# Ink-to-cell migration

Source: /tuil/docs/guides/cell-migration
Locale: en

Move an existing Ink application to the cell backend safely.



First remove direct Ink instance access and move application projection behind
`defineRendererApplication`. Express geometry through layout projections and
pointer hit regions, then switch `renderer` to `cell` and run the renderer
conformance tests. A React tree composed from Ink primitives is accepted only by
the Ink compatibility path; the cell path never mounts Ink or transcodes an
ANSI capture. Verify wide graphemes, resize, alternate-screen cleanup, focus
reporting, paste, and clipboard behavior in a real terminal.

The renderer-neutral application retains lifecycle, input, resize, semantics,
style, and invalidation contracts across both backends. An optional prototype
can profile a narrow changed-cell count boundary, but applications must opt in
and retain the TypeScript implementation as the production default.