migrate-beaver-builder-to-bricks

Migrate Beaver Builder to Bricks

Version: 2.1.0 Updated: 2026-08-04 Freshly updated: v2.1.0 adds design-token awareness: conversion writes now register the colors and typography they carry as named design tokens in Bricks' own global styles, and converted pages reference those tokens instead of carrying value copies. Reuse registered tokens instead of re-inlining raw values, and report the registration in the migration summary.

Full-site migration from Beaver Builder to Bricks Builder. Audits every Beaver Builder page, maps modules to their Bricks equivalents, builds a migration plan for approval, and executes page-by-page conversion into Bricks' JSON format — all through duplicates so your live site stays untouched. Use this skill whenever someone mentions migrating from Beaver Builder to Bricks, switching from BB to Bricks, converting Beaver Builder pages to Bricks, or replacing Beaver Builder with Bricks.

What This Skill Does

Beaver Builder and Bricks are both visual page builders, but they differ significantly in architecture. Beaver Builder uses a module-based system with rows, columns, and modules stored in _fl_builder_data. Bricks uses a more modern, flexbox-first approach with sections, containers, and elements stored as a JSON array in _bricks_page_content_2. The migration requires translating BB's row/column grid into Bricks' container model and mapping each module to its Bricks element equivalent.

This skill reads every Beaver Builder page, extracts the module structure, translates each row/column/module to its Bricks equivalent, and writes the result to duplicate pages in Bricks format — giving you a complete parallel version of your site to review before going live.

Handles:

• Row → Bricks Section mapping
• Column structures → Bricks Container with flex layout
• Text Editor module → Bricks Text / Heading elements
• Photo module → Bricks Image element
• Button module → Bricks Button element
• Video module → Bricks Video element
• HTML module → Bricks Code element
• Heading module → Bricks Heading element
• Separator module → Bricks Divider element
• Icon module → Bricks Icon element
• Call to Action module → Bricks Container + child elements
• Custom CSS classes and inline styles

What This Skill Does NOT Do

• Migrate Beaver Builder's saved rows/modules library — these must be recreated in Bricks
• Convert Beaver Themer layouts (headers, footers, archives) — Bricks templates must be built separately
• Replicate exact Beaver Builder animations/effects — Bricks has its own interaction system
• Migrate third-party Beaver Builder add-on modules (PowerPack, UABB, etc.) — flagged for manual handling
• Convert BB's global rows to Bricks' template system — different architectural concept
• Guarantee pixel-perfect visual parity — different rendering engines produce different output

Requirements

• Respira for WordPress plugin installed and connected
• MCP connection active (desktop or WebMCP)
• Beaver Builder active on the source site
• Bricks Builder installed on the target site (can be the same site)
• Read access to scan Beaver Builder content
• Write access to create duplicates with Bricks content

Trigger Phrase

• "migrate beaver builder to bricks"

Alternative Triggers

• "convert beaver builder to bricks"
• "switch from bb to bricks"
• "move beaver builder pages to bricks"
• "replace beaver builder with bricks"
• "beaver builder to bricks migration"
• "migrate bb to bricks"

Builder Technical Context

Source: Beaver Builder

• Content stored in post_meta keys _fl_builder_data and _fl_builder_data_settings
• Module-based structure with rows → columns → modules hierarchy
• Read via respira_extract_builder_content with builder=beaver or builder=beaver-builder
• Module types: rich-text, photo, button, heading, html, video, icon, separator, callout, cta, numbers, content-slider, etc.

Target: Bricks Builder

• Content stored in post_meta key _bricks_page_content_2 as a JSON array
• Each element is an object with id, name, parent, settings, children
• Write via respira_inject_builder_content with builder=bricks
• Elements: section, container, heading, text, image, button, video, code, divider, icon, etc.

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. Detect Beaver Builder presence via respira_get_builder_info or respira_list_plugins.
3. Inventory and scope the source pages first:
   • respira_find_builder_targets with builder=beaver — a fast, ranked list of every BB-managed 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
4. For each BB page, extract content:
   • respira_extract_builder_content with builder=beaver
   • Catalog: module types used, row/column structures, custom CSS, third-party modules, saved rows/modules
5. Produce an Audit Report:
   • Total pages/posts using Beaver Builder
   • Module type frequency (how many text editors, photos, buttons, etc.)
   • Column layout patterns (common row structures)
   • Complexity flags (third-party modules, Beaver Themer, custom CSS, animations)
   • Estimated migration difficulty per page (simple / moderate / complex)

Phase 2: Migration Plan

Present a structured migration plan:

## Beaver Builder → Bricks Migration Plan

### Site Overview
- Total Beaver Builder pages: X
- Simple pages (direct mapping): X
- Moderate pages (some manual review needed): X
- Complex pages (significant manual work): X

