migrate-filemaker

A Claude Code skill that guides a full migration from FileMaker Pro to an open-source stack. Point it at a FileMaker Database Design Report (DDR) XML export and it will parse the DDR, discover your requirements through conversation, recommend a tech stack, and generate a detailed rebuild plan complete with SQL schema, API design, UI spec, and business logic mapping.

Requirements

• Claude Code (CLI, desktop app, or IDE extension)
• Python 3.6+
• A FileMaker DDR XML export (generated from FileMaker Pro via File > Save a Copy as XML)

Installation

Clone or copy this repository into your Claude Code skills directory:

# Personal skills directory (available in all projects)
git clone https://github.com/solutionscay/migrate-filemaker.git ~/.claude/skills/migrate-filemaker

# Or project-local (available only in that project)
git clone https://github.com/solutionscay/migrate-filemaker.git .claude/skills/migrate-filemaker

Usage

In Claude Code, invoke the skill with the path to your DDR export:

/migrate-filemaker path/to/your/DDR.xml

You can also pass a directory containing multiple DDR XML files (for multi-file FileMaker solutions):

/migrate-filemaker path/to/ddr-exports/

The skill runs interactively — it will ask you questions about your goals, users, constraints, and preferences before generating the migration plan.

What It Does

The migration runs in four phases, each producing checkpoint files so work can be paused and resumed:

Phase 1: Parse & Understand

Runs the built-in DDR parser to extract structured JSON specs from the XML, then analyzes the solution to produce an application summary covering:

• Data model (tables, fields, relationships)
• Feature map (scripts grouped by domain)
• UI inventory (layouts, portals, buttons)
• Security model (privilege sets, accounts)
• Red flags (container fields, globals-heavy state, complex calculations)
• Specialized business logic detection

Phase 2: Discovery

An interactive conversation (not a survey dump) that explores:

• Migration goals and scope
• Users and scale requirements
• UI style preferences and design references
• Technical preferences and team skills
• Timeline and budget constraints
• Data migration and integration needs
• Specialized business logic details

Phase 3: Recommend

Produces a tech stack recommendation covering database, backend, frontend, auth, deployment, and architecture pattern — with primary and alternative choices, scored against your specific needs.

Phase 4: Plan

Generates the full set of migration artifacts:

File	Contents
03_migration_plan.md	Phased build plan with effort estimates and risk register
04_database_schema.sql	Complete database DDL
05_api_design.md	RESTful + custom endpoints grouped by domain
06_ui_spec.md	Page inventory, component mapping, form specs
07_business_logic.md	Script categorization and logic translation
08_auth_roles.md	Role definitions and access control model

Deep Exploration (Optional)

For complex solutions (50+ scripts, heavy conditional formatting, many calculated fields), the skill includes specialized explorers that can be run between Phase 1 and Phase 2:

• Script Explorer — classifies every script by type, logic tier, and migration target
• Conditional Formatting Explorer — extracts business rules encoded in formatting formulas
• Hide-Object-When Explorer — uncovers authorization models and state machines hidden in visibility rules
• Calculated Fields Explorer — catalogs domain-specific calculations
• Custom Functions Explorer — documents the shared logic layer

Output Structure

All generated files are written to a migration/ directory in your working directory:

migration/
  00_app_summary.md
  01_discovery_answers.md
  02_recommendations.md
  03_migration_plan.md
  04_database_schema.sql
  05_api_design.md
  06_ui_spec.md
  07_business_logic.md
  08_auth_roles.md

Explorer outputs (if run) go into their own subdirectories:

migration/fm-scripts-explorer/
migration/fm-cf-explorer/
migration/fm-hide-explorer/
migration/fm-calc-explorer/
migration/fm-func-explorer/

How to Generate a DDR Export

In FileMaker Pro:

1. Open your solution file
2. Go to File > Save a Copy as XML
3. Choose Database Design Report as the format
4. Save to a directory

For multi-file solutions, export each file's DDR into the same directory — the parser auto-detects and merges them.

License

MIT