WordPress development, without the bloat.
Zedlav builds WordPress in Metro Manila, Philippines, for clients here and abroad. Custom block themes, mu-plugin architecture, SSH-only deploys, and Cloudflare-sole caching. No page builders, no bloat plugins.
Not an agency stack.
- Installs a page builder and calls it custom
- Adds caching, security, SEO, and backup as four separate plugins
- Deploys from the WordPress admin panel over HTTPS
- Leaves the theme dependent on a commercial license
- Ships a site and walks away
- Builds the theme from scratch, no builder dependency
- Handles caching, security, and SEO in locked mu-plugins
- Deploys over SSH with file-level hash verification
- The theme has zero external dependencies
- Monitors for drift and content staleness after launch
Under the hood.
| CMS | WordPress block theme architecture |
|---|---|
| Theme | Custom PHP blocks, server-rendered, no build step |
| Fonts | Self-hosted Roboto and JetBrains Mono, preloaded |
| CSS | One stylesheet, CSS custom properties, theme toggle |
| JS | Progressive enhancement, no framework, no dependencies |
| Hosting | Shared hosting, PHP 8.2+, OPcache |
| CDN | Cloudflare free tier, sole cache layer |
| Deploy | SSH tunnel, WP-CLI, SFTP for theme files |
| Hardening | mu-plugins locked 444, hash baselines, xmlrpc blocked |
From brief to live.
Problem and scope
What the site needs to do, who it serves, and what it replaces. One written scope, including what the site will not attempt.
Theme architecture
Block inventory, template hierarchy, pattern design, typography and color tokens. Documented before a line of PHP is committed.
Theme and content
Server-rendered blocks, mu-plugins, patterns, and the content itself. Every file reviewed before it ships.
SSH and verify
Theme uploaded via SFTP, content pushed via WP-CLI, mu-plugins locked and hash-baselined. Cache purged, pages verified at multiple viewport widths.
Search and AI
Yoast meta set, sitemap submitted, IndexNow and Google Indexing API fired, llms.txt updated, structured data verified.
Monitor
Baseline captured, drift watched, cache behavior confirmed.
This site runs on it.
The full build is documented: infrastructure, hardening, theme architecture, discovery, and what shipped at each stage. Read the zedlav.ai build.
Asked before.
Can you work with our existing WordPress site?
Yes. An audit of the current theme, plugins, and hosting comes first. The scope will state what stays, what gets replaced, and why.
Do you use page builders?
No. Page builders add a rendering layer, a plugin dependency, and a database schema that make the site harder to maintain and slower to serve. Block themes are native WordPress.
What happens to our SEO during a migration?
Redirects are mapped before anything goes live. Existing indexed URLs either stay or 301 to the new location. Yoast meta, structured data, and sitemaps are configured as part of the deploy.
Can we edit the site ourselves after handover?
Yes. Block themes work with the native WordPress editor. Content is blocks, not shortcodes or serialized plugin data. The theme ships with documentation.
What does ongoing support look like?
Drift monitoring, plugin and core updates, content operations, and mu-plugin maintenance. The same SSH deploy process used during build.
Do you host the site?
Hosting is yours. Shared hosting, a VPS, or your own infrastructure. The deploy process works over SSH to whatever target you control.
Where is Zedlav based?
Metro Manila, Philippines. Work is delivered to clients in the Philippines and abroad. Deploys run over SSH to whatever target the client controls.
Send the brief.
Not the RFP.
A paragraph on what the site needs to do is enough to start. Zedlav will come back with a scope, including what the site should not attempt, before any work begins.
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