Creating a Headless WordPress Site With Frontity

Frontity, a React-based framework, simplifies the creation of fast, headless WordPress websites. Think of it as Next.js for WordPress. While headless WordPress might be a niche now, Frontity's showcase highlights its growing popularity, featuring notable sites like CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa. Its documentation and tutorials primarily focus on headless blogs.

This guide details creating a basic Frontity site and customizing its default Mars theme (in a subsequent article). We'll cover setting up a headless WordPress site using the Frontity framework.

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites and Requirements
• Understanding Frontity
• Frontity Site Installation:
  • Step 1: Project Creation
  • Step 2: Choosing the Mars Theme
  • Step 3: Project Installation
  • Step 4: Directory Change and Server Restart
• WordPress Site Setup:
  • Enabling Pretty Permalinks
• Connecting Frontity to WordPress:
  • Step 1: Menu Updates
  • Step 2: Project Folder Structure
  • Step 3: Style Modifications
• Deployment to Vercel:
  • Step 1: Building the Production Version
  • Step 2: Vercel Account Creation
  • Step 3: Creating vercel.json
  • Step 4: Deployment
• Conclusion
• Resources

This isn't an expert guide, but a practical walkthrough. For comprehensive details, consult Frontity's official documentation.

Prerequisites and Requirements

Familiarity with React and ES6 JavaScript is recommended. Additional requirements (detailed in Frontity's documentation):

• HTML and CSS proficiency
• Command-line experience
• Node.js server
• Code editor

Understanding Frontity

Frontity is a React framework specifically designed for WordPress. It features its own state manager and CSS styling solutions. It operates in two modes:

• Decoupled Mode: Frontity fetches data from a WordPress REST API, rendering the final HTML as an isomorphic React app. The main domain points to Frontity, and a subdomain to WordPress.
• Embedded Mode: The Frontity theme replaces the WordPress theme. A plugin makes internal HTTP requests to the Frontity server for HTML. The main domain points to WordPress.

Frontity's built-in AMP feature optimizes page speed.

Frontity Site Installation

This involves setting up a Frontity project and a WordPress site (as the data source).

First, ensure Node.js and npm are installed:

node --version
npm --version
npm install npm@latest -g # Upgrade npm if needed

Step 1: Creating a Frontity Project

Use the Frontity CLI:

npx frontity create my-frontity

Step 2: Selecting the Mars Theme

Frontity offers two themes; choose mars-theme.

Step 3: Frontity Project Installation

The Frontity server installs the project and its dependencies.

Step 4: Changing Directory and Restarting the Development Server

Navigate to the project directory and start the server:

cd my-frontity
npx frontity dev  # or yarn frontity dev

Access the site at http://localhost:3000.

WordPress Site Installation

Set up a WordPress site (locally or existing). Ensure the WordPress REST API is accessible (e.g., http://mytestsite.local/wp-json).

Enable Pretty Permalinks

Activate pretty permalinks (post name) in Settings > Permalinks.

Connecting Frontity to WordPress

Update frontity.settings.js:

// frontity.settings.js
const settings = {
  ...,
  packages: [
    ...,
    {
      name: "@frontity/wp-source",
      state: {
        source: {
          api: "http://your-wordpress-site.com/wp-json" // Replace with your URL
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Restart the server.

Step 1: Updating the Menu

Add your menu items to frontity.settings.js as needed, following the Mars theme's structure.

Step 2: Project Folder Structure

Understand the project's structure: node_modules, package.json, frontity.settings.js, packages/mars-theme.

Step 3: Modifying Styles

Frontity uses Emotion for styling. Modify styles as needed within the theme's components.

Deployment to Vercel

Step 1: Creating a Production Version

npx frontity build

Step 2: Vercel Account Creation

Create a Vercel account and log in:

npx vercel login

Step 3: Creating vercel.json

Create vercel.json:

{
  "version": 2,
  "builds": [
    {
      "src": "package.json",
      "use": "@frontity/now"
    }
  ]
}

Step 4: Deployment

npx vercel

Conclusion

Frontity provides a user-friendly approach to building headless WordPress sites.

Resources

• Frontity Documentation
• Frontity Blog
• Relevant YouTube Tutorials (search for "Frontity tutorial")

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