ZEJ Base

The WordPress starter theme I build every client site on.

A classic WordPress starter theme with one admin panel for SEO, schema, security, and email. Open source.

View on GitHub See my services

Paid products will show billing terms before checkout. Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled. Pricing Refunds & cancellation Terms Privacy

Overview

Built for the kind of site where the details matter.

ZEJ Base is the foundation every site I build starts on. It is a classic WordPress starter theme, not a block theme or a page builder, and it handles the parts most sites bolt on with a stack of plugins.

Everything is controlled from one admin screen, so a site's setup lives in one place instead of being scattered across template files. SEO output, JSON-LD schema, security headers, SMTP email, and an asset builder are all built in. Templates and CSS stay in code, the way a developer wants them.

I published it as open-source reference code so you can read exactly how I build. It is the same theme under my client work, not a stripped-down demo.

Features

Useful without the usual product theatre.

One admin panel

SEO, schema, security, email, and asset building, all controlled from a single screen.

Built-in SEO and schema

Meta tags, Open Graph, and JSON-LD output, with a per-page override box.

Security hardening

Security headers, XML-RPC and REST hardening, login-attempt limiting, and author-enumeration blocking.

Real email delivery

SMTP with a test-email button, and the password is never shown back in the admin.

Performance first

An asset builder with optional minification, lazy images, and deferred scripts.

Code, not a page builder

Templates and CSS stay in code, on a clean design-token system.

Requirements

Requires WordPress: 6.0
Requires PHP: 7.4
License: GPLv2 or later

Links

Changelog

FAQ

Straight answers before you install anything.

Is it free?

Yes. It is open source under the GPL, published on GitHub.

Is this the real theme you use?

Yes. It is the same foundation under my client work, not a demo.

Can I use it on my own site?

Yes, the licence allows it. It is written to be forked and built on.

Do you offer support for it?

No. It is published as reference code, not a supported product. If you want a site built on it, you can hire me.

Need help shipping a product like this?

I build WordPress sites, plugins, and systems directly with the people who own the outcome.

Start a Project