How AI Automated My Astro 4 to Astro 5 Migration: A Real-World Example

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by 56kode

Upgrading dependencies can feel overwhelming, especially when a big update like Astro 4 to Astro 5 brings major breaking changes. After my vacation, I faced 22 outdated packages on my Astro blog. Instead of tackling them all manually, I let AI handle the entire migration process — including the challenging Content Layer redesign in Astro 5.

What you’ll learn

How to prepare and categorize dependency updates by risk level

Tackling Astro 5’s new Content Layer API and migration challenges

Adapting your content collections and rendering code for Astro 5

Managing routing changes like switching from slug to id

Handling complex TypeScript errors pragmatically during migration

A taste of what’s covered

One major challenge was replacing the old post.render() rendering method with Astro 5’s new Content Layer API. The AI discovered that instead of rendering with a method, you now access the rendered HTML directly:

// Old way in Astro 4
const { Content } = await post.render();

// New way in Astro 5
const renderedHTML = post.rendered?.html;

The migration also meant updating routing logic to use id instead of slug in some contexts:

// Before
{featuredPosts.map(({ data, slug }) => (
  <Card href={`/posts/${slug}/`} frontmatter={data} />
))}

// After
{featuredPosts.map(({ data, id }) => (
  <Card href={`/posts/${id}/`} frontmatter={data} />
))}

Conclusion

This real migration shows how AI can help automate complex upgrades and navigate tricky API changes — saving you time and headaches. Want to see the full step-by-step process and lessons learned?

Read the full article here: https://www.56kode.com/posts/automated-astro-dependencies-update-cursor-claude/

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by 56kode