Aaron Reimann has built for the web since 1996. Today he builds with AI: WordPress fleets, Laravel dashboards, Astro sites and games.https://aaronreimann.com/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/why-i-built-blocky-strategery-4x-strategy-game-react-native/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/why-i-built-blocky-strategery-4x-strategy-game-react-native/I love Civilization and turn-based 4X games, but I don't always have ten hours for a campaign. Here is why and how I built a bite-sized mobile strategy game using React Native, Expo, and Skia.Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/building-clockwork-control-fleet-security-for-250-wordpress-sites/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/building-clockwork-control-fleet-security-for-250-wordpress-sites/Managing 250 client WordPress sites across Pressable cloud containers and dedicated servers gets loud. Here is an in-depth architectural breakdown of Clockwork Control—our on-prem Laravel dashboard that uses local AI log triage, fail2ban automation, and canary plugin deploys to stop attacks before they start.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/dhh-and-i-started-using-ai-the-same-month/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/dhh-and-i-started-using-ai-the-same-month/I wrote PHP and Ruby on Rails for almost twenty years, then mostly stopped. Watching DHH's new AI interview with Lex Fridman, I realized twenty years of systems intuition is what makes agentic engineering work.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/why-i-built-clockwork-offloader/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/why-i-built-clockwork-offloader/Massive media libraries crush server backups and eat expensive NVMe disk space. Here is how we engineered Clockwork Offloader to offload media to S3 without the bloat.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/beyond-wordpress/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/beyond-wordpress/A reflection on recent WordPress events, the community fallout, and why I'm exploring new architectures.Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/building-a-dynamic-passover-haggadah-in-nextjs/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/building-a-dynamic-passover-haggadah-in-nextjs/Passover Seders are deeply personal, yet most digital Haggadot are static PDFs. I built a dynamic generator in Next.js and React 19 to let families customize tradition, language, and length step-by-step.Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-i-booted-a-clearfake-session-hijacker-out-of-wordpress/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-i-booted-a-clearfake-session-hijacker-out-of-wordpress/If you manage enough WordPress sites, eventually you get to play digital detective. Earlier this week, I had to drop everything to triage a nasty security incident involving a sophisticated malware campaign known as ClearFake.Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/i-built-a-saas-for-synagogue-torah-readings/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/i-built-a-saas-for-synagogue-torah-readings/Most of my work is in WordPress, but I occasionally build full-stack apps outside that world. Here's how I built a multi-tenant SaaS to help synagogues manage Torah reading assignments.Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/extract-mailgun-api-key-wp-cli/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/extract-mailgun-api-key-wp-cli/Learn how to use WP-CLI to extract a serialized Mailgun API key directly from the wp_options table without needing dashboard access.Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/i-built-a-full-wordpress-page-in-30-seconds/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/i-built-a-full-wordpress-page-in-30-seconds/Another agency owner reached out with a tight deadline and a WordPress page builder problem. I had their site backed up, a local dev environment set up, and the entire page built in 30 minutes. Here's exactly what that looked like.Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/native-fetch-mailgun-astro/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/native-fetch-mailgun-astro/Instead of dragging in heavy SDKs to send emails in Astro, I use native web features to keep the site fast and lightweight.Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-i-converted-my-wordpress-site-to-astro/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-i-converted-my-wordpress-site-to-astro/Moving from a legacy WordPress setup to Astro was one of the most rewarding moves I've made. Here is how I got my load times under half a second.Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/post-cms-world/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/post-cms-world/WordPress is losing roughly 150,000 sites a month. But this isn't just about WordPress - it's a sign that the era of the traditional monolithic CMS might be coming to a close.Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/the-emdash-speed-test-a-plot-twist-where-wordpress-actually-wins/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/the-emdash-speed-test-a-plot-twist-where-wordpress-actually-wins/In my last post, I talked about setting up EmDash and Astro to chase that 'insane speed' we all want for our websites. The architecture is lightweight, it ships zero JavaScript by default, and in theory, it should blow a traditional CMS out of the water. Well, I ran the numbers. And consider me humbled.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/testing-new-frameworks-for-insane-speeds/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/testing-new-frameworks-for-insane-speeds/Why we renamed ClockworkWP to Clockwork Web Dev and started pairing Astro with modern headless CMS options like EmDash and Payload CMS for sub-second site speed.Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/why-i-built-verifymyvibe-com/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/why-i-built-verifymyvibe-com/AI tools like Claude Code and Cursor make it easy to build working apps fast, but 'it works' isn't the same as 'it's production-ready.' Here is why I built VerifyMyVibe.com to review and audit AI-generated codebases.Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/we-live-in-a-different-america/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/we-live-in-a-different-america/Reflections on free speech, public discourse in America, and why sharing your convictions openly matters.Fri, 12 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/albums-that-have-affected-me/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/albums-that-have-affected-me/Three lists of ten albums that shaped my taste in music—from The Smiths, Pixies, and The Cure to Twenty One Pilots, Luxury, and The Beatles.Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/wp-drama-log-all-about-the-matt-mellenweg-and-wp-engine-drama/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/wp-drama-log-all-about-the-matt-mellenweg-and-wp-engine-drama/A chronological timeline and commentary tracking the September–October 2024 conflict between Matt Mullenweg, Automattic, and WP Engine—from WordCamp US to the federal lawsuit and ACF takeover.Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/all-of-my-godaddy-articles/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/all-of-my-godaddy-articles/An archive note on the technical articles I wrote for the GoDaddy Garage blog covering WordPress, DNS, and web hosting.Tue, 24 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/sideway8-is-being-acquired/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/sideway8-is-being-acquired/After nearly a decade of building and scaling our agency Sideways8 with Adam Walker, Sideways8 is being acquired by Dragon Army—and I am launching ClockworkWP.Thu, 01 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/these-phones-speeds-are-getting-out-of-control/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/these-phones-speeds-are-getting-out-of-control/With 5G phones arriving and 4G LTE already delivering enough bandwidth for 4K streaming, how much mobile speed do we actually need?Thu, 25 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/first-godaddy-article/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/first-godaddy-article/My first guest technical article published on the GoDaddy blog: 'Who hosts this website? Tips and tools for finding IP address, DNS details and more.'Sun, 24 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/high-treason-american-freedom/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/high-treason-american-freedom/A Fourth of July reflection on the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, the real cost of American freedom, and the Treaty of Paris.Sun, 02 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/solid-wordpress-hosting/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/solid-wordpress-hosting/Why managed WordPress hosting matters for security, automated backups, and sub-3-second page load times—and what we learned managing agency client sites.Fri, 10 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/breaking-social-media-addiction/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/breaking-social-media-addiction/How dopamine loops drive smartphone and social media habits, and the three practical rules I adopted to reclaim focus and family time.Sat, 07 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/microsoft-linux-part-two/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/microsoft-linux-part-two/Why Microsoft chose FreeBSD for Azure and open-sourced PowerShell for Linux and macOS—confirming my earlier prediction on Microsoft's Unix strategy.Fri, 19 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/microsoft-and-linux/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/microsoft-and-linux/Microsoft is releasing SQL Server on Linux, partnering with Canonical to bring Bash to Windows, and embracing open-source Unix infrastructure.Sat, 02 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/wordcamp-atlanta-page-builder-showdown/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/wordcamp-atlanta-page-builder-showdown/Notes and takeaways from my WordCamp Atlanta talk comparing seven WordPress page builders—including Beaver Builder, Divi, SiteOrigin, and Visual Composer.Tue, 22 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/page-builder-by-siteorigin/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/page-builder-by-siteorigin/Part two of my WordPress Page Builder review series: evaluating Page Builder by SiteOrigin, its open-source widget bundle, and backend column layout workflow.Sun, 28 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/business-panel-meetup/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/business-panel-meetup/Speaking alongside Mickey Mellen, Jenny Munn, and Chris Shull on the Atlanta WordPress Meetup Business Panel: 'Learning From Those That Do It Well.'Fri, 26 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/web-hosting-downtime-or-high-availability/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/web-hosting-downtime-or-high-availability/Why $4 shared hosting fails, what true high-availability infrastructure actually requires (load balancers, redundant databases, multi-DC failover), and realistic uptime expectations.Mon, 15 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/what-does-apples-app-store-show-about-microsoft-and-other-tools/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/what-does-apples-app-store-show-about-microsoft-and-other-tools/What the Top Free chart in Apple's Mac App Store reveals about developer tools, Microsoft Office adoption on macOS, Slack, and everyday software habits.Thu, 11 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/74/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/74/Video walkthrough from the Marietta WordPress Meetup covering local MAMP/WAMP development environments and building a WordPress child theme from scratch.Mon, 08 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/if-is-this-page-or-is-child-of-it/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/if-is-this-page-or-is-child-of-it/A quick WordPress PHP helper function for functions.php to check whether the current page matches a specific parent page ID or any of its child pages.Fri, 05 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/multi-site-error-when-registering-users/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/multi-site-error-when-registering-users/How to fix the WordPress Multisite user registration error 'Usernames can only contain lowercase letters (a-z) and numbers' using the wpmu_validate_user_signup filter.Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-to-limit-the-access-of-the-content-based-on-users-registration-date/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-to-limit-the-access-of-the-content-based-on-users-registration-date/How to restrict WordPress subscription content in your theme template based on a user's registration date compared against the post publication date.Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/adding-code-to-allow-an-iframe-in-wordpress/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/adding-code-to-allow-an-iframe-in-wordpress/How to allow iframe embeds inside WordPress posts and pages for authorized authors using the wp_kses_allowed_html filter in functions.php.Mon, 27 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/quick-and-dirty-way-to-add-code-some-javascript-to-a-footer/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/quick-and-dirty-way-to-add-code-some-javascript-to-a-footer/How to inject tracking scripts or custom JavaScript snippets into your WordPress footer using the wp_footer action hook in functions.php.Wed, 20 May 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-to-get-apache-to-serve-up-svg-and-svgz-files/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/how-to-get-apache-to-serve-up-svg-and-svgz-files/How to configure Apache via .htaccess to properly serve SVG and gzip-compressed SVGZ vector graphics with the correct MIME type and encoding.Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://aaronreimann.com/blog/adding-a-favicon-correctly-in-wordpress/https://aaronreimann.com/blog/adding-a-favicon-correctly-in-wordpress/How to bundle your favicon.ico and apple-touch-icon.png directly inside your WordPress theme using the wp_head action hook in functions.php.Fri, 12 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT