WordPress CMS.
Astro Speed.
Headless WordPress websites built for speed, scalability and long-term performance. I build and maintain modern sites with WordPress as the content backend, Astro as the frontend, and Cloudflare Workers delivering your site at the edge.
WordPress CMS
Content backend
API
WPGraphQL layer
Astro
Pre-rendered frontend
Cloudflare
Global edge delivery
Visitor
Fast, everywhere
Static
Pre-rendered
Edge
Globally cached
Zero
Runtime DB
The problem
Your website should not slow your business down.
Traditional WordPress sites tend to accumulate weight. What starts fast slowly turns into a maintenance burden that hurts performance, SEO and conversions.
Too many plugins
Every plugin adds weight, requests and another thing that can break.
Heavy page builders
Visual builders generate bloated markup and layers of unused CSS.
Excessive JavaScript
Scripts pile up until the browser spends more time parsing than painting.
Slow hosting
Shared origins buckle under traffic and cache misses.
Database-heavy rendering
Pages assembled per request instead of served pre-built.
Plugin conflicts
Updates collide and quietly take pages down.
Difficult updates
Fear of breaking the site turns maintenance into a gamble.
Degrades as it grows
More content and features mean slower pages over time.
Keep WordPress where it works best.
WordPress is an excellent content management system. The problem is rarely the CMS, it's the frontend. So we keep the familiar WordPress editing experience and move the public-facing website to a modern, decoupled frontend built for speed.
Why headless
Separate the content from the experience.
Decoupling the CMS from the frontend keeps editing familiar while giving visitors a dramatically leaner website.
Traditional WordPress
monolithic- 01 WordPress
- 02 Theme
- 03 Plugins
- 04 PHP
- 05 Database
- 06 Visitor
Headless WordPress
streamlined- 01 WordPress CMS
- 02 API
- 03 Astro
- 04 Optimized frontend
- 05 Cloudflare edge
- 06 Visitor
Performance
Less frontend JavaScript and pre-rendered pages help reduce page weight and improve loading performance.
Security
The public website does not need to expose the WordPress installation as the primary frontend.
Scalability
The frontend is distributed through global infrastructure rather than relying entirely on one origin server.
Maintainability
Content editors keep using WordPress while the frontend stays separated from the CMS.
SEO
Fast HTML delivery, semantic markup, clean URLs, structured data, metadata, sitemaps and technical foundations.
Flexibility
The WordPress backend and the frontend can evolve independently, on their own timelines.
The stack
A modern stack, without sacrificing WordPress.
Four layers, each doing one job well, wired together into a single fast pipeline from editor to visitor.
WORDPRESS
Your content management system.
Flexible content models, custom fields, editorial workflows, media management, SEO data and integrations.
WPGRAPHQL / API
The connection layer.
Content travels from WordPress to the frontend through a clean, queryable API.
ASTRO
The frontend.
Pre-rendered pages, minimal JavaScript, component-based development and excellent performance.
CLOUDFLARE
The delivery layer.
Global edge infrastructure, caching, security, DNS and Workers-based deployment.
Performance
Performance is an architecture decision.
Real speed starts long before optimization plugins and image compression. It starts with how the site is built and delivered. Astro's server-first approach ships minimal client-side JavaScript by default.
The fundamentals
- 01 Less JavaScript
- 02 Fewer requests
- 03 Smaller page payloads
- 04 Fast HTML delivery
- 05 Global edge delivery
- 06 Optimized images
- 07 Pre-rendered pages
Core Web Vitals
Example production targetsLCP
0.8s
CLS
0.00
INP
<200ms
Page weight
312KB
Figures shown are typical optimization goals for a well-architected build, not guaranteed results. Actual numbers depend on content, assets, third-party scripts and integrations.
How it works
From existing WordPress to modern frontend.
A clear, repeatable process that takes a slow legacy site and turns it into a fast, maintainable headless build.
- 01
Plan
Audit the existing website and define the new architecture.
- 02
Structure
Build the WordPress content model and API structure.
- 03
Design
Create the visual system, components and responsive layouts.
- 04
Build
Develop the Astro frontend and connect it to WordPress.
