migrate-filemaker

A skill for coding agents that turns a FileMaker Database Design Report into a migration plan.

FileMaker exports a DDR as one large XML file per database file. A 300 MB DDR is tens of millions of tokens, far more than fits in an agent’s context. So the skill first breaks the DDR into one text file per object: every script, table, layout, relationship, value list, custom function, menu, account and privilege set. The agent reads every one of those files, classifies it, and writes the plan from what they say. Every claim in the plan points at an object file.

What you need

• A coding agent that loads skills (Claude Code, Codex, or similar)
• Python 3. No packages.
• The full DDR XML export: one XML file per FileMaker file, plus Summary.xml if you have it

The DDR can hold passwords and API keys in plain text. The exploded files redact them; the raw XML does not.

Install

Clone the repo into your agent’s skills folder. Then ask for $migrate-filemaker, or tell the agent to load SKILL.md.

How it works

1. Extract. explode_ddr.py writes one text file per object, an index.tsv of all of them, a LEGEND.md for the codes, and an unresolved.tsv of references to deleted or missing targets. It stops if any calculation, attribute or credential check fails.
2. Inventory. Count what is there and how the files connect.
3. Read every object. Nine explorers (scripts, tables, layouts, graph, security, value lists, menus, custom functions, file settings) each read their kind and write one CSV row per object. catalog_contract.py verify proves nothing was skipped.
4. Ask. List what the DDR cannot answer: goals, users, identity, integrations, which behaviors to keep.
5. Plan. Write the schema, API, UI, business logic, authorization, data migration and cutover documents from the templates.

The skill records what the FileMaker solution does. It does not judge whether that logic is right.

What an object file looks like

A script reads the way Script Workspace shows it, with the ids a search needs. // marks a disabled step.

# script 12: Go Home
# file: Orders.fmp12
# folder: Navigation
# steps: 9 (1 disabled)

   3    If [ not IsEmpty ( $$cart_id ) ]
   6    Perform Script [ "Clear Cart" ]
        Script id=40 name="Clear Cart"
   8 // Commit Records/Requests [ No dialog ]
   9    Go to Layout [ "Home" (Customers) ]
        Layout id=2 name=Home

Each calculation also gets a refs: line, such as refs: Invoices::total#14, cf:FormatMoney. To find every place a field is used, run grep -rl 'Invoices::total#' objects/.

Scripts

python3 scripts/explode_ddr.py RAW_DIR OBJECTS_DIR            # DDR XML -> object files
python3 scripts/catalog_contract.py snapshot|verify ...       # explorer coverage
python3 scripts/parse_ddr.py RAW_DIR SPECS_DIR                # DDR XML -> JSON, optional

Repo layout

• scripts/: the extractor and the coverage check
• workflows/: one guide per explorer: what to read and what to record
• templates/: the migration documents
• reference/: the DDR format, FileMaker concepts, translation patterns
• ddr/: git-ignored folder for real DDR exports to test against

Tests

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests

License

MIT