Movable Type Importer fixes

Movable Type Importer fixes is a WordPress plugin that adds WP-CLI commands for cleanup work after importing Movable Type content into WordPress. The plugin is intended to help with post-import fixes that are not handled by the default Movable Type to WordPress importer, including tag migration, content replacement, custom field migration, and resaving content for Jetpack Markdown parsing.

The plugin header in movabletype-importer-fixers.php identifies the plugin as:

• Plugin Name: Movable Type Importer fixes
• Version: 1.0.0
• Author: Automattic
• License: GPL-2.0+
• Text Domain: movabletype-importer-fixers

Repository contents

• movabletype-importer-fixers.php is the WordPress plugin bootstrap file. It defines MT_MIGRATION_TOOLS_VERSION, sets MT_MIGRATION_TOOLS_DIR, and loads the CLI code only when WP_CLI is defined and truthy.
• cli/init.php loads the CLI command classes.
• cli/class-mt-migration-base.php defines the base WP_CLI_Command, the test-db-connection subcommand, logging helpers, and Movable Type database initialization.
• cli/class-mt-import-fixes.php registers the mt-wp-cli WP-CLI namespace and implements the migration/fix subcommands.
• cli/class-mt-database.php creates a wpdb connection to the Movable Type database.
• .phpcs.xml configures PHPCS with the WordPress-Extra ruleset and excludes the GitHub workflow directory.
• .github/workflows/phpcs.yml runs a PHPCS inspection on pull requests.

There are no tracked Composer or npm manifests in this repository, and there are no tracked tests, build artifacts, deployment files, nested READMEs, themes, block metadata, REST routes, shortcodes, custom post type registrations, or taxonomy registrations.

Requirements

Use this plugin in a WordPress environment that can run WP-CLI. The CLI classes extend WP_CLI_Command and use WordPress APIs such as get_page_by_title(), get_page_by_path(), wp_set_post_tags(), wp_update_post(), update_post_meta(), and get_posts().

The plugin also expects access to a Movable Type database. MT_DB_NAME is required. The database host, user, and password default to the current WordPress database constants and can be overridden with Movable Type-specific constants.

For --field-type=ACF, the migration code calls update_field(), so that mode requires an environment where that function is available.

For sync-jetpack-markdown, the command resaves posts so Jetpack can parse Markdown when Jetpack Markdown support is active.

Movable Type database configuration

Define the Movable Type database constants in the WordPress environment before running the commands:

define( 'MT_DB_NAME', 'movable_type_database_name' );
define( 'MT_DB_HOST', 'movable_type_database_host' );
define( 'MT_DB_USER', 'movable_type_database_user' );
define( 'MT_DB_PASSWORD', 'movable_type_database_password' );

MT_DB_NAME is required by cli/class-mt-database.php. If MT_DB_HOST, MT_DB_USER, or MT_DB_PASSWORD are not supplied, the class falls back to DB_HOST, DB_USER, and DB_PASSWORD.

Use the connection test before running migration commands:

wp mt-wp-cli test-db-connection

WP-CLI commands

The plugin registers commands under the mt-wp-cli namespace. The migration commands default to dry-run behavior because the base class initializes $dry_run to true; pass --dry-run=false to write changes.

Test the Movable Type database connection

wp mt-wp-cli test-db-connection

This initializes the Movable Type database connection and reports whether it connected successfully.

Migrate Movable Type tags

wp mt-wp-cli migrate-tags --dry-run=true --blog-id=1
wp mt-wp-cli migrate-tags --dry-run=false --blog-id=1

This command reads Movable Type tag relationships from mt_objecttag, mt_tag, and mt_entry, finds matching WordPress posts by title or slug, and appends tags with wp_set_post_tags().

Supported options:

• --dry-run=true|false
• --blog-id=<id>; defaults to 1
• --post-id-offset=<id> for delta migrations; skips matching WordPress posts whose IDs are less than or equal to the offset

Overwrite WordPress post content from Movable Type content

wp mt-wp-cli overwrite-content --dry-run=true
wp mt-wp-cli overwrite-content --dry-run=false

This command joins WordPress posts with Movable Type entries by post slug or title, then replaces WordPress post content with entry_text. When entry_text_more is present, it appends that extended content after a blank line.

Supported options:

• --dry-run=true|false
• --post-id-offset=<id> for delta migrations
• --post-status=<status> is documented in the command comments with publish and draft examples, but the current implementation initializes the status to publish

Migrate Movable Type custom fields

wp mt-wp-cli migrate-meta-values --field-names=link,podcast --field-type=postmeta --dry-run=true
wp mt-wp-cli migrate-meta-values --field-names=link,podcast --field-type=postmeta --dry-run=false
wp mt-wp-cli migrate-meta-values --field-names=link,podcast --field-type=ACF --dry-run=false

This command reads Movable Type custom field values from mt_fdvalue, finds matching WordPress posts by title or slug, and writes values either to WordPress post meta or to ACF fields.

Supported options:

• --field-names=<comma-separated-names>; required
• --field-type=postmeta|ACF; defaults to postmeta
• --dry-run=true|false
• --blog-id=<id>; defaults to 1
• --post-id-offset=<id> for delta migrations

Resave posts for Jetpack Markdown

wp mt-wp-cli sync-jetpack-markdown --limit=100 --page=1 --post-type=post --dry-run=true
wp mt-wp-cli sync-jetpack-markdown --limit=100 --page=1 --post-type=post --dry-run=false

This command fetches posts with get_posts() and, when not in dry-run mode, calls wp_update_post() with the current post content. The command comments describe this as a way to let Jetpack parse Movable Type Markdown after import.

Supported options:

• --dry-run=true|false
• --limit=<number>; defaults to 100
• --page=<number>
• --post-type=<post-type>; defaults to post

Development and validation

This repository does not include dependency manifests or local install scripts. The tracked validation configuration is PHPCS:

• .phpcs.xml uses the WordPress-Extra ruleset.
• The pull request workflow runs rtCamp/action-phpcs-code-review@master with args: "WordPress-Extra".
• The workflow skips tests and .github.

Before committing README changes, run:

git diff --check

Run PHPCS in an environment that already provides PHPCS and the WordPress coding standards:

phpcs --standard=.phpcs.xml .

Maintenance notes

• The plugin only loads the CLI code in WP-CLI contexts; it does not register browser-facing WordPress hooks in normal page loads.
• Migration commands match Movable Type entries to WordPress posts by title or by basename/slug with underscores converted to hyphens.
• Commands that write data should be run first with --dry-run=true, then with --dry-run=false once the target set is understood.
• The CLI code defines WP_IMPORTING before migration operations when it is not already defined.
• Log helper code writes CSV files under mt-migration-logs in the WordPress uploads directory when create_log_file() is used.

Contributing

Before creating a new issue, browse the existing issues for prior reports or fixes:

https://github.com/a8cteam51/movabletype-importer-fixers/issues

New issues can be opened at:

https://github.com/a8cteam51/movabletype-importer-fixers/issues/new