{"id":229,"slug":"divi-4-to-5-one-way-migration-feb-2026","title":"Divi 5 official release Feb 26, 2026; Divi 4 → 5 is one-way migration; rollback gets harder over time","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["wordpress","platform-lock-in","page-builders"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** Divi 5 entered beta November 2022; removed beta label **February 26, 2026** — a 3+ year development cycle that disrupted customer projects. Elegant Themes documents Divi 4 storing *\"all layout data as shortcodes… [Divi 5] replaces shortcode-based layout storage with a new, more stable storage format\"* — migration is a **one-way data conversion**.\n\n**Quote (Elegant Themes Help Center):**\n\n> \"Switching from Divi 4 to Divi 5 is a **one-way update via the Migrator**… the longer you run Divi 5 and edit content, the harder a clean rollback becomes.\"\n\n**Source:** <https://elegantthemes.com/blog/divi-resources/how-to-migrate-your-website-to-divi-5>; <https://help.elegantthemes.com/en/articles/12767407-how-to-safely-migrate-from-divi-4-to-divi-5>\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**The page-builder lock-in pattern made explicit.** The vendor itself documents that rollback degrades over time — *\"the longer you run Divi 5 and edit content, the harder a clean rollback becomes.\"* This is the architectural inverse of [[rule-require-database-export-day-one]]. Pairs with [[divi-4-shortcode-lockin-et-pb]] for the original architectural debt.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"divi-4-shortcode-lockin-et-pb","title":"Divi 4 stored content as proprietary [et_pb_*] shortcodes — orphan text on theme deactivation (Divi 5 fixes this)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-built-to-last","title":"Research brief: Built to Last — why most SMB sites rebuild every 3-4 years (piece 5 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:58:12.865Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:58:12.865Z"}