Modern Web Stack for WordPress Developers
If you have built WordPress sites for years and the modern-stack conversations have started to feel like a language you only half-speak, this is for you. Sixteen short modules, each mapping one piece of the modern web back to something you already know from WordPress: Next.js, Vercel, Supabase, the edge, Docker, CI/CD, and the rest.
The goal is fluency, not depth. Enough to hold the conversation, make the right call for a client, and tell real progress from hype. Every module comes with an audio companion if you would rather listen on a walk than read at a desk.
Cluster A Foundations
1Why Modern Web Feels Alien to WordPress DevsA few months ago I was on a call with a potential client. Smart guy, technical co-founder. Halfway through, he said something like: "We were going…2JavaScript and TypeScript for PHP PeopleThe first time I opened a Next.js codebase I closed it again within ten minutes. Not because the JavaScript was hard. Because I had no idea…
Cluster B Frontend
3React, in WordPress TermsFor about a year I avoided React. Every explanation I read was written by someone who had never touched WordPress, and the analogies were all wrong.…4Next.js: The WordPress of ReactWhen someone tells you their app is "built in Next.js," they are saying about as much as someone telling you their site is "built in WordPress."…5When NOT to Use Next.jsReaching for Next.js on every project is the modern web equivalent of installing WordPress on every domain you own. It is the default for a reason,…
Cluster C Data & Auth
6Beyond Shared MySQL: Cloud Databases for WordPress DevelopersFor about fifteen years my mental model of "the database" was identical to my mental model of "WordPress hosting." You bought a hosting plan, the hosting…7From WPDB to Drizzle, Prisma, and KyselyEvery WordPress developer who has been around the block has the same relationship with WPDB. You learn get_results() and prepare() early. You write raw SQL because…8Auth in 2026: What Replaced wp_usersThe reason most WordPress developers find modern auth confusing is that WordPress solved auth so completely, so long ago, that we forgot it was even a…
Cluster D Hosting, Deploy & Infra
9Hosting Beyond Kinsta: Vercel, Fly, Railway, Cloudflare, and FriendsHosting is the area of the modern stack where the old mental models break down most aggressively for WordPress developers. Kinsta, WP Engine, Servebolt, even SiteGround…10Serverless and Edge Functions, Finally Explained"Serverless" has been the most consistently misnamed concept in modern web development for about a decade. There are servers. There are absolutely servers. The word "serverless"…11Docker for WordPress DevelopersDocker has been around long enough that most WordPress developers have heard of it, opened a tutorial, recognised nothing, and quietly closed the tab. It does…
12CI/CD: Goodbye FTP, Hello GitHub ActionsThe way most WordPress shops still deploy code in 2026 would have looked normal in 2005. You connect to the server with FileZilla or scp. You…
Cluster E Operations & Polish
13Observability When You Can't Just SSH InFor most of my WordPress career, "debugging production" meant ssh -p 28104 [email protected], navigate to the public folder, tail -f error_log, refresh the page, watch the…
14Tailwind, shadcn/ui, and the New Design-System MetaFor most of my WordPress career, "styling" meant a style.css file in the theme directory, maybe organised into a few partials, possibly compiled from SCSS, with…15Headless WordPress: The BridgeMost WordPress veterans have heard "headless WordPress" pitched at them at least three times in the last five years. Once in 2019 (decoupled themes are the…
Cluster F Putting It Together
16How the Pieces Wire Up: A Modern Stack Integration TourIf you read the previous fifteen modules in order, you now know what Next.js, React, Drizzle, Supabase, Auth.js, Vercel, GitHub Actions, and Tailwind each are. You…
