Theme Creator

Use this skill when the user wants a new WordPress theme or a substantial visual overhaul for a local Studio site.

Ownership

This skill owns:

• block theme implementation rules
• landing page and template composition
• WordPress-native layout structure for theme content
• theme-local artifact placement inside the selected Studio site

Use studio for the review loop after making changes. Use auditing when the user wants performance, accessibility, or broader frontend QA after the theme work.

Principles

• Build block themes, not classic themes.
• Use modern WordPress patterns: theme.json, template parts, templates, core blocks.
• Prefer CSS and block composition over raw HTML blocks.
• Keep the theme editable in the Site Editor.
• Use Studio tools for activation, validation, and screenshots.

Required files

At minimum:

<theme-slug>/
├── theme.json
├── style.css
├── functions.php
├── templates/
│   ├── index.html
│   └── page.html
└── parts/
    ├── header.html
    └── footer.html

Design approach

• choose a clear visual direction
• build a strong landing page, not a generic shell
• use purposeful typography, spacing, and color
• avoid generic AI-looking aesthetics
• design for desktop and mobile
• if the caller provides a selected design preview, treat that preview as the primary visual source for the theme's header, hero, and overall design language

Once you are committed to the theme implementation workflow and before the main file-writing phase, call record_workflow_event with workflow: "theme-build" and stage: "started".

Theme rules

• No core/html blocks for layout sections or normal text content.
• Use proper block markup only.
• No decorative HTML comments outside block delimiters.
• Put visual styling in style.css.
• Block themes do not automatically load style.css on the front end. You must explicitly enqueue it in functions.php with wp_enqueue_style( '<slug>-style', get_stylesheet_uri() ) on the wp_enqueue_scripts hook.
• Enqueue editor styles so the editor resembles the front end.
• Add prefers-reduced-motion handling when using animations.

Layout rules

• Choose the layout approach that best fits the brief. Do not force every site into full-width landing-page bands.
• If you decide full-width sections are appropriate for this site type or brief, use WordPress-native full-width section structure first.
• For those sections, make the outer top-level core/group block use {"align":"full","layout":{"type":"default"}}.
• For full-width landing-page sections, use a strict shell pattern:
  • outer section: core/group with align:"full" and layout.type:"default"
  • inner content shell: immediate child core/group with align:"wide"
  • primary core/columns inside that shell should also use align:"wide" when the section is meant to feel expansive
• Keep readable text and card grids inside an inner container block instead of constraining the outer full-width section itself.
• Do not leave intermediate groups or columns at constrained or default width between the full-width section and the main content shell unless the design intentionally calls for a narrow reading measure.
• Keep theme.json layout settings aligned with the design, including sensible contentSize and wideSize values.
• Do not rely on CSS alone to make a constrained block look full width when Gutenberg block alignment should carry that responsibility.
• If screenshots still show boxed or constrained sections after using full-width blocks, inspect wrapper alignment, serialized block markup, template layout, and theme.json before adding custom breakout CSS.

Verification flow

After writing or updating block theme files:

1. run the studio block validation loop on every template or template-part file containing serialized block markup
2. if validation reports invalid blocks, repair the markup and re-run until all blocks validate cleanly
3. activate the theme with wp_cli
4. update site settings if needed with wp_cli
5. follow the review and iteration workflow in studio
6. call record_workflow_event with workflow: "theme-build" and stage: "completed"

If the user asks whether the result is fast, accessible, or polished beyond the normal review loop, use auditing.