WordPress backend. Your frontend.
A WordPress plugin that replaces frontend rendering with an internal theme system — fast, SEO-ready, and fully under your control.
Backend
WordPress
Frontend
Catalyst themes
Admin
Integrated UI
Everything you need
Catalyst replaces WordPress frontend rendering while keeping the CMS you already know.
Theme engine
Folder-based themes with layout, landing, single, and page routes. Drop in custom themes — auto-discovered via theme.json.
Integrated content admin
Manage posts and pages inside Catalyst — visual editor, drag-and-drop sections, Gutenberg blocks, per-page SEO, and auto-save.
SEO & discovery
Meta tags, Open Graph, canonical URLs, sitemap.xml, robots.txt, and llms.txt — built in, no extra plugins.
GA4 & Search Console
Paste your Measurement ID and verification code. Catalyst handles tracking tags and sitemap submission URLs.
Performance
Optional CSS/JS minify, WebP generation, post query caching, DNS prefetch, and font preconnect hints.
Security headers
Configurable referrer policy, X-Frame-Options, nosniff, and optional generator tag hiding.
Built-in themes
Mono, Null, and Grain ship out of the box — distinct personalities, not color swaps.
Theme marketplace
Premium theme browsing and one-click install — coming soon.
GitHub updates
Auto-update from GitHub releases when you tag versions that match CATALYST_VERSION.
Universal 404
Light, readable 404 page handled at the plugin level — consistent across all themes.
Install in minutes
Requires WordPress 6.0+ and PHP 7.4+. No Composer or build step for the plugin itself.
Download
Upload
Activate & configure
Build custom themes
Drop a folder into catalyst/themes/. Catalyst scans on every admin load — no registration code needed.
Built-in themes
Mono
Balanced default — modern SaaS layout, card grid.
Null
Ultra minimal — whitespace-first, stripped UI.
Grain
Soft texture — warm tones, subtle noise layer.
Folder structure
Four PHP templates are required before a theme can be activated.
themes/my-theme/
├── layout.php (required)
├── landing.php (required)
├── single.php (required)
├── page.php (required)
├── theme.json (recommended)
└── assets/
├── style.css
└── script.jstheme.json
Metadata for the admin theme picker — name, accent, preview image.
{
"name": "My Theme",
"description": "Short description for the picker.",
"version": "1.0.0",
"author": "Your name",
"accent": "#2563eb"
}Templates receive a $catalyst runtime object with site info, SEO, posts, navigation, and route data. Use helpers like catalyst_nav(), catalyst_meta_tags(), and catalyst_assets(). See theme_guide.md in the repo for the full contract.