DEV IN THE HOOD — Luxembourg

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Tessera — WordPress themes that pass the review the first time, and stay compatible.

Tessera

Tessera

$ cat stack.txt
Symfony 7.4
PHP 8.5
API Platform 5
WordPress 7.1
Node.js 22
Playwright
MariaDB 11.8
Mercure
$ stats --short
25  Compliance checks
131  Review rules tracked
52  Palettes

Full-stack, 2026

Front04Back

Scroll down

—Overview

Tessera generates WordPress block themes for the WordPress.org theme directory. A Symfony 7.4 backoffice composes a theme — palette, typography, layout, options — and previews it in a real WordPress; a deterministic engine builds it, a 25-check compliance gate holds it to the review rules, a library shelves every version, and the publication chain keeps it compatible: a new WordPress major becomes a new release on SVN in one command.

Client
Jul6art
Agency
Internal
Location
Luxembourg
Date
October 23, 2026
BackofficeCode generationCompliancePublishing

02The front

What people see.

Tessera

Every setting of a theme is a preset of its own theme.json: the palette changes in the preview without a request to the server, and the style variations a WordPress user picks later work the same way.

Tessera

A real WordPress,
not a mock-up

The preview is rendered by WordPress itself, at the version the theme targets, under its own account and its own database. A signed, expiring token shows one draft for one request — and no theme is ever activated.

Header, hero and sections: each choice rebuilds the theme, live in the preview
Header, hero and sections: each choice rebuilds the theme, live in the preview

—Screens

Scroll sideways

A gate,
not a checklist

Theme Check, PHPCS with the WordPress Coding Standards, the block validator of WordPress itself, axe-core, contrast, a smoke render that records every PHP notice: 25 checks, and a single Theme Check warning already means no release.

The compliance gate of a release: 0 FAIL, or nothing ships
The compliance gate of a release: 0 FAIL, or nothing ships
A release builds in the worker, followed live over Mercure
A release builds in the worker, followed live over Mercure

A theme that leaves Tessera passes the WordPress.org review without a technical rejection — and when WordPress ships a version, it is republished compatible in one click.

Every version shelved for good, with its provenance, its SHA-256 and a WordPress Playground demo
Every version shelved for good, with its provenance, its SHA-256 and a WordPress Playground demo
Tessera
Tessera
Tessera

03The back

What keeps it standing.

$ cat stack.txt
Symfony 7.4
PHP 8.5
API Platform 5
WordPress 7.1
Node.js 22
Playwright
MariaDB 11.8
Mercure
  • 25Compliance checks
  • 131Review rules tracked
  • 52Palettes
  • 27Bricks
  • 16Domain entities
  • 113Routes
  • ~1,800Automated tests
  • 34Architecture decisions

56 features9 modules

016 features

Configurator

  • Six tabs, described by one schema
  • Live preview in a real WordPress
  • Palette and font pair changed live
  • Undo and redo over 50 changes
  • One draft at a time, with an edit lock
  • Names, descriptions and tags proposed from a lexicon

026 features

Design catalogue

  • 52 palettes, measured on WCAG AA pairs
  • Palettes added from their colours, sorted into nine roles
  • 27 OFL font families in 18 pairs
  • 27 bricks captured from WordPress
  • 13 archetypes
  • Every asset in a licence manifest

037 features

Deterministic engine

  • Same spec, same bytes, down to the zip
  • Block themes: theme.json, templates, parts, patterns
  • No text in templates, every string translatable
  • SCSS and Tailwind sources, built by the theme itself
  • 13 golden themes compared to the byte
  • Parallax in CSS only, off under reduced motion
  • Optional WooCommerce support

048 features

Compliance gate

  • 25 checks: 0 FAIL or no release
  • Theme Check warnings count as failures
  • PHPCS with WPCS and PHPCompatibilityWP
  • Block markup validated by WordPress's own packages
  • axe-core at 390 and 1440 px, and right to left
  • Smoke render with every PHP notice recorded
  • No remote resource, Google Fonts included
  • Distinct from the themes already released

056 features

Live preview

  • Rendered by WordPress itself
  • Signed, expiring preview tokens
  • An isolated WordPress: its own account and database
  • No theme ever activated
  • Read-only link to share
  • Desktop, tablet, mobile and free widths

066 features

Library

  • Every version shelved, never rewritten
  • SHA-256 of every zip, verified every night
  • Provenance: generator and catalogue versions
  • Screenshot captured in a real browser
  • WordPress Playground demo by signed link
  • File explorer for every version

076 features

WordPress.org publication

  • Submission dossier with the reviewer checklist
  • One theme in the review queue, across accounts
  • Compatibility bump to SVN, dry-run by default
  • Design releases behind a backward-compatibility guard
  • Visual diff against the version online
  • SVN password encrypted, handed over on stdin only

085 features

Observatory

  • WordPress versions read from the official API
  • Every theme as WordPress.org knows it
  • Committed releases watched until they are live
  • E-mail to publishers on a new major
  • Themes behind on compatibility, at a glance

096 features

Platform

  • One permission per route, decided by voters
  • Viewer, designer and publisher roles
  • Two-factor authentication with backup codes
  • Recent login and typed confirmation before a commit
  • Full audit trail
  • French and English, with a user guide

—Built-in quality

PHPStan level 8~1,800 testsMariaDB integration testsTests against a real WordPress13 golden themesDeterministic builds

04Next on the street

Next shop.

Back to the street
05DEV IN THE HOODDesign · 2026