Migration tools

Camunda is invested in supporting and easing your migration from Camunda 7 to Camunda 8 with migration tools. You can use them in two ways:

• Agentic migration (recommended): An AI coding agent orchestrates diagram conversion, form migration, and code refactoring automatically, so you can focus on reviewing changes and rearchitecting your solution.
• Manual migration: Run the individual tools yourself for full control or to handle specific migration tasks independently.

All tools are available as ready-to-use builds from the GitHub releases page.

Agentic migration

The Camunda migration agent skill is an AI-driven orchestrator that runs the migration tools on your behalf. It converts BPMN, DMN, and static Camunda 7 form definitions, then guides you through findings and required code changes.

Install

Choose the installation instructions for your AI coding agent.

Claude Code

Install the skill with Claude Code:

claude plugin marketplace add camunda/camunda-7-to-8-migration-tooling
claude plugin install camunda-migration

GitHub Copilot CLI

Install the skill with GitHub Copilot CLI:

copilot plugin marketplace add camunda/camunda-7-to-8-migration-tooling
copilot plugin install camunda-migration@camunda

Other compatible agents

Use GitHub CLI 2.90 or later to install the skill for another compatible agent:

gh skill install camunda/camunda-7-to-8-migration-tooling migrate-c7-to-c8-code --agent <tool-name>

Replace <tool-name> with the name of your agent. See the agent-specific installation commands for supported values. For manual installation paths, see the Agentic Migration Skills README.

Run

From your Camunda 7 project directory, run the migration skill:

/camunda-migration:migrate-c7-to-c8-code

The skill asks for your migration scope:

Scope	What the agent does
Code + models (recommended, default)	Runs Diagram Converter CLI + OpenRewrite + AI cleanup on code, BPMN/DMN models, and Camunda 7 forms
Code only	OpenRewrite + AI on Java code
Models only	Diagram Converter CLI + AI on BPMN/DMN models and Camunda 7 forms
Assessment only	Inventories files and estimates effort without changes

Agent workflow

1. Assess migration scope: Inventories BPMN/DMN diagrams, Camunda 7 .form files, and Java code files, and estimates effort.
2. Convert models and forms: Runs the Diagram Converter CLI; AI groups and resolves REVIEW, WARNING, and TASK findings.
3. Migrate code: Runs OpenRewrite recipes; AI handles TODOs, edge cases, tests, and configuration.
4. Validate migration results: Compiles, runs tests, searches for remaining C7 references, and verifies converted forms and model findings.
5. Fix remaining issues: Offers to fix remaining issues, and waits for your review before each change.

The agent also handles static and generated Camunda 7 forms by creating or adapting standard Camunda 8 forms and linking them from the converted BPMN models. Unsupported validation rules and ambiguous behavior are flagged for review.

The agent can use the flat analysis-results.json report generated by the CLI’s --json option or the web interface’s Download JSON action. It groups findings by category, checks the target platform version, and cross-references model findings with migrated code before suggesting fixes. See Download JSON analysis results.

Before performing AI-only rewrites or cleanup, the agent checks whether the active model is suitable for complex reasoning. If the model is lightweight or its suitability cannot be verified, you can switch models or continue with additional review.

If it finds no local BPMN or DMN models, the agent can use the Diagram Converter’s engine mode to retrieve the latest definitions from an accessible Camunda 7 REST endpoint. It asks for the endpoint and authentication details and does not request engine access when local models are available.

The agent preserves the original model files, avoids using stale reports or overwriting existing output, and records findings and decisions in MIGRATION_REPORT.md. It asks for confirmation before adding deployment configuration for the converted resources.

Manual migration

Camunda provides the following tools for manual migration:

Migration tool	Description	GitHub link
Diagram Converter	Analyze and convert BPMN, DMN, and Camunda 7 form files. Available for local installation (Java or Docker) or hosted as a free SaaS offering.	Migration Tooling – Diagram Converter
Data Migrator	Copies Camunda 7 runtime instances and history (audit log) to Camunda 8.	Migration Tooling – Data Migrator
Code Conversion Utilities	Mixture of code mapping tables, code conversion patterns, and automatable refactoring recipes.	Migration Tooling – Code Conversion

Examples

Example	Description	GitHub link
Simple end-to-end example	Shows all tools in action for a simple Spring Boot Java solution.	Camunda 7 to 8 migration example