Sitecore Content Transfer Script

Caution

Use at your own discretion. This code is not fully tested and is provided as-is. Review and validate all scripts before running them in any environment.

Moves Sitecore content between environments using the Content Transfer API (source) and the Item Transfer API (destination).

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Prerequisites

• PowerShell 5.1 or later
• Organization Admin or Organization Owner role in the Sitecore Cloud Portal
• Automation client credentials for both the source and destination environments

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Setup

Step 1 — Create automation client credentials

Repeat the following for each environment (source and destination):

1. In the Sitecore Cloud Portal, open SitecoreAI Deploy.
2. Go to Credentials → Environment → Create credentials → Automation.
3. Fill in the client details and click Create.
4. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret — they are shown only once.

Step 2 — Configure transferitems.json

Edit transferitems.json to list the Sitecore items you want to transfer. Each entry in DataTrees is one item path with its own scope and merge strategy.

{
  "Database": "master",
  "DataTrees": [
    {
      "ItemPath"     : "/sitecore/content/Home",
      "Scope"        : "ItemAndDescendants",
      "MergeStrategy": "OverrideExistingItem"
    },
    {
      "ItemPath"     : "/sitecore/media library/Project/banner",
      "Scope"        : "SingleItem",
      "MergeStrategy": "KeepExistingItem"
    }
  ]
}

Field reference

Field	Required	Values
Database	Yes	"master" | "web"
ItemPath	Yes	Full Sitecore item path
Scope	Yes	"SingleItem" — transfer only this item "ItemAndDescendants" — transfer item and all children
MergeStrategy	Yes	"OverrideExistingItem" — overwrite matching items in destination "KeepExistingItem" — skip items that already exist "OverrideExistingTree" — overwrite the entire subtree "LatestWin" — keep whichever version is newer

Step 3 — Set environment variables

Set your credentials in the current PowerShell session before running the script:

$env:SITECORE_SRC_CLIENT_ID      = "source-client-id-xxxx"
$env:SITECORE_SRC_CLIENT_SECRET  = "source-client-secret-xxxx"
$env:SITECORE_DEST_CLIENT_ID     = "destination-client-id-yyyy"
$env:SITECORE_DEST_CLIENT_SECRET = "destination-client-secret-yyyy"

The environment host name can be found in
SitecoreAI Deploy → Projects → your project → Authoring environments → your environment → Details → Environment host name

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Running the script

.\Move-SitecoreContent.ps1 `
    -SourceBaseUrl      "https://xmc-yourproject-source.sitecorecloud.io" `
    -DestinationBaseUrl "https://xmc-yourproject-dest.sitecorecloud.io"   `
    -ConfigFile         .\transferitems.json

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
-SourceBaseUrl	Yes	—	Host URL of the source environment
-DestinationBaseUrl	Yes	—	Host URL of the destination environment
-ConfigFile	No	.\transferitems.json	Path to the transfer configuration file
-PollIntervalSeconds	No	5	Seconds between status poll requests
-TimeoutMinutes	No	20	Max total time before the script aborts
-LogFolder	No	.\logs	Folder where timestamped log files are written

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What the script does

Source environment                        Destination environment
──────────────────                        ───────────────────────
POST /transfers          ──create──>
GET  /transfers/{id}/status  <──poll──
GET  .../chunks/{n}      ──stream──>      PUT  .../chunks/{n}
                                          POST .../chunksets/{id}/complete  →  .raif file
DELETE /transfers/{id}   ──cleanup──>
                                          POST /ItemsTransfer/...sources    (consume .raif)
                                          GET  /ItemsTransfer/transfers/{id}  <──poll──

1. Creates a Content Transfer operation on the source for all DataTrees in one API call.
2. Polls until the operation reaches Completed state.
3. Streams each encrypted/compressed chunk from source → destination.
4. Completes each chunk set, producing a .raif file on the destination.
5. Deletes the transfer from the source (cleanup).
6. Triggers Item Transfer on the destination to consume each .raif into the database.
7. Polls until each Item Transfer reaches Finished state.

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Output

A timestamped log file is written to .\logs\content-transfer_<yyyyMMdd_HHmmss>.log.

The final lines of the log show a per-RAIF summary:

[OK]   contentTransfer-<uuid>.raif
       State=Finished  Items=34/34  Strategy=OverrideExistingItem
       Id=consumed.20260709...  DB=master  Consumed=2026-07-09T...

=== Migration complete in 60.8s ===

[OK] = Finished · [FAIL] = Failed or Discarded

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Files

File	Description
Move-SitecoreContent.ps1	Main transfer script
transferitems.json	List of items to transfer (edit before each run)
logs/	Timestamped log files from each run