wix-to-react

Overview

Wix is a closed no-code platform with no source-code export — you cannot download the components, so "converting to React" means recreating the site, not transpiling it. This skill covers the realistic path: inventory the live site, extract its content, design tokens, and assets, scaffold a React/Next.js app, rebuild each page as components, and migrate dynamic features.

There are two end states — choose one up front:

• Full migration — leave Wix entirely. Content moves to a new CMS (Sanity, Contentful, MDX), commerce to a new backend (Shopify, Medusa), forms to your own handler. No Wix subscription.
• Headless — keep Wix as the data backend (CMS collections, Stores, Bookings stay in Wix) and build only the React frontend with @wix/sdk. Less migration work, keeps the Wix dashboard for non-technical editors.

Recommend Next.js over plain React: Wix sites are server-rendered and SEO-indexed, so SSG/SSR is needed to preserve rankings.

Instructions

1. Inventory the Wix site

Determine scope before touching code:

# Full page list — Wix auto-generates a sitemap
curl -s https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml | grep -oP '(?<=<loc>)[^<]+'
# Wix often splits it: pages, blog posts, store products
curl -s https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml | grep -oP 'sitemap-[^<]+'

Identify, per page: static vs dynamic page (Wix repeater bound to a collection, URL like /team/{slug}), and which Wix apps are used — Stores, Bookings, Blog, Forms, Members, Events. Check whether Velo (Dev Mode) is enabled: if so, the owner can export backend/page code and wix-data collections via the Wix CLI/Git integration, which is far cleaner than scraping.

2. Extract content, design tokens, and assets

For sites without API access, drive a headless browser over the sitemap and capture the rendered DOM, computed design tokens, and Wix media URLs:

// extract.mjs — node extract.mjs https://www.example.com
import { chromium } from "playwright";
import { writeFile, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises";

const base = process.argv[2];
const browser = await chromium.launch();
const page = await browser.newPage({ viewport: { width: 1280, height: 900 } });

const sitemap = await (await fetch(`${base}/sitemap.xml`)).text();
const urls = [...sitemap.matchAll(/<loc>([^<]+)<\/loc>/g)].map((m) => m[1]);

await mkdir("extracted", { recursive: true });
const assets = new Set();
const tokens = { colors: new Set(), fonts: new Set(), sizes: new Set() };

for (const url of urls) {
  await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: "networkidle" });
  // Wix media lives on static.wixstatic.com — collect originals to self-host
  for (const src of await page.$$eval("img", (els) => els.map((e) => e.currentSrc || e.src)))
    if (src.includes("wixstatic.com")) assets.add(src.split("/v1/")[0]); // strip transform → original
  // Computed design tokens from real elements
  const t = await page.evaluate(() => {
    const out = { colors: [], fonts: [], sizes: [] };
    for (const el of document.querySelectorAll("h1,h2,h3,p,a,button,div")) {
      const s = getComputedStyle(el);
      out.colors.push(s.color, s.backgroundColor);
      out.fonts.push(s.fontFamily);
      out.sizes.push(s.fontSize);
    }
    return out;
  });
  for (const k of Object.keys(tokens)) t[k].forEach((v) => v && tokens[k].add(v));
  const slug = new URL(url).pathname.replace(/\//g, "_") || "home";
  await writeFile(`extracted/${slug}.html`, await page.content());
}

await writeFile("extracted/_assets.txt", [...assets].join("\n"));
await writeFile("extracted/_tokens.json", JSON.stringify(
  Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(tokens).map(([k, v]) => [k, [...v]])), null, 2));
await browser.close();

Download every asset URL locally (Wix CDN links can rotate and block hotlinking) and feed _tokens.json into the Tailwind theme. The saved HTML is a reference for layout and copy, not source to import — Wix's DOM is deeply nested generated markup; rebuild clean components instead of pasting it.

3. Export dynamic data

With Wix Headless — create a Headless project in the Wix dashboard, get an OAuth client ID, then read collections, products, or posts directly:

// lib/wix.js
import { createClient, OAuthStrategy } from "@wix/sdk";
import { items } from "@wix/data";
import { products } from "@wix/stores";

export const wix = createClient({
  modules: { items, products },
  auth: OAuthStrategy({ clientId: process.env.WIX_CLIENT_ID }),
});

// app/team/page.jsx — a former Wix dynamic page, now a Server Component
export default async function Team() {
  const { items: team } = await wix.items.query("Team").find();
  return team.map((m) => <MemberCard key={m._id} {...m.data} />);
}

Without Headless — export each Wix CMS collection to CSV from the dashboard (Content Manager → collection → Export), or scrape the dynamic pages from step 2, and import into your chosen CMS or local JSON/MDX.

