AI coding agents are changing how we build software, but can they migrate a real production site to Drupal Canvas? We put it to the test on a live project and share what worked, what didn't, and what the numbers actually say.

Prerequisite

Familiarity with Drupal site building, Drupal Canvas and content modelling. Basic awareness of decoupled Drupal architectures and AI coding agents is helpful but not required.

Target Audience

Developers, tech leads, architects, and agency decision-makers who are evaluating Drupal Canvas, decoupled architectures, or AI-assisted development workflows. Anyone planning a migration to Drupal Canvas, or curious whether AI coding agents are ready for production Drupal work, will benefit from this session.

Outline

Migrating an existing site to Drupal Canvas is a significant undertaking. What if you could bring an AI coding agent along for the ride?

In this session, we share a real-world case study of migrating a live site to a Drupal Canvas installation using decoupled rendering, with an AI coding agent driving a large portion of the work. We will walk through:

The starting point: the legacy site, its content model, and the goals of the migration

Why Drupal Canvas and why decoupled: the architectural decisions behind the project

AI driven: how we planned the the task to be AI agent led

What worked well: the tasks where the AI agent was genuinely productive

What needs improvement: the pitfalls, dead ends, and places where the human had to take over

Measuring efficiency: KPIs, time saved (or not), and honest numbers from the project

You will leave with a realistic picture of what an AI-assisted Drupal Canvas migration looks like today — the opportunities, the risks, and a practical framework you can apply to your own projects.

Learning Objectives

Understand how to scope a site migration for an AI coding agent: what to delegate, what to keep

Learn the architectural decisions involved in moving to a decoupled Drupal Canvas setup

See a real-world efficiency comparison: where AI agents saved time and where they slowed it down

Take away a practical framework for evaluating AI-assisted migrations on your own projects

Recognize the common pitfalls and failure modes when mixing AI agents with Drupal development

Experience level
Intermediate