Creating an XM Cloud Project from an Existing Sitecore Solution in Bitbucket

In this blog post, I will set up an XM Cloud environment with an existing Sitecore solution.

If you are migrating an existing Sitecore solution to XM Cloud, you must migrate the source to an XM Cloud-compatible solution. To start, you can clone the XM Cloud SXA-based starter template repository. This template solution can be used as a base to migrate all of your existing projects to it. In this blog post, I will use Bitbucket as my repository, add the existing solution, and deploy it to XM Cloud. Please note that XM Cloud does not support MVC solutions. You must migrate or rewrite your MVC solution to a headless SXA solution. 

Clone Template Solution

In Bitbucket, I used the repository import feature to clone and import the template solution from the GitHub template repository. Alternatively, you can simply clone the repository to your local environment or to another Git repository.

Update template solution with the existing solution

From an existing solution perspective, I have only the Scheduled Publish module, which I have added to the template solution and checked in. In your case, you may have many projects, and you will need to migrate them to the XM Cloud-compatible template solution.

Based on Sitecore's recent blog, Sitecore recommends partners adopt industry-standard practices that align with the specific implementation technologies being used. Previously, the Helix architectural guidelines were used for MVC and Sitecore headless projects, but Sitecore no longer recommends their use for headless projects.

https://community.sitecore.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=c0c103ea1b81bdd038a46421b24bcba9

In this case, I am not following any guidelines, but I wanted to show how the custom solution can be migrated and deployed from other than GitHub.

Create XM Cloud Project using the updated solution

The XM Cloud Deploy app can only connect to GitHub from the admin UI. It cannot connect to other source control platforms, such as Azure DevOps or Bitbucket. Therefore, to use Bitbucket, you must create your XM Cloud project using the CLI and upload your custom code once.

CLI Login

Create Project:

Please note the Project Id that you get it in the response. 

Create Environment: 

Please note the Environment Id that you get it in the response. 

Create Deployment with Upload Option

That's it. 

Next Steps:

Now the CM Cloud application is ready with the custom solution hosted in BitBucket. You can then setup CI/CD with Sitecore CLI and start managing your application source code from BitBucket itself. 

You can view my sample project in BitBuket here.