When I returned to writing, I said AI belongs alongside the other tools I use to get work done. Finishing this migration is a useful example—especially the last 20% I called out in the intro.
With the pipeline running and the archive reviewed, that judgment becomes the main job. Cody can produce changes pretty quickly. I still need to decide whether they’re right.
Turn feedback into something checkable
“Make it better” gives an agent room to guess. Describe the problem, the intended behavior, and how you’ll recognize the fix.
If a code sample is unreadable in dark mode, say that. Ask for the change, then inspect a real code-heavy post in both themes. If a menu is awkward on your phone, check it at that size and try navigating with a keyboard, too.
Keep changes small enough to review. I don’t want to approve a giant pile of generated code because the screenshot at the end looks nice. We’ve all seen demos. Some of them even work.
Keep the requirements and maintenance instructions with the code. That gives the next session enough context to continue without reconstructing every decision from chat history.
Launch with a way back
Before changing the permanent domain, check the replacement at its test address. Verify old post links, search, feeds, images, and the services you replaced. Confirm that the deployed branch and commit match what you approved.
Keep a private record of the existing domain-routing settings and a working backup. Know how you’ll restore the old site if routing goes wrong. Rolling back a site build won’t undo a DNS change.
Then switch the domain, verify HTTPS and the same reader journeys at the permanent address, and keep the old system available until you’ve accepted the result. These are familiar reliability practices applied to a different kind of migration.
Also test ordinary publishing. Can you add a post, review it, and get it live? For future-dated posts, arrange a rebuild after the publication time; static files don’t change when the clock ticks over. My daily rebuild handles that part, once a post is approved and no longer marked as a draft.
Take the instructions with you
I packaged the process into a WordPress-to-Hugo migration kit. It’s a set of reusable AI instructions and templates for doing a similar migration, and you can read it as a runbook yourself.
Start with its README and fill out the project profile with your site’s choices. Give your coding agent the package and its agent-neutral entry prompt. The playbook walks through the delivery pipeline, content import, repairs, and final cleanup, with review and go-live checklists along the way.
It doesn’t contain my private backup or a universal importer. Your content, integrations, and account setup still need attention. Use it to give the agent a process and keep yourself involved in the decisions.
The useful part of a power tool is getting the work done. You still get to decide where the holes go.