Resources
Starters, tools, and the stack I use.
Free WordPress starters to study, tools I recommend, and the stack behind every site I ship. For developers and business owners alike.
What you will find here.
Starters are free to fork. Paid themes link to the shop when listed. Tool recommendations may include disclosed affiliate links — see the note at the top when they appear.
Free WordPress starters
Open code and example builds. Fork them, read them, or hire me to turn one into a production site.
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Projects
WordPress themes and plugins with a live demo, stack notes, and the repo for each one.
Code on this site
Pinned repos, recent pushes, and the languages I work in, pulled from the GitHub API.
GitHub profile (opens in a new window)
Themes, plugins, and apps under MIT or similar licenses unless a repo says otherwise.
Tools I recommend
Hosting, editors, and marketing tools I use. Affiliate links are labeled.
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Cursor (opens in a new window)
AI-assisted editor I use daily for Sage, PHP, and front-end work.
SiteGround (opens in a new window)
Managed WordPress hosting I use for client and personal sites (SSH, PHP 8.3, solid support).
HubSpot (opens in a new window)
CRM and form capture when a shop needs a simple pipeline without a custom build.
Uses
The stack I use.
What I actually use on shipped WordPress and web work — not exhaustive, just what I reach for. External links open in a new tab; affiliate links are labeled.
WordPress development
The Roots starter theme. Blade templates, Tailwind v4, Vite. Every site I build from scratch starts here.
- PHP 8.3
The language everything runs on. Typed functions, match expressions, named arguments. Nothing exotic.
CSS utility framework. Token-based, no config file needed. Fluid type with clamp(), mobile-first always.
Asset bundler. Fast, simple config. Handles CSS, JS, and image hashing for cache-busting.
The IoC container that makes Sage feel like a proper application. Service providers, Blade directives, view composers.
Command-line tools for WordPress. Database exports, plugin management, custom commands. Most deploys never touch wp-admin.
PHP dependency manager. Every project has a composer.json. No manual library downloads.
PHP code style fixer. Runs in CI before every deploy. Catches whitespace and formatting issues automatically.
Editor and tools
My primary editor. VS Code-compatible with an AI layer that helps rather than gets in the way. This site was planned and built with it and Claude.
Version control and CI/CD trigger. Every project lives in a GitHub repo. Pushes to main kick off builds and deploys automatically.
Automated build and deploy pipeline. Runs Composer, npm, and the release zip on every push. Zero manual uploads.
Database GUI for local MySQL and SQLite. Useful for inspecting WordPress tables without writing raw SQL.
- iTerm2 / zsh
Terminal. Nothing special — zsh with a minimal prompt. SSH into servers, run WP-CLI, tail logs.
Hosting and deploy
Managed WordPress hosting for this site. LiteSpeed cache, PHP 8.3+, hPanel. Theme installs from the GitHub theme-latest zip.
- GitHub Releases
Theme deployment method for this site. CI builds a zip, publishes it as a release, and wp-admin pulls it over HTTPS. No FTP.
- WordPress Studio / SQLite
Local WordPress for development. No MySQL required, no Docker overhead.
Analytics and marketing
Site traffic, page performance, and audience data. Linked through Google Tag Manager.
Single container for all tracking scripts. One snippet on the page, everything else managed in GTM.
- HubSpot (opens in a new window) Affiliate
CRM and contact capture. Picks up form submissions and tracks visitor activity for follow-up.
Bing Webmaster Tools for search performance. Microsoft UET for ad conversion tracking.
Design and typography
Display and heading font. Clean, reads well at both large and small sizes. The workhorse.
Body text font. Slightly warmer than Inter. Works well at the 1.1–1.2rem range.
Code font. Used in blog post code blocks and the monospace CSS variable.
Design when a client needs wireframes or component specs before I build. Not a daily tool — I prefer designing in the browser.
Syntax highlighting for blog post code blocks. Copy button added via a small custom JS module.
Power Platform
Canvas and model-driven apps for Microsoft 365 environments. Used at previous roles and on client work when it is the right tool.
Workflow automation. Approval flows, SharePoint triggers, Teams notifications. Useful when a team already lives in M365.
- SharePoint
Common data source for Power Apps. Lists, document libraries, and permissions.
Available now
Want this stack on your project?
Resources here are starting points. Hire me for a production WordPress site, plugin, or web app — full-time, contract, or project.
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