Title: InstaMigrate
Author: InstaWP
Published: <strong>03 Avril 2026</strong>
Last modified: 03 Avril 2026

---

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![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/instamigrate.svg)

# InstaMigrate

 By [InstaWP](https://profiles.wordpress.org/instawp/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/instamigrate.1.5.0.zip)

 * [Details](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/instamigrate/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/instamigrate/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/instamigrate/#installation)
 * [Development](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/instamigrate/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/instamigrate/)

## Description

InstaMigrate provides authenticated REST API endpoints that enable full WordPress
site migrations between servers. It handles database export/import with binary-safe
hex encoding, file archiving and transfer, and serialization-aware search-replace
for domain changes.

**Features:**

 * Database export with binary-safe hex encoding (preserves serialized PHP data)
 * Database import with streaming line-by-line parsing (handles large dumps)
 * File upload, download, archiving (tar.gz/zip), and extraction
 * Serialization-aware search-replace for domain migrations
 * Dual authentication: API key header or WordPress Application Passwords
 * WP-CLI detection (informational, reported in status endpoint)
 * Admin UI showing API key and endpoint documentation

**Important:** This plugin grants full database and filesystem access via its REST
API. Deactivate and delete it immediately after your migration is complete.

## Installation

 1. Upload the `insta-migrate` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. Go to Tools > InstaMigrate to find your API key
 4. Use the API key in the `X-Insta-Key` header for all REST API requests
 5. **Remove the plugin after migration is complete**

## FAQ

### Where do I find my API key?

Go to Tools > InstaMigrate in your WordPress admin. The API key is displayed there
and can be regenerated if needed.

### Is this plugin safe to leave active?

No. This plugin exposes powerful migration endpoints. Always deactivate and delete
it after your migration is complete.

### Does it handle serialized data during search-replace?

Yes. The search-replace engine correctly unserializes PHP data, performs replacements
recursively, then re-serializes with updated byte counts.

### What authentication methods are supported?

Two methods: (1) `X-Insta-Key` header with the plugin API key, or (2) WordPress 
Application Passwords via HTTP Basic Auth (requires admin privileges).

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“InstaMigrate” is open source software. The following people have contributed to
this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ InstaWP ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/instawp/)

[Translate “InstaMigrate” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/instamigrate)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instamigrate/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/instamigrate/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/instamigrate/) by
[RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/instamigrate/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.5.0

 * Internal version alignment (header and constant now both report 1.5.0)
 * No functional changes from 1.4.0

#### 1.4.0

 * Security: Permission callbacks now require `manage_network` (super admin) on 
   multisite, instead of `manage_options` which subsite admins may have
 * Security: File concat (`/files/concat`) output restricted to plugin temp directory
   only
 * Security: File search-replace (`/files/search-replace`) restricted to uploads
   directory only
 * Security: File upload (`/files/upload`) destination restricted to uploads directory
   only
 * Security: File search-replace now uses WP_Filesystem for reads and writes instead
   of direct PHP file functions
 * Change: Temp directory moved from `wp-content/insta-migrate-tmp/` to `wp-content/
   uploads/insta-migrate-tmp/` per wp.org guidelines

#### 1.3.0

 * Removed all exec()/shell_exec() calls per wp.org plugin guidelines
 * Removed `/wp-cli` REST endpoint (required exec)
 * Archive creation and extraction now use PharData/ZipArchive exclusively
 * Binary detection (has_wp_cli) now uses hardcoded path checks only

#### 1.2.0

 * New: `/db/fix-prefix` endpoint — fixes usermeta meta_key and options option_name
   values after a migration where the table prefix changed. Prevents users losing
   roles/capabilities when the sed prefix-rewrite missed single-quoted values.

#### 1.1.0

 * New: `/files/concat` endpoint — concatenate chunked file uploads on the server(
   for large archives exceeding PHP upload limit)
 * New: `/files/search-replace` endpoint — search-replace strings within static 
   files on disk (CSS/JS/JSON), used for Elementor CSS domain replacement after 
   DB search-replace
 * Fix: Numeric columns (INT, BIGINT, DECIMAL, etc.) now exported as plain numbers,
   not hex-encoded. Prevents MySQL from misinterpreting hex literals as integers.

#### 1.0.0

 * Initial release
 * Database export/import with hex encoding
 * File upload, download, archive, extract
 * Serialization-aware search-replace
 * Dual authentication (API key + Application Passwords)
 * WP-CLI detection in status endpoint
 * Admin UI with API key management

## Meta

 *  Version **1.5.0**
 *  Last updated **17 hours ago**
 *  Active installations **Fewer than 10**
 *  WordPress version ** 5.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.9.4**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/instamigrate/)
 * Tags
 * [backup](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/backup/)[clone](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/clone/)
   [database](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/database/)[migration](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/migration/)
   [transfer](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/transfer/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://lmo.wordpress.org/plugins/instamigrate/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Add my review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/instamigrate/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/instamigrate/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ InstaWP ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/instawp/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/instamigrate/)