respira-press/agent-skills-wordpress/migrate-divi-to-bricks

Migrate Divi to Bricks

Version: 2.2.0 Updated: 2026-09-13 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.

Converts Divi-built WordPress pages to Bricks Builder. Parses Divi's shortcode-based content from post_content, maps each module to its Bricks element 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 Divi to Bricks, replace the Divi Builder with Bricks, or rebuild Divi pages in Bricks.

What This Skill Does

This is a cross-format migration — Divi stores content as nested shortcodes in post_content, while Bricks uses a JSON array in _bricks_page_content_2. The skill must parse Divi's shortcode hierarchy, understand each module's purpose and settings, then reconstruct that intent as Bricks elements with proper parent-child relationships and settings.

The format gap makes this complex, but both builders are feature-rich visual editors, so most Divi modules have strong Bricks equivalents. The result is cleaner, faster-rendering content in Bricks' modern architecture.

Handles:

• et_pb_section → Bricks Section element
• et_pb_row/et_pb_column → Bricks Container elements (with flex layout)
• et_pb_text → Bricks Text Basic element
• et_pb_blurb → Bricks Icon Box or Container with child elements
• et_pb_image → Bricks Image element
• et_pb_button → Bricks Button element
• et_pb_video → Bricks Video element
• et_pb_heading (via text modules) → Bricks Heading element
• et_pb_divider → Bricks Divider element
• et_pb_accordion/et_pb_toggle → Bricks Accordion element
• et_pb_tabs → Bricks Tabs element
• et_pb_gallery → Bricks Gallery element
• et_pb_slider → Bricks Slider element (close mapping)
• et_pb_pricing_tables → Bricks Pricing Table element
• et_pb_code → Bricks Code element
• et_pb_map → Bricks Map element
• Custom CSS → Bricks custom CSS fields
• Column width ratios → Bricks container flex percentages

Preserves:

• All text content and inline HTML formatting
• Image URLs, alt text, and dimensions
• Typography settings (font family, size, weight)
• Color values and gradients
• Spacing (margin, padding) — converted from Divi's format to Bricks'
• Background images and overlays
• Border and shadow settings
• Button labels, URLs, targets
• CSS classes

What This Skill Does NOT Do

• Specialty sections — Divi's specialty section layouts (sidebar + content) need manual layout setup in Bricks.
• Global modules — Divi's global modules (et_pb_layout post type) are resolved to inline content. Bricks templates must be set up separately.
• Third-party Divi modules — Plugins extending Divi (Divi Toolbox, Divi Supreme, etc.) are flagged for manual recreation.
• Divi theme customizer — Global fonts, colors, and spacing from the Divi theme customizer don't transfer. These need to be set in Bricks theme settings.
• Dynamic content — Divi's dynamic content needs Bricks' dynamic data system configured separately.
• Contact forms — et_pb_contact_form needs to be rebuilt using Bricks' form element or a forms plugin.
• Divi Library layouts — Stored as et_pb_layout post type; not auto-migrated to Bricks templates.
• Motion effects — Scroll effects and animations differ between builders.
• Divi theme dependency — If using the Divi theme (not just plugin), you are switching to Bricks theme — a complete theme change.

Requirements

• Respira for WordPress plugin installed and connected
• MCP connection active (desktop or WebMCP)
• Divi theme or Divi Builder plugin active (to read source content)
• Bricks theme installed and active (to write target content)
• Read access to scan Divi content
• Write access to create duplicates with Bricks content

Trigger Phrase

• "migrate divi to bricks"

Alternative Triggers

• "convert divi to bricks"
• "switch from divi to bricks"
• "rebuild divi pages in bricks"
• "move from divi to bricks"
• "divi to bricks migration"
• "replace divi with bricks"

Source Builder: Divi

Divi stores content as shortcodes in post_content. The module structure follows a strict hierarchy:

[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.x"]
  [et_pb_row _builder_version="4.x"]
    [et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.x"]
      [et_pb_text _builder_version="4.x"]
        <p>Content here</p>
      [/et_pb_text]
    [/et_pb_column]
  [/et_pb_row]
[/et_pb_section]

Key Divi specifics:

• Section types: regular, fullwidth, specialty
• Column types: 4_4, 1_2, 1_3, 2_3, 1_4, 3_4
• Settings as attributes: background_color, custom_margin, custom_padding, text_orientation
• Content encoding: HTML entities, percent-encoding, occasional base64
• Global modules: global_module attribute → et_pb_layout post type
• Custom CSS: custom_css_main_element, custom_css_before, custom_css_after

Read Divi content via respira_extract_builder_content with builder=divi.

