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All collectionsMigrate to CartGenieUsing Webflow's MCP to transfer a Webflow Ecommerce site to a new blank CMS site

Using Webflow's MCP to transfer a Webflow Ecommerce site to a new blank CMS site

Converting your site to a new blank CMS site allows you to add CartGenie and retain your original product URLs and product & collection names

This guide walks you through transferring an existing Webflow Ecommerce site to a new (non-ecommerce) Webflow site powered by CartGenie, using Claude connected to the official Webflow MCP. The agent does the heavy lifting — you handle a short list of setup and Designer-only tasks it cannot do.

What the agent migrates for you: all pages and layouts, CMS collections and items (with images), design variables (color tokens), styles/classes with responsive breakpoints and hover states, reusable components (nav, footer, etc.), page images/assets, page SEO settings, CartGenie page bindings and styling, and publishing.

What only you can do: the setup steps and a small Designer checklist at the end (details below).

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The instructions here reference Claude since that is what we use, but this process will work with any MCP server agent

Part 1 — Setup (you)

1. Prepare the two sites

  • Keep the original Webflow Ecommerce site as-is (the origin). Do not modify it during migration. If you prefer, you can duplicate your current Webflow Ecommerce site first to prevent any accidental changes

  • Create a new blank Webflow site (the destination). Do not enable Webflow Ecommerce on it.

2. Add CartGenie to the blank destination site — before anything else

  • Add CartGenie to the new destination site and follow the CartGenie Setup Guide steps so the required CMS collections, store pages, and products exist in the destination from the start.

    • Be sure that during CartGenie signup, you enable the toggle to migrate your products into CartGenie from the origin Ecommerce site so the Products collection is populated (names, prices, images, SKUs, dimensions, options). See guide below:

Migrating a Webflow Ecommerce site to CartGenie

How to migrate your existing Webflow Ecommerce site to CartGenie

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You don’t need to both binding the product page elements to the CMS fields as the MCP can do that for you

  • Why first: the agent binds pages directly to CartGenie's collections and skips re-uploading product images (CartGenie already owns those). Adding CartGenie later forces rework.

3. Create a backup / restore point

  • Create a backup point on the destination site (Site Settings → Backups) so everything is reversible.

4. Connect Claude to Webflow

  • Add the official Webflow MCP to Claude (Claude Code or Claude Desktop): server URL https://mcp.webflow.com/mcp.

  • Complete the OAuth sign-in when prompted and grant access to both the origin and destination sites. (A restart of the Claude session may be needed for the tools to appear.)

Connecting to Webflow's MCP using Claude

Use an AI agent to make edits and build new pages and CMS collections on your site

5. Install the Claude-in-Chrome extension (recommended, strongly)

  • This lets the agent view the published site, take screenshots, and visually compare against the original — dramatically improving design fidelity. Install it and sign in with the same Claude account

Add the Chrome Extension

6. Start the migration

Open a fresh Claude conversation and paste the migration prompt into Claude Code to give it a framework and flow to follow for the migration – this will help avoid a lot of pitfalls.

Download Migration Prompt

Part 2 — The migration (agent, with your approvals)

Pasting the prompt above will suggest that the agent work in this order:

Phase 1 — Inventory & scope (read-only)

The agent audits the origin site: pages, CMS collections and fields, design variables, styles, components, assets, fonts, forms, and custom code. It presents a migration manifest — what maps to CartGenie, what migrates as-is, what gets skipped (Webflow-ecom-only pages like the native cart/checkout) — and waits for your approval before writing anything.

Phase 2 — Foundations

Design variables (color tokens) are copied first, then base styles and typography classes (Google Fonts load automatically when referenced), then page images/assets are transferred. Product images are not re-uploaded — CartGenie's CMS already has them.

Phase 3 — Shared components

Nav bar, footer, and other repeated blocks are built once and converted to Webflow components so every page reuses them.

Phase 4 — CMS collections & content

Non-ecommerce collections (blog, testimonials, etc.) are recreated field-for-field and all items imported — images in CMS fields transfer automatically. Collections that CartGenie already provides (Products, Categories, Product Options) are not duplicated.

Phase 5 — Pages

Every page from the origin is recreated: static pages, CMS template pages, and dynamic lists (product grids, blog grids) — bound to the right collections, with page SEO settings carried over.

Phase 6 — CartGenie pages

The agent binds the product template's elements to CMS fields and styles CartGenie's product, checkout, and confirmation pages to match the original design — while preserving every CartGenie element, attribute cg-data-cg-), and nesting exactly.

Phase 7 — Visual QA

The agent publishes and screenshot-compares pages against the origin, fixing differences. Expect it to iterate here.

Part 3 — Finishing checklist (you, in the Webflow Designer)

These are the few things the agent cannot do through the API. It will remind you, but here's the full list:

Task

Where

Why

Set "Current Product" links on product-card Link Blocks inside Collection Lists

Select the card → Link settings → Page → Current Product/Item

API-set links render as #; only the Designer creates the real per-item link. Do this for every dynamic list (home grid, related products, blog cards).

Conditional visibility for option sets and optional fields

Element → Settings → Conditional Visibility (e.g., show option wrapper 2 only when Option Name 2 is set)

The API can only condition on on/off Switch fields, not "is set" on text fields.

Set default fonts / tag styles (Body, H1–H6, Paragraph)

Designer → select Body/All H1s etc., or Site Settings → Fonts

Rich-text content (blog posts, product descriptions) uses tag styles the API can't set. The agent styles regular headings via classes, but rich text needs this.

Mobile navigation menu

Review the nav on mobile; recreate with a native Navbar element or add an interaction

The hamburger open/close behavior can't be created via the API.

Interactions/animations

Designer → Interactions

Any animations from the original must be recreated manually.

Favicon & webclip

Site Settings → General

Assignment is a site setting.

Form settings (notification emails, redirects)

Site Settings → Forms

Site settings aren't exposed to the agent.

Custom domain & final publish

Site Settings → Publishing

Connect your domain and publish when satisfied.

Verify CartGenie config (payments, shipping, taxes)

CartGenie

Commerce behavior is CartGenie's domain, not the page build.

Tips for a smooth run

  • Approve the manifest carefully in Phase 1 — scope changes are cheap there and expensive later.

  • Let the agent verify visually. Runs with the Chrome extension connected end noticeably closer to the original design; the agent can screenshot and self-correct.

  • Expect checkpoints. A good agent pauses after major phases (foundations, first page, CMS import) for your review. The homepage is the best early checkpoint.

  • Don't edit the destination in the Designer mid-run (except when the agent asks you to). Concurrent edits can conflict with the agent's changes.

  • Publish rate limits are normal. If the agent mentions a publish being rate-limited, it just waits and retries.

  • Sessions are long. If a session ends partway, the agent can resume — its progress lives in the sites themselves, and it can re-inventory to see where it left off.

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