---
title: Upgrade to Xperience by Kentico - development and execution
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

Getting ready to execute an upgrade from **Kentico Xperience 13 (KX13)** to **Xperience by Kentico (XbyK)**? This learning path guides you through the complete technical implementation, from a step-by-step walkthrough of the upgrade process to advanced scenarios like content model restructuring and widget migration.

> **Tip:** If you're responsible for upgrade planning and strategy, see the [Upgrading to Xperience by Kentico - Overview](https://docs.kentico.com/modules/upgrade-overview.md) module for software architects.

## You'll learn how to...

- Set up KX13 and XbyK development environments
- Run the Kentico Migration Tool with basic configuration
- Customize the migration tool for advanced scenarios like content model restructuring
- Migrate widgets, custom code, and integrations to XbyK's architecture
- Adapt your code to XbyK's new APIs and patterns

## The upgrade process overview

The upgrade to Xperience by Kentico consists of four key phases:

1. **Plan your upgrade approach** - Understand KX13 feature changes and determine your migration strategy.
2. **Set up your environment** - Prepare your KX13 source and XbyK target instances, install the migration tool, and configure it for your scenario.
3. **Migrate your data** - Run the migration tool iteratively, starting with simple objects and progressing to complex content with custom restructuring.
4. **Adjust your code** - Update custom code, migrate widgets and components, and adapt integrations to XbyK's .NET architecture.

![Diagram of the upgrade process](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/paths/xbyk-upgrade-developer/Upgrade-diagram.jpg "Diagram of the upgrade process")

This learning path focuses on the technical implementation in phases 2-4: environment setup, data migration with the Kentico Migration Tool, and code adjustments.

Start with the first module to walk through the complete upgrade process step-by-step, then dive deep into advanced migration scenarios.