Docs

What Shader is#

Shader and VX Framework are made by the same team, 27collective, so they’re built to work together. VX Framework gives a WordPress site its content: the kinds of things it stores and the fields each one has. Shader is where you build the theme that shows that content, and where you put both live.

• Your sites run on your computer. Each one is a full WordPress site. Shader brings its own PHP and database, so there’s no server, MySQL or Docker to set up. A site runs while it’s started, and nobody else can see it unless you share a link.
• Every site runs VX Framework Pro. It holds the site’s content, such as events, team members or a settings page. Each Shader site needs it active with one of your staging licenses.
• The theme is how the site looks. It’s either a classic theme, made of PHP templates and Tailwind CSS, or a block theme, made of block templates that people can also change in WordPress’s Site Editor. Each site has one Shader theme, and you can change it with Claude, in a terminal, or in your own editor.
• Going live is built in. When the site is ready, Shader pushes the theme and content to your live WordPress site. You can also download them as files.

The left rail#

From top to bottom:

• Sites: your local sites. Create, start, stop, share and remove them.
• Chat: Claude or Codex, working on this site’s theme. It only shows when Shader Assistant is turned on.
• Terminal: terminals that open in the theme’s folder, for commands or another coding agent. With the shader command, an agent there or in another app, such as Cursor, can use Shader’s tools too.
• Theme: the theme’s details, the tools you can build it with, and the checks that keep it working.
• Templates: every kind of page on the site, side by side.
• Mail: the email the site sends, kept so it never reaches anyone.
• Deploy: connect your live site, push the theme and content to it, and pull its content back.
• Downloads: the theme and the content as files, for a host Shader can’t connect to.
• Dark mode (the moon, or the sun while it’s dark): switches Shader between light and dark. The site in the preview keeps its own look.
• Settings: defaults for new sites, your accounts, the assistant, this guide, and Shader’s logs.

Chat, Terminal, Theme, Templates, Deploy and Downloads need VX Framework Pro active on the site. Theme, Templates, Mail, Deploy and Downloads also need the site to be running. A VX Pro free trial doesn’t include Deploy and Downloads.

The preview#

The middle of the window shows the running site.

• Front-end shows the site as visitors see it. WP Admin shows its WordPress dashboard, where you’re usually already signed in.
• Desktop, Tablet and Mobile show the page at that width.
• The preview reloads by itself when the theme’s files or the site’s content change.
• More tabs appear next to Front-end and WP Admin when Claude or Codex has something for you:
  • Plan: a plan waiting for you to approve it.
  • Questions: questions waiting for your answer. Claude or Codex waits until you answer them or skip them.

Where your files are#

• Sites are in the Shader folder in your home folder, unless you chose another place in Settings → Sites. To open a site’s folder, right-click it in Sites and choose Open folder.
• The theme is in the site’s wp-content/themes folder. To open it, use Theme → Tools → Folder.
• Nothing leaves your computer until you push it from Deploy, download it from Downloads, or share a link.