The CMS is dead. Long live the CMS

AI says dump WordPress; creators clap back: keep the keys

TLDR: A WordPress veteran says AI-built sites make the old content manager obsolete, while Joost’s personal blog migrations stoke the hype. Commenters split: some praise stable, simple tools; many want a hybrid where AI helps but a CMS remains the human-friendly control panel—because someone still has to run the site.

A WordPress veteran loudly swore off the old guard and sprinted into an AI-only future—and the comments lit up like a server on Black Friday. Some cheered the speed, but most gave side-eye. Even WordPress legend Joost de Valk’s hop from WordPress to Astro (and then to EmDash) became a punchline: not every site needs a CMS is an old line, not a revelation from the AI gods.

The loudest clapbacks? Stability lovers. One commenter waved a ProcessWire flag, boasting “you make it once and it works for 10 years,” then tossed a spicy jab that Cloudflare is just jealous of WordPress’ dominance. Pragmatists piled on: btown argued the CMS is the human control panel—AI is just another editor. Translation: people still want a dashboard, not a chatbot séance, to change store hours. Others dreamed bigger: librasteve pitched an AI-centric CMS where bots handle the tech and humans keep the content and design tidy.

Meanwhile, the meme-makers went to work. “Framework-of-the-month club” jokes flew at Joost’s migrations, and “vibe-code an admin panel” became the day’s catchphrase. gman83 summed up the middle path: let AI sketch the front end, keep WordPress as the client-friendly backend. Underneath the drama, one theme ruled: AI can build fast—but who maintains it when the hype moves on?

Key Points

  • Agencies are exploring replacing WordPress with AI-generated sites to accelerate development and content changes.
  • Joost de Valk migrated his personal blog from WordPress to Astro and later to EmDash while still favoring WordPress for complex projects.
  • The article reiterates that simple sites often don’t need a CMS and can be managed via tools like Google Docs, Pantheon Content Publisher, or Markdown.
  • The author warns that moving entire sites to AI-driven JavaScript stacks can be shortsighted due to rapid ecosystem changes and dependency risks.
  • Tools like AI assistants and Dependabot may mask but do not eliminate underlying package conflicts and security vulnerabilities.

Hottest takes

“Cloudflare is just jealous that most of their customers are actually running WordPress” — reconnecting
“the human interface is a CMS; the agent is just another editor” — btown
“you can design the frontend with AI anyway and then use WordPress as the CMS” — gman83
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