, broken parent refs, an element whose Design Options decoded wrong), do not re-inject the whole page. Locate the specific element with `respira_find_element` and correct it with `respira_update_element`. For repeated fixes across many elements or several pages, batch them with `respira_batch_update`
8. Report status
### Phase 4: Post-Migration Verification
1. Summarize migrations:
- Pages migrated, elements created, items flagged
2. For each migrated page:
- Link to Bricks editor
- Flagged items
- Design Options notes (what was extracted vs. simplified)
3. Post-migration checklist:
- [ ] Open each duplicate in Bricks editor
- [ ] Verify section/container layout structure
- [ ] Check column widths match intended proportions
- [ ] Verify images load (attachment ID resolution)
- [ ] Test button links (URL decoding)
- [ ] Check responsive views
- [ ] Recreate theme-bundled custom elements
- [ ] Set up Bricks templates for header/footer/archive
- [ ] Review gallery and carousel elements
- [ ] Compare with WPBakery original
- [ ] Celebrate the speed improvement
## Safety Model
- Read-only analysis first — full content scan before any changes
- Explicit user confirmation required before creating duplicates
- Original WPBakery pages are never modified or deleted
- All migrated content goes to draft duplicates only
- Never auto-publishes migrated pages
- Snapshot before every write — `respira_get_snapshot` captures the duplicate's pre-write state, and `respira_restore_snapshot` rolls it back if an injection goes wrong
- Two explicit rollback paths: restore the snapshot to revert a bad write, or delete the draft duplicates entirely to undo the migration
- Warns about theme-bundled element dependencies
## Honest Disclaimer
This skill converts WPBakery page content to Bricks format and creates draft duplicates for review.
It cannot:
- Convert theme-bundled custom WPBakery elements
- Migrate WPBakery addon plugin elements
- Perfectly extract all Design Options CSS
- Convert post grids to Bricks Query Loop automatically
- Handle Revolution Slider or other bundled plugins
- Replace visual QA and manual review
It can:
- Convert 75-90% of standard WPBakery elements to Bricks equivalents
- Parse and decode WPBakery's CSS and URL encoding
- Handle nested inner row/column structures
- Resolve image attachment IDs to proper URLs
- Modernize legacy content to Bricks' clean JSON format
- Dramatically improve page load performance
- Keep original pages completely safe
## Tooling
**Core WordPress tools**
- `respira_get_site_context`
- `respira_list_plugins`
- `respira_list_pages`
- `respira_list_posts`
- `respira_read_page`
- `respira_read_post`
- `respira_get_builder_info`
- `respira_extract_builder_content`
- `respira_inject_builder_content`
- `respira_find_builder_targets`
- `respira_create_page_duplicate`
- `respira_create_post_duplicate`
**Safety and surgical-fix tools**
- `respira_get_snapshot`
- `respira_restore_snapshot`
- `respira_find_element`
- `respira_update_element`
- `respira_batch_update`
## Telemetry
After run completion, send fire-and-forget usage tracking to:
