Migration

Crow CI tries to maintains compatibility with Woodpecker CI and Drone CI to simplify migration.

Compatibility

Feature	Woodpecker	Drone
Plugins	Full	Full
Environment variables	WOODPECKER_* supported	DRONE_* supported
Pipeline syntax	Full	Partial (2019 fork)

From Woodpecker

Crow v5 is a hard-fork of Woodpecker CI. Earlier Crow v4 was a soft-fork with some unique database migrations.

Environment Variables

Crow accepts both prefixes:

• CROW_* — native Crow configuration
• WOODPECKER_* — supported for migration convenience

Note

New Woodpecker features after v3.5 may not be available in Crow. Crow-specific features use the CROW_ prefix.

Migration Steps

1. Back up your database — While migration is safe, backups are always recommended

2. Replace container images with Crow equivalents

3. Start Crow — it will automatically detect and migrate the Woodpecker database

4. Optionally rename WOODPECKER_* vars to CROW_*

5. Update webhook URLs if using a different domain

Database Migration

When Crow starts with a Woodpecker database, it automatically:

1. Detects the Woodpecker database — Crow checks for Woodpecker-specific migration IDs

2. Displays a migration banner — You’ll see a prominent message in the logs:

   ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
   ║  WOODPECKER DATABASE DETECTED                                  ║
   ║                                                                ║
   ║  Migrating from Woodpecker CI to Crow CI                       ║
   ║  This is a ONE-TIME migration process.                         ║
   ║                                                                ║
   ║  Your data will be preserved and upgraded automatically.       ║
   ║  For best results, ensure you have a database backup.          ║
   ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

3. Applies Crow-specific migrations — New tables and columns for Crow features (HA mode, maintenance, autoscalers, etc.)

4. Confirms completion — A success message confirms the migration

One-Way Migration

After migrating to Crow, you should not downgrade back to Woodpecker. The Crow-specific migrations may not be compatible with Woodpecker.

Unknown Migrations Warning

If your Woodpecker database has migrations that Crow doesn’t recognize (e.g., from a newer Woodpecker version), you’ll see a warning:

Unknown migration IDs detected in database. These may be from a different
version or fork. Migration will continue but review is recommended.

This is informational — Crow will continue and apply its own migrations. Your data is preserved.

From Drone

Woodpecker forked from Drone in 2019, and Crow inherits that compatibility Drone plugins work with Crow.

Tip

Drone and its plugins have received only minimal updates since 2019. Migrating to Crow gives you active development and modern features while keeping plugin compatibility.