### Module-to-Element Mapping
| BB Module | Bricks Element | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Row | Section | BB row maps to Bricks section |
| Column | Container | Flex-based layout in Bricks |
| Text Editor | Text / Heading | Content parsed into elements |
| Photo | Image | Direct mapping |
| Button | Button | Direct mapping |
| ... | ... | ... |

### Migration Order
1. [Page Title] — Simple — estimated 2 min
2. [Page Title] — Moderate — estimated 5 min
...

### Items Requiring Manual Attention
- [Page X] — PowerPack Tabs module (no direct Bricks equivalent)
- [Page Y] — Content slider (needs Bricks slider setup)
- Beaver Themer layouts — must be rebuilt as Bricks templates

Then ask:

Here's the migration plan. Would you like me to:

1. Migrate all pages (creates duplicates for review)
2. Migrate only simple pages first
3. Migrate specific pages you choose
4. Just keep this as a reference — no changes

Wait for explicit confirmation before proceeding.

Phase 3: Page-by-Page Migration

For each approved page:

1. Extract Beaver Builder content via respira_extract_builder_content with builder=beaver
2. Map the row/column/module hierarchy to Bricks elements:
   • Rows → Bricks section elements
   • Columns → Bricks container elements with flex layout settings
   • Text Editor → Parse into text and heading elements
   • Photo → image element with src, alt, caption
   • Button → button element with text, link, style
   • HTML → code element
   • Map CSS classes and inline styles to Bricks settings
   • Preserve text content, image URLs, link targets
   • Flag any unmappable modules with comment annotations
3. Build the Bricks JSON array structure
4. Create a 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. Inject Bricks content via respira_inject_builder_content with builder=bricks
7. Surgical fix pass — if the injected page has validation issues (column widths that collapsed during the row/column-to-container translation, broken parent refs, a misconverted module), 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. Log the migration result (success, warnings, manual review items)

Phase 4: Post-Migration Verification

1. Summarize all migrated pages with status:
   • Design tokens registered in Bricks' global styles (token names and counts)
   • Clean migrations (no issues)
   • Migrations with warnings (flagged items needing review)
   • Failed migrations (if any)
2. List all manual review items:
   • Third-party modules that need manual replacement
   • Content sliders or advanced layouts needing Bricks-native rebuilds
   • Custom CSS that needs to be added to Bricks element styles
   • Beaver Themer layouts that need separate rebuilding in Bricks
3. Provide review instructions:
   • Where to find duplicates in WordPress admin
   • How to preview Bricks pages
   • How to delete duplicates if not wanted

Design Tokens

Conversion writes now register the colors and typography they carry as named design tokens in Bricks' own global styles, and the converted pages reference those tokens instead of carrying value copies. When fixing or extending a migrated page, reuse the registered tokens (respira_list_design_tokens shows them) rather than re-inlining raw hex values or font stacks. And say so when you finish: the migration summary should name the tokens that were registered and note that migrated pages reference them.

Safety Model

• Read-only analysis first — full Beaver Builder content audit before any changes
• Explicit user confirmation before creating any duplicates
• Duplicate-first only — never modifies live/published Beaver Builder content
• Never auto-publishes duplicates
• 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
• Preserves all original Beaver Builder content untouched

Honest Disclaimer

This skill converts Beaver Builder page structures to Bricks format and creates duplicates for review.

It cannot:

• Guarantee pixel-perfect visual parity between builders
• Migrate Beaver Themer layouts automatically
• Convert third-party BB add-on modules to Bricks equivalents
• Replicate BB animations in Bricks interactions
• Replace a thorough manual QA pass on every page

It can:

• Map 75-85% of standard Beaver Builder modules to Bricks elements
• Translate row/column grids to Bricks' modern flexbox containers
• Preserve content, images, links, and layout structure
• Move you to a more modern builder architecture
• Save days of manual rebuild work
• Identify exactly what needs manual attention

Tooling

Core WordPress tools

• respira_get_site_context
• respira_get_builder_info
• respira_list_pages
• respira_list_posts
• respira_list_plugins
• respira_find_builder_targets
• respira_extract_builder_content
• respira_inject_builder_content
• respira_create_page_duplicate
• respira_create_post_duplicate
• respira_read_page
• respira_read_post

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:

• POST https://www.respira.press/api/skills/track-usage

Include:

• skill_slug = migrate-beaver-builder-to-bricks
• site/version context
• duration and success
• pages audited, pages migrated, warnings count
• tools used

Never block user flow on telemetry failure.

Related Skills

• WordPress Site DNA (understand site structure before migrating)
• Technical Debt Audit (clean up before or after migration)
• SEO & AEO Amplifier (verify SEO preservation post-migration)

Built by Respira Team https://respira.press/skills/migrate-beaver-builder-to-bricks