GitHub Enterprise Live Migrations (ELM) Now GA for GHES to Cloud

Enterprise Live Migrations continuously syncs data from source to target, enabling cutovers in minutes instead of days. This capability allows developers to continue working in their repositories throughout the migration process, which is especially valuable for business-critical and geographically dispersed teams.

ELM is purpose-built to handle massive monorepos with deep Git history, large volumes of issues and pull requests, and constant activity. The tool provides resource-level progress tracking that surfaces potential failures before cutover, allowing for informed decisions on when to proceed.

Users can install the `gh elm` GitHub CLI extension to configure credentials and manage the ELM lifecycle, including creating, monitoring, and initiating cutovers via the GHES REST API. The extension offers human-readable output for progress tracking and JSON output for scripting and automation.

ELM works alongside GitHub Enterprise Importer (GEI), providing flexibility to choose the appropriate tool for each repository based on its size, shape, and activity. GEI is suitable for straightforward migrations where brief downtime is acceptable, while ELM addresses the need for a zero-disruption approach, and both can be run concurrently.

Enterprise Live Migrations supports migrations from GitHub Enterprise Server versions 3.17.18+, 3.18.12+, 3.19.9+, 3.20.3+, 3.21.3+, and 3.22.0+. This release is compatible with the most recent GHES patch releases, with plans for expanded migration paths in the future.