Prepare your Kontent.ai project

Start a new project

Setting up a project from scratch requires many decisions. For migration purposes, let’s focus only on the key parts of your project, such as its content model and specific settings.

In the content model, you define how your content will be structured using content types, snippets, and taxonomies.
In the settings, you decide on the collections, languages, and workflows.

You can configure more in the settings, but these few are essential for the migration. You can leave the rest, such as roles and spaces, for later.

1. Establish a content model

Migrations are rarely 1:1. If you only duplicate your legacy content model in your new project, you won’t fully leverage Kontent.ai (or any headless CMS). Instead, understand how your existing content will be structured in Kontent.ai so you can transform your data during the migration. Follow the best practices outlined in the Content modeling checklist right from the start.

We recommend taking your time with the content model. The time invested now can save you a few content migrations in the future.

2. Create boundaries for your content

Use collections to set up boundaries for your content based on criteria specific to your organization and needs. For example, collections can help you divide content by:

Departments. Think about the people and departments in your organization and which content they require access to. They can have different roles in different collections and work on content only from the collections relevant to them.
Global vs. regional content. If you operate globally, you can use collections to manage global content and content specific to regional brands. You can reuse global content while allowing for regional customization, ensuring that content remains relevant across diverse markets.

Your criteria might be different. Think through how collections can help you organize your content.

3. Set up languages

Do you have localized content? If so, create languages in your settings and give them short descriptive codenames. If you manage content in a single language, we recommend you rename the default language so that it’s accurate for your use case.

4. Define content workflows

Workflows define your content production process and flow. You can have a single workflow for all content or multiple workflows for specific content types and collections. When first setting up the workflow, consider whether you need to preserve and migrate specific workflow states of your existing content. Your workflow can be as simple as a draft-published-archived workflow. However, it can also be complex, with multiple workflow steps and transitions between them. If you don’t need to migrate workflow states, start simple. You can always add complexity later when needed.

5. Prepare environments

Once you have your content model and essential settings set up, we recommend you create a new environment.The new environment serves as a backup of the work you’ve done so far and a starting point for your migrations. Your migration might go well on the first try, but it also might not. You might want to create a new environment before each migration attempt. This helps you ensure you’re importing content into a fresh and well-configured environment without any leftovers from past attempts.