- 05
Deploy
Deploy through Cloudflare Workers and configure production infrastructure.
- 06
Maintain
Monitor, update and continuously improve the website.
Benefits
What changes when you go headless?
The editing experience stays familiar. Almost everything else about how the site is built and delivered gets better.
Faster websites
Deliver optimized frontend pages without traditional WordPress theme rendering.
Better editing
Your team still works inside WordPress, with the workflows they already know.
Cleaner frontend
The frontend remains independent from WordPress themes and page-builder output.
Better control
Build the exact interface and functionality your business actually needs.
Reduced frontend bloat
Avoid unnecessary frontend code and plugin-generated assets.
Built to scale
Separate CMS infrastructure from frontend delivery so each can grow independently.
Modern development. Use component-based Astro development instead of forcing everything through a WordPress theme.
Who it's for
Built for businesses that take their website seriously.
Growing businesses
Your existing WordPress site works, but performance and maintenance are becoming problems.
Agencies
You need a reliable headless WordPress architecture for client websites.
Content-heavy websites
Your site has large amounts of content and needs fast, consistent delivery.
Businesses rebuilding
You want a modern frontend without abandoning WordPress.
If your website is already performing well and has no meaningful limitations, headless architecture might not be necessary. I focus on projects where the architecture provides a clear business or technical benefit.
Before / after
See the difference in five seconds.
A long, per-request path: every visit re-assembles the page from theme, plugins and database.
A short, cache-friendly path: content is pre-rendered and served from the edge.
Free website audit
Is your WordPress website holding you back?
Share your site and get a free initial assessment of where it stands today and whether a headless approach would genuinely help.
- Performance review
- Frontend architecture review
- WordPress setup review
- SEO fundamentals
- Hosting and CDN review
- Headless suitability assessment
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Practical answers about how headless WordPress works and whether it fits your business.
What is a headless WordPress website?
It means WordPress runs only as the content backend. Instead of WordPress rendering the public pages, the content is delivered through an API to a separate frontend, built here with Astro, which is what visitors actually see.
Do I still edit content in WordPress?
Yes. You and your team keep using the WordPress editor, custom fields and workflows you already know. Only the public-facing frontend changes.
Why use Astro instead of a WordPress theme?
Astro pre-renders pages and ships minimal JavaScript by default, so pages tend to be lighter and faster than typical theme and page-builder output. It also gives full control over the markup and components.
Will my existing WordPress content work?
In most cases yes. Existing posts, pages and custom fields can be exposed through the API and mapped into the new frontend. Some structures may need tidying up as part of the migration.
Does headless WordPress improve SEO?
It provides strong technical SEO foundations, fast HTML delivery, semantic markup, clean URLs, structured data and sitemaps. SEO results still depend on content, competition and overall strategy, so no specific ranking can be promised.
How fast will my website be?
A well-architected headless build is typically much faster than a plugin-heavy traditional site. Actual numbers depend on your content, assets, third-party scripts, integrations and hosting.
Do I need Cloudflare?
Cloudflare is the recommended delivery layer for edge caching, security and Workers-based deployment, but the architecture can be adapted to other infrastructure if you have specific requirements.
Can you migrate an existing WordPress website?
Yes. Migrating a traditional WordPress site to a headless Astro frontend, while keeping WordPress as the CMS, is one of the most common projects I take on.
Can you maintain the website after launch?
Yes. Ongoing maintenance covers WordPress, dependencies, the frontend, performance monitoring, security and Cloudflare configuration, as a continuing partnership.
What happens if I want to change the design later?
Because the frontend is decoupled and component-based, design changes can be made independently of the CMS without rebuilding your content.
Is headless WordPress suitable for ecommerce?
It can be, depending on your platform and requirements. Ecommerce adds cart, checkout and payment considerations, so suitability is best assessed case by case.
Do I need to replace my existing WordPress hosting?
Not necessarily. WordPress can keep running on suitable hosting as the backend, while the frontend is delivered separately through Cloudflare. The right setup depends on your current environment.
Your WordPress backend is fine.
Your frontend deserves better.
Move the visitor experience to Astro and deliver your website through modern edge infrastructure.