creating-themes
Installation
SKILL.md
When to use me
Use this skill when creating a new theme from scratch. Do not use this skill when modifying an existing theme.
General Rules
Follow these rules carefully unless the user explicitly requests otherwise:
- Focus on the home page first: Create a beautiful, image-rich home page as the centerpiece of the initial theme. The home page should showcase the theme's aesthetic vision with compelling visuals, strong typography, and engaging layout. Put your creative energy here.
- Minimal template set: On initial theme creation, only create
index.html. Avoid creating additional templates likesingle.html,page.html,archive.html, etc. unless the user specifically requests them. Keep the initial scope focused. - Patterns for landing pages: When creating a theme that includes a landing page or multi-section home page, generate block patterns for each major section (hero, features, testimonials, FAQ, CTA, etc.) and compose them into the
index.htmltemplate. This produces a richer, more polished result. Load thegenerating-patternsskill for detailed guidance. - Prefer templates over patterns for simple themes: For minimal or single-purpose themes without a landing page, default to templates rather than patterns. Only create patterns when they add clear value.
- Pattern visibility rule: Every pattern you create must be included in a template so the user can immediately preview it. Patterns that exist only in the
patterns/directory without being used in any template are hard to discover. - Footer credit: Default to a minimal, neutral credit (or none at all). When rebuilding a user's site as a replica, do not insert third-party branding into the footer. If the user explicitly asks for a credit line, adapt the styling (font size, colors) to match the theme's design. Example:
<!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Powered by <a href="https://wordpress.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WordPress</a></p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->