The tech changes. The benchmark shouldn't.

Six situations Brndle is built to handle

If any of these match what you're working on, you're our reader.

Brndle is not for everyone, and the site is not trying to convert every visitor. It is built for agencies and developers who are already past the page-builder era and want their themes to read like real software.

1. Replace page builders with native blocks

   Situation

   You ship client sites and your page builder is sluggish, lock-in, and breaks at every WP update

   Outcome

   14 server-rendered Gutenberg blocks (apiVersion 3). No Elementor, no Divi, no JS lock-in. Zero KB JS on content pages.

2. Deliver client sites faster (one theme, unlimited brands)

   Situation

   Agency dev, you fork the same theme 30 times a year and each one accumulates drift

   Outcome

   One Brndle install per client. Pick color scheme + font pair + header + footer in settings. Save & ship.

3. Ship AI-built landing pages from the editor

   Situation

   You want Claude or GPT to draft landing-page copy but page builders fight the AI output

   Outcome

   Blocks designed for AI-friendly insertion. Drop in hero, stats, features, FAQ, CTA blocks - matches the AI mental model.

4. Adopt Laravel + Tailwind + Vite on WordPress

   Situation

   You like the Laravel + Tailwind + Vite stack but most WP themes are jQuery + Sass + Gulp

   Outcome

   Sage + Acorn (Blade templating), Tailwind CSS v4, Vite 7. Same DX as Laravel apps, inside WordPress.

5. Hit Lighthouse 100 on every page

   Situation

   Your client perf scores are mediocre because the theme ships 200KB of JS for a slider you never use

   Outcome

   Brndle ships ~0 KB JS on content pages. Lighthouse 100 is the baseline, not a stretch goal.

6. Get future Astro + Ghost themes from the same shop

   Situation

   You run multi-stack clients - some on WP, some on Astro, some moving to Ghost

   Outcome

   Brndle for WordPress is shipping now. Astro + Ghost variants in the pipeline. Same design system across all stacks.

The benchmark, six principles

Six things every Brndle reference implementation must do, no matter the runtime.

A theme's tech stack varies. Its file system, template language, and build tooling vary. None of that is an excuse for shipping inaccessible markup, render-blocking JS, or a locked Pro tier. The Brndle theme for WordPress is one reference for the six below. The Astro, Ghost, and Shopify references will be evaluated against the same six.

1. Sage + Acorn

   Laravel Blade templating inside WordPress. Roots ecosystem. The agency standard for modern WP themes.

2. Tailwind CSS v4

   Utility-first, zero runtime JS, dark-mode aware, design tokens in CSS. Same vocabulary as the rest of frontend.

3. Vite 7

   HMR dev server, optimized prod bundle, ESM-first. Builds in seconds, not minutes.

4. Server-rendered blocks

   apiVersion 3 Gutenberg blocks rendered server-side. No client React hydration on content pages.

5. ~0 KB JS

   Content pages ship effectively zero JavaScript. Editor blocks register in admin only.

6. 100% GPL-2.0+

   No proprietary code, no locked features, no telemetry. Modify, fork, ship to clients without a license check.

Install

Three paths in. Pick one.

No license check, no activation key, no telemetry. Drop in, activate, configure in the settings panel.

1. 01

   Release zip (recommended)

   Download brndle-x.x.x.zip from GitHub Releases. WP admin → Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme. Activate. Done.

   Download latest release
2. 02

   From source (development)

   git clone https://github.com/brndle-themes/brndle.git \
     wp-content/themes/brndle
   cd wp-content/themes/brndle
   composer install
   npm install
   npm run build && npm run admin:build && npm run blocks:build

   Then activate in WP admin. Requires WP 6.6+, PHP 8.2+, Node 20+, Composer.

3. 03

   Configure

   After activation, open Brndle in the WP admin sidebar. Walk the tabs (Site Identity → Colors → Typography → Header → Footer → Performance). Save. Frontend re-renders.

   Read the docs

Questions we get asked

Eight answers, all visible. No accordion to click through.

Is Brndle actually free?

Yes. 100% GPL-2.0+. No paid tier, no trial, no upsell. Free release zip from GitHub Releases. The source is open at github.com/brndle-themes/brndle. Contribute, fork, modify, ship to clients - all without paying.

Why no Pro version?

The WordPress theme market does not need another locked Pro tier. Brndle ships every capability in the free version. Agencies can use it on unlimited client sites without a license check or activation key. Wbcom Designs sustains Brndle through other products and services - Brndle itself is a contribution to the WordPress commons.

What is "Lighthouse 100" specifically?

On a default Brndle install, every page (home, archive, single post, page) scores 100 in Lighthouse Performance + Accessibility + Best Practices + SEO on mobile and desktop. Achieved by zero KB JS on content pages, system-ui + variable fonts, lazy-loaded images by default, and no third-party embeds in the default config.

Does it require a page builder?

No. Brndle ships 14 native Gutenberg blocks (apiVersion 3, server-rendered). The block editor is the page builder. Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Bricks, Oxygen - none required, none supported. If you need them, use a different theme.

What about Astro + Ghost themes?

Brndle for WordPress is the first ship. Brndle for Astro is in active development (target Q3 2026). Brndle for Ghost is in design (target Q4 2026). Same design system across all three - 12 schemes, 8 font pairs, the same component vocabulary. Each ships as a separate open-source project under the brndle-themes GitHub org.

Plugin compatibility?

Built-in support for Yoast SEO + RankMath (breadcrumbs, JSON-LD), WooCommerce (gallery zoom, lightbox, slider with theme-consistent wrappers), and WPML + Polylang (automatic hreflang). Brndle assumes WP 6.6+ and PHP 8.2+.

Where do I report bugs / request features?

GitHub Issues at github.com/brndle-themes/brndle/issues. We use GitHub Projects to track the public roadmap. Pull requests welcome.

Who maintains Brndle?

Wbcom Designs - WordPress agency since 2013. 4.7/5 on Trustpilot from 90+ reviews. We ship community + commercial WordPress plugins (BuddyX, Reign, Jetonomy, WPMediaVerse, Learnomy, WP Career Board) plus AI workflows for enterprise teams.