4. Scaffold the React/Next.js app

npx create-next-app@latest mysite --ts --tailwind --app --eslint

Map the inventory to routes: static pages → app/<page>/page.tsx; dynamic pages → app/<section>/[slug]/page.tsx with generateStaticParams; blog → app/blog/[slug]. Put the extracted tokens into tailwind.config so spacing, colors, and fonts match the original.

5. Rebuild pages as components

Decompose each page into Header, Hero, sections, Footer. Reuse the global Header/Footer in a layout.tsx. Match responsive behavior with Tailwind breakpoints (sm:, md:, lg:) instead of Wix's per-breakpoint absolute positioning. Recreate Wix's stretched-section layout with max-w-* centered containers — do not reproduce its pixel-anchored grid.

6. Migrate dynamic features

7. Preserve SEO and verify parity

Carry over per-page <title>, meta description, Open Graph tags (use Next's metadata export), and keep the exact URL slugs. Add 301 redirects for any changed paths, regenerate sitemap.xml and robots.txt, and copy image alt text. Then verify: crawl old vs new for missing pages, run Lighthouse on key pages, and visually diff against the live Wix site before cutover. Switch DNS only after parity checks pass.

Examples

Example 1: Marketing site with a CMS-backed team page

Prompt: "Migrate our Wix business site to Next.js. It's 8 static pages plus a /team page that's a Wix dynamic page bound to a Team collection. We want off Wix completely."

Agent output:

• Pulls the page list from sitemap.xml, runs the Playwright extractor over all 8 pages plus the dynamic /team/{slug} entries, and downloads ~40 images from static.wixstatic.com into public/.
• Exports the Team collection to CSV from the Wix dashboard and converts it to content/team/*.mdx.
• Scaffolds Next.js + Tailwind, writes tailwind.config from _tokens.json (5 brand colors, 2 fonts), builds shared Header/Footer in layout.tsx, and rebuilds each page as section components.
• Maps /team to app/team/[slug]/page.tsx reading the MDX, adds metadata exports per page with original titles/descriptions, and generates a 301 redirect map. Cancels the Wix plan after a Lighthouse + visual-diff parity check.

Example 2: Wix Stores shop kept headless

Prompt: "Rebuild our Wix store as a React frontend but keep managing products in Wix. ~120 products, a cart, and checkout."

Agent output:

• Sets up a Wix Headless project, stores WIX_CLIENT_ID in .env.local, and wires @wix/sdk with @wix/stores + @wix/ecom.
• Builds app/shop/page.tsx and app/shop/[slug]/page.tsx as Server Components querying products via the SDK, with ISR (revalidate = 300) so inventory stays fresh.
• Implements cart with @wix/ecom current-cart APIs in a Client Component, and redirects checkout to Wix's hosted checkout via @wix/ecom redirects to avoid rebuilding payments.
• Extracts the homepage/marketing pages statically (Example 1 flow) while leaving product data in Wix, so non-technical staff keep using the Wix Stores dashboard.

Guidelines

• Only migrate sites you own or are authorized to migrate. Scraping someone else's Wix site and rebuilding it can violate copyright and Wix's ToS.
• There is no Wix code export — treat extracted HTML as a layout/copy reference, never import Wix's generated DOM into React.
• Decide full-migration vs headless first — it changes the entire data layer. Headless is faster and keeps the editor; full migration removes the Wix dependency and cost.
• Self-host assets — download from static.wixstatic.com; those URLs carry transforms and may block hotlinking or rotate.
• If Velo/Dev Mode is on, use it — exporting code and wix-data collections via the Wix CLI beats scraping.
• Preserve URLs and SEO — keep slugs, carry meta/OG tags into Next's metadata, add 301s for changed paths, and verify with a crawl before DNS cutover.
• Rebuild responsively — replace Wix's absolute, per-breakpoint positioning with flow layout and Tailwind breakpoints; don't replicate its pixel grid.
• Migrate incrementally — get static pages live first, then move dynamic features (Stores, Blog, Members) one app at a time.