About live migrations from GitHub Enterprise Server to GHE.com - GitHub Docs Skip to main content GitHub Docs Version: Free, Pro, & Team Search or ask Copilot Search or ask Copilot Select language: current language is English Search or ask Copilot Search or ask Copilot Open menu Collapse sidebar Expand sidebar Scroll breadcrumbs left * Home * Migrations * Live migrations (GHES to GHE.com) * About live migrations Scroll breadcrumbs right Migrations * * * Overview * GitHub's migration tooling * Migrations within GitHub * Plan your migration * Migration paths * Locked repositories * Mannequins and user activity * Programmatic repository imports * Migrate from Azure DevOps * Get started * 1. Understand migrations * 2. Manage access * 3. Configure GitHub Enterprise Importer * 4. Prepare to migrate * 5. Migrate repositories * 6. 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Follow-up tasks * Migrate with GraphQL API * Migrator role * Complete migration * Access migration logs * Reclaim mannequins * Live migrations (GHES to GHE.com) * About live migrations * Prepare for your migration * Migrate your repository * Complete your migration * Troubleshooting * Migrated data reference * ELM CLI reference * ghe-migrator * About ghe-migrator * Export from GHES * Export from GitHub.com * Migrate data * Troubleshoot migrations * Troubleshoot migrations About live migrations from GitHub Enterprise Server to GHE.com How do live migrations minimize downtime for developers? Copy as Markdown In this article * What is Enterprise Live Migrations? * Differences from GitHub Enterprise Importer * Overview of a migration * Next steps What is Enterprise Live Migrations? Enterprise Live Migrations (ELM) is a service for migrating repositories from GitHub Enterprise Server to GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency (GHE.com). It is operated using an extension of the GitHub CLI. Migrations are "live" because users can continue using the source repository during most of the migration process. After the repository data is initially collected, webhooks check for changes to the repository, such as new commits or updates to settings. These changes are reported to ELM and included in the migration. An ELM migration includes a single repository. Organization-level data, such as organization settings, teams, and projects, are not included in the migration and must be reconfigured manually on the destination enterprise. Differences from GitHub Enterprise Importer ELM and GitHub Enterprise Importer (GEI) are separate tools that both support migrating repositories from GitHub Enterprise Server to GHE.com. The main benefits of ELM are: * Reduced developer downtime : During a migration with GEI, developers lose access to the repository for the duration of the migration. This downtime creates risks like blocked deployments or stalled feature work. * Monorepo support : ELM is capable of migrating large, complex monorepos with deep histories. These often exceed the capacity of GEI. * Better visibility : ELM provides detailed repository-level visibility into migration progress, surfacing granular failures so that you can be confident the migrated repository is an accurate replica. However, because of the higher traffic load associated with live updates, ELM supports fewer concurrent migrations than GEI: up to 10 concurrent repository migrations from a single GitHub Enterprise Server instance, and 20 concurrent migrations per destination enterprise. You may want to use both tools over the course of a platform migration, prioritizing the repositories that will benefit most from ELM. Overview of a migration A site administrator runs a migration using the GitHub CLI. Before running the migration, the operator must configure the GitHub Enterprise Server instance and provide personal access tokens with access to both GitHub Enterprise Server and the destination enterprise. The high-level phases of a migration are: * Creation : The site admin runs CLI commands to create and start the migration, specifying the source repository and destination. * Preflight checks : The migration service verifies parameters, tokens, network connectivity, and repository configuration. * Backfill : The ELM tool does an initial crawl to capture all repository data and sends it to the migration service on the destination platform. During the backfill phase, webhooks check for live updates to the repository as the migration continues. * Cutover : The source repository is archived (made read-only) and any final live updates are sent to ELM. This is the downtime period for developers. * Completion : The migration is finished. The site admin can check the data was migrated successfully. * Follow-up : An organization owner performs follow-up tasks on the destination enterprise, such as reconfiguring organization settings and reattributing activity to users. Next steps To get ready to run a migration, see Preparing for your live migration from GitHub Enterprise Server to GHE.com . Back to top Help and support Was this Doc helpful? Yes No Help us make GitHub Docs great! All Docs are open source. See something that's wrong or unclear? Submit a pull request. Make a contribution Still need help? Ask the GitHub community Contact support Expert services Blog GitHub Inc. © 2026 Terms Privacy Status Pricing