Can the crew move a big WordPress blog?
It depends on the blog, but this one moved completely. All 1,227 posts came across, 5,065 old addresses were checked with one left for the owner, and a full publish was rehearsed in a staging folder with no failures. It didn't go smoothly at first: a by-hand attempt ran out of steps partway. The scripted move that replaced it took under an hour. If your blog relies on plugins for a store or memberships, plan those features before you move.
The situation
NameHero is a web host, and the team behind it also builds Lenexa. Its blog at namehero.com/blog ran on WordPress: 1,227 posts, 32 categories, 13 authors and 511 tags, 246 of them in use. The team wanted a modern design without losing the old links that readers and search engines had followed for years. They also wanted their writers to keep writing after the move.
The brief
The brief made four asks. Here they are as one message you can copy:
Give our blog at namehero.com/blog a modern design. Move every post. Keep every old link working. Add a writing area for our team.
Hour by hour
All times are UTC on October 19, 2026.
- Before 01:06The groundwork. The crew mapped every post to its new address in a mapping sheet, designed a new blog template, made featured images for the newest posts and worked on search and AI answers.
- 01:06The move starts, by hand. The crew began moving the posts itself, without dedicated scripts.
- 03:44It stops, unfinished. The by-hand move used up its turn budget, the limit on how many steps one card can take, before it finished. About $40 of AI usage had gone into it.
- Lenexa.AI ships a fix. Instead of trying the same way again, Lenexa.AI shipped a WordPress migration skill: tested scripts that convert, check and redirect every post at once.
- 03:57The move restarts with the skill.
- 04:47All 1,227 posts moved. 69 were flagged worth a look, for example a cover image that had been deleted, complex tables kept as tables, and editor links removed.
- NextArchive pages. 32 category pages and 13 author pages, with paging, search and RSS.
- NextRedirects checked. 5,065 old addresses checked. All behave as planned except one, /blog/resell-hero/, left for the owner to decide.
- 11:17A dry-run publish. Deployment uploaded 1,671 files to a staging folder, /blog_new, with 0 failures. The live /blog was untouched.
- NextThe writing area. A writing area for several people, with author, editor and admin roles, behind the host's own login, was built and uploaded next to it.
- October 20Waiting on the owner. The new blog is in /blog_new until the owner switches it to /blog.
What came out
1,227 / 1,227
posts moved, with their categories and authors
5,065
old addresses checked; all but one behave as planned
1,671
files uploaded in the dry-run publish, with 0 failures
69
posts flagged worth a look, on a list for the owner
32 + 13
category and author pages, with paging, search and RSS
~1,100
credits for the whole project, about $55 of AI usage
We didn't measure page speed or traffic for this note, so we don't claim either. The new blog isn't at /blog yet. When it is, we'll update this note.
What it cost
About 1,100 credits for the whole project, which was about $55 of AI usage. AI usage is what the AI models cost to run; credits are what the work uses from a plan, at 10 cents each.
About $40 of that went into the first by-hand attempt, which the migration skill now makes unnecessary. The scripted move itself took about an hour and about $6.50 of AI usage.
What we'd do differently
- Use the migration skill from the start. It is now the default for every WordPress move.
- Ask up front how the owner will post after the move. Lenexa now asks that one question before planning anything to sign into.
- Show Needs you items in the chat right away. Decisions and review lists now appear in Lenexa's updates as soon as they come up.
Run this yourself
Fill in the brackets and send it to Lenexa. The crew asks for your WordPress export file if it can't read your posts directly. See how a WordPress move works for every step.
Move our blog at [your-site.com/blog] off WordPress onto a new, modern design. Move every post with its images, categories and authors. Keep every old link working with redirects, and tell me about any that can't. Publish to a staging folder first, [/blog_new], so I can check it before you switch. After the move we'll add posts by [asking you in the Studio / a writer login for our team].