Target Builder: Bricks

Bricks stores content in _bricks_page_content_2 as a JSON array:

[
  { "id": "abc123", "name": "section", "parent": 0, "settings": {...} },
  { "id": "def456", "name": "container", "parent": "abc123", "settings": {...} },
  { "id": "ghi789", "name": "heading", "parent": "def456", "settings": { "tag": "h2", "text": "..." } }
]

Key Bricks specifics:

• Elements use name field: section, container, heading, text-basic, image, button
• Parent-child via parent field referencing id
• IDs are short alphanumeric strings
• Settings use Bricks-specific keys
• Responsive via _breakpoints within settings

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 Divi is active via respira_list_plugins and respira_get_site_context.
3. Confirm Bricks theme is installed via respira_get_site_context.
4. Important: If using Divi theme (not plugin), note this is a full theme switch to Bricks.
5. Scan and scope all Divi content:

• respira_list_pages and respira_list_posts — identify all content
• respira_find_builder_targets with builder=divi — inventory the Divi-managed pages to scope the migration
• Confirm the builder per page via respira_get_builder_info

1. Extract Divi content via respira_extract_builder_content with builder=divi
2. Build inventory:

• Total pages/posts using Divi
• Module types (frequency count)
• Specialty sections found
• Global modules referenced
• Third-party Divi modules
• Content encoding issues
• Complexity per page

Phase 2: Migration Plan

## Divi → Bricks Migration Plan
 
### Theme Transition Note
[If Divi theme is active]: This migration involves switching from the Divi
theme to the Bricks theme. Headers, footers, and global templates will need
to be recreated in Bricks' template system.
 
### Site Inventory
- Total Divi pages: X
- Total modules to convert: X
- Auto-convertible: X (Y%)
- Manual attention: X (Y%)
 
### Module → Element Mapping
| Divi Module        | Bricks Element  | Status   |
|-------------------|----------------|----------|
| et_pb_text        | text-basic     | Auto     |
| et_pb_image       | image          | Auto     |
| et_pb_blurb       | icon-box       | Auto     |
| et_pb_button      | button         | Auto     |
| et_pb_slider      | slider         | Auto     |
| et_pb_tabs        | tabs           | Auto     |
| et_pb_accordion   | accordion      | Auto     |
| et_pb_contact     | —              | Manual   |
| [divi addon]      | —              | Manual   |
 
### Shortcode Parsing Complexity
- Pages with clean shortcodes: X
- Pages with encoded content: X (will decode during migration)
- Pages with specialty sections: X (layout approximation needed)
 
### Page-by-Page Plan
1. **[Page Title]** — X modules, [complexity]
2. ...

Ask for confirmation:

Bricks offers a modern replacement for Divi with cleaner output. Your originals stay safe.

1. Migrate all pages

2. Migrate specific pages

3. Start with a test page (recommended)

4. Just keep this plan

Phase 3: Page-by-Page Migration

For each approved page:

1. Read Divi content via respira_extract_builder_content with builder=divi
2. Parse the shortcode tree:

• Identify section → row → column → module hierarchy
• Decode encoded content (HTML entities, percent-encoding)
• Resolve global modules to inline content
• Map column types to percentage widths

1. Build Bricks JSON array:

• Create section element for each et_pb_section
• Create container elements for rows/columns with flex layout
• Map column widths: 4_4→100%, 1_2→50%, 1_3→33.33%, etc.
• Convert each module → Bricks element:
• et_pb_text → text-basic (preserve inner HTML)
• et_pb_blurb → icon-box or container with children
• et_pb_image → image (map src, alt, title attributes)
• et_pb_button → button (map text, URL, style)
• Map Divi attributes to Bricks settings (colors, spacing, typography)
• Generate unique IDs and proper parent references
• Flag unmappable modules with comments

1. Take a respira_get_snapshot checkpoint of the target before any write, so the page can be restored exactly if the conversion needs unwinding
2. Create duplicate via respira_create_page_duplicate or respira_create_post_duplicate
3. Write Bricks JSON to the duplicate via respira_inject_builder_content with builder=bricks
4. Surgical fixes (not a re-inject): when a single element lands wrong — a heading, a button label, a container width — locate it with respira_find_element and correct it in place with respira_update_element. For repeated corrections across many elements or several migrated pages, batch them with respira_batch_update rather than re-injecting whole pages.
5. Report status

Phase 4: Post-Migration Verification

1. Summarize migrations:

• Design tokens registered in Bricks' global styles (token names and counts)
• Pages migrated, elements created, items flagged

1. For each migrated page:

• Link to Bricks editor
• Flagged items
• Layout notes (specialty sections, encoded content)

1. Post-migration checklist:

• [ ] Open each duplicate in Bricks editor
• [ ] Verify section/container structure
• [ ] Check responsive views
• [ ] Verify images and media
• [ ] Test links and buttons
• [ ] Recreate flagged modules
• [ ] Set up Bricks templates for header/footer (if switching from Divi theme)
• [ ] Rebuild contact forms using Bricks form element or plugin
• [ ] Compare with Divi original
• [ ] Check for any Divi shortcode remnants

Phase 5: Hand off for review, then go live