People
Easy to read, in their language.
A clear structure, so visitors find what they came for. Usable on a phone, with a keyboard or a screen reader.
Autonomous Web: The website as software, built around the business.
Websites built around a business and its users, data and workflows, with no CMS or plugin stack. AI coding agents help build and maintain them; people keep the final say. The first is this website, which ran on WordPress until September 2026.
What can a website be when it no longer has to be a CMS?
For about two decades, a website usually meant a content management system (CMS) with a design on top. It showed pages and kept them easy to edit, and it did that well.
Today a website can be the interface of the business itself: connected to its data, tools and workflows, and to AI models and agents. Then it is software, part of the company’s infrastructure. That is how we build it.
The shift
Who sits at the top of the stack?
CMS-first
- CMS
- Theme
- Plugins
- Content
- Website
Business-first
- Business
- Data
- Services
- AI models
- Agents
- Interface
Why we left WordPress behind
WordPress rested on one assumption. That assumption changed.
I worked in the WordPress ecosystem for more than a decade: BuddyPress, plugin and custom development, agency projects. I founded ThemeKraft, a company built around WordPress, and ran it as CEO for many years. I contributed to BuddyPress and spoke at WordCamp Europe.
WordPress was the right tool for its time. Themes and plugins made design and features reusable, and a business could run its website without a developer.
All of that rested on one assumption: custom software is too expensive to understand and maintain, so you build on a standard. AI-assisted engineering lowers that cost, often far enough to change the decision.
This website ran on WordPress until 30 September 2026. Today it is a purpose-built system, written largely by AI coding agents under my direction.
The custom software equation
Custom software often failed on maintenance.
Every custom system needed someone who understood it. When that person left, the knowledge left too. Today AI agents help carry that work:
- Understand existing code
- Document systems
- Write tests
- Review changes
- Update dependencies
- Implement features
Maintenance stays part of the job. With agents, it no longer depends on one person who remembers everything.
We used to adapt the business to the CMS. Now we can build the system around the business.
How we build
No default theme. No default plugin stack.
The usual loop Choose a CMS → pick a theme → install plugins → add workarounds → maintain the plugin stack → repeat
- 01 Business What it offers, to whom, and how it earns.
- 02 Users Who arrives, what they need, where they get stuck.
- 03 Data & workflows What exists, and what happens after the click.
- 04 Build The smallest system that does the job.
- 05 Connect APIs, services, AI models and agents, where useful.
- 06 Improve Small, reviewed changes, continuously.
Then back to the start. A person signs off on every round.
The loop in this site’s git history
Every change to this site is a commit. These figures come straight from its git history and update with every build.
- commits
- 55
- days, 30 Sept to 6 Oct
- 7
- with an AI coding agent as co-author
- 54 of 55
- Wed 30 Sept 10, 10 with an AI coding agent
- Thu 1 Oct 12, 12 with an AI coding agent
- Fri 2 Oct 5, 4 with an AI coding agent
- Sat 3 Oct 12, 12 with an AI coding agent
- Sun 4 Oct 7, 7 with an AI coding agent
- Mon 5 Oct 8, 8 with an AI coding agent
- Tue 6 Oct 1, 1 with an AI coding agent
The one without is a merge commit.
First commit Latest
Selected commit messages, unedited
- 8a17adf New OCTOO AI site: Astro static build, lab pages, legal, assets
- 30ffebe 3D octopus (abyss), eye of intelligence, guide arm, video, retired arms, critique fixes across all pages
- a0671eb Deep sea: glass octopus that swims, real sun/moon light over Gran Canaria, blue organic design system
- fcf7365 Correct DataTaxer timeline: in production since July 2023
- dd81079 Trilingual site (EN/DE/ES), Private AI model catalogue, SEO and AI-agent files
- c789057 Home copy visitor-first (EN/DE/ES), 'who it is for' section, no em dashes in visible copy
Three kinds of readers
Built for people, search engines and AI agents.
Search engines
Consistent and unambiguous.
Stable URLs, clean headings and a sitemap that matches the site. One topic, one page, one address.
AI systems & agents
Made for machines to read.
Structured data and machine-readable summaries such as llms.txt. Where useful, an API that agents can call instead of scraping pages.
First instance: this website
The system behind this page.
AI agents work on this site’s code, content and server configuration. I set the direction and correct what they get wrong. The page you are reading runs on exactly that.
- Code
- AI coding agents write, review and test the code and run the builds. They deploy when I say so, and every deploy can be rolled back.
- Content
- Agents research and draft the copy. I edit it and have the final word.
- Languages
- English, German and Spanish from one source. Agents translate and proofread each language, and a missing text stops the build.
- Checks
- Every build runs an SEO audit that stops on any error. Every deploy ends with a smoke test, a quick check of all pages in all three languages.
- No CMS
- No theme, no plugins, no database: static HTML built with Astro, an open-source web framework, plus one small form handler.
- Privacy
- No cookies, no tracking, no analytics. Nothing loads from third parties until you ask for it.
- Right now
- The colour of the water follows the real position of the sun and moon over Gran Canaria, computed in your browser.
The home page at 08:20, 14:30, 20:10 and 00:40, Gran Canaria time.
astro build
[build] 72 page(s) built in 2.25s
node scripts/postbuild.mjs
.htaccess written (9 inline script hashes)
llms.txt: 6 files for 68 pages
node scripts/seo-audit.mjs
72 pages, 68 indexable, 68 in sitemap
no problems # any SEO error stops the build
# the smoke test after every deploy, on the live site · 2026-10-02 17:11 UTC
ok/200
ok/lab/autonomous-web/200
ok/llms.txt200
ok/impressum/301 → https://octooai.com/de/imprint/
ok/ki-agenten/ki-agenten-im-handwerk/410
# 46 more checks, all ok
Smoke test passed.
This page before you scroll92.7 kB in total, compressed
- HTML 15.1 kB
- CSS 11.2 kB
- JS 13.8 kB
- Fonts 52.5 kB
This website is what one person, many agents looks like on the open web.
Where it fits
Built for your case.
- Replacing a CMS setup that outgrew itself
- Custom web applications around real workflows
- AI-integrated websites and portals
- Websites connected to your business systems
- Multilingual platforms, built market by market
- Migrations with every old URL accounted for
Still fighting your CMS?
If your website has become a pile of plugins, workarounds and things nobody wants to touch, it may be time to rethink it.
From website to intelligent business system.
Build with usSpec sheet
- Instance
- octooai.com. WordPress until 30 September 2026, purpose-built since.
- Stack
- Astro, static HTML, one small form handler. No database, no plugins.
- Languages
- English, German, Spanish.
- Machine-readable
- Sitemap, structured data and llms.txt in every language. AI crawlers are welcome.
- Team
- AI coding agents write, test and deploy the code and draft the copy. One person sets the direction and decides what goes live.
- Legacy URLs
- Every old WordPress address redirects to its new home or is marked as gone.
What this is not
- Self-deploying. Agents deploy only when a person says so.
- A template. Every system starts from the business it serves.
- A migration pitch. If your CMS works for you, keep it.