Headless WordPress & Shopify Development
Keep your team’s CMS and commerce tools. Upgrade the frontend to a modern, performance-first stack that isn’t limited by themes.
We architect and build headless WordPress, WooCommerce, and Shopify setups on Next.js and Vercel—focused on Core Web Vitals, clean APIs, and real-world maintainability.
- Core Web Vitals focused
- Headless WooCommerce & Shopify
- API-first architectures
Why go headless instead of staying on themes?
Traditional WordPress and Shopify builds are great for getting started. Headless is about what happens when performance, complexity, and traffic all increase.
Real performance gains
Pages are pre-rendered and served from a CDN, then hydrate into a modern app experience. You get faster loads, smoother interactions, and better Core Web Vitals than a theme-heavy setup.
Custom flows without hacks
Complex product filters, membership flows, schedules, and dashboards become purpose-built components in a frontend app— not fragile collections of plugins and shortcodes.
Multi-channel & future proofing
The same WordPress or Shopify backend can feed your main site, microsites, apps, and kiosks. Rebuilding the frontend in a few years doesn’t mean migrating every post or product again.
Safer architecture
Your public site is a separate frontend talking to locked-down APIs. Fewer direct hits to wp-admin or Shopify admin, and a smaller blast radius if anything goes wrong.
How a headless stack fits together
We don’t replace WordPress or Shopify. We separate concerns so each part of the stack does what it’s best at.
- 1
CMS & commerce as systems of record
WordPress + WPGraphQL or REST for content, WooCommerce or Shopify for products, inventory, and orders. These stay as your source of truth.
- 2
API & caching layer
Stable GraphQL/REST endpoints, auth/token flows, and caching (Vercel Data Cache, Redis, or similar) to keep responses fast and predictable under load.
- 3
Next.js frontend on Vercel
A modern frontend built with Next.js (App Router), ISR, and edge-aware routing. This is where we build navigations, flows, components, and the UX your visitors actually touch.
When headless is—and isn’t—the right move
Probably overkill if…
- You just need a simple marketing site with a few pages.
- You’re happy living fully in a page builder and don’t need custom flows.
- Budget and complexity need to be as low as possible, and performance isn’t tied directly to revenue.
A strong fit if…
- Performance and conversion are tightly linked (eCommerce, memberships, high-intent lead gen).
- You need things regular themes fight you on: complex filters, multi-step forms, app-like flows, or multi-brand setups.
- You support multiple brands or locations and want a clean, shared architecture instead of one-off builds.
How Raven Rock Technology approaches headless
We focus on architectures that your team—or a future team—can live with long-term. No magic themes. Just deliberate engineering.
Architecture & audit first
We start with an audit of your existing WordPress/Shopify, traffic, and constraints. Then we design a headless architecture that fits how your org actually works.
Clean API contracts
WordPress, WooCommerce, and Shopify APIs are treated as contracts. We build provider layers, handle auth, and implement caching so your frontend isn’t guessing what’s coming back.
Performance baked in
ISR windows, CDN behavior, cache headers, and error handling are planned up front. The goal is a site that stays fast under actual traffic, not just in lab tests.
Safe rollouts & handoffs
URL mapping, redirects, monitoring, and documentation are part of the plan. We ship with an eye toward long-term maintenance, not just launch day.
Headless questions we hear a lot
Do we keep using WordPress or Shopify the same way?
Yes. Your team still manages content and products in WordPress or Shopify. The difference is that the public site is powered by a modern frontend that reads from those platforms via APIs instead of themes.
What stacks do you use for headless builds?
Next.js (App Router) on Vercel, WordPress with WPGraphQL or REST, WooCommerce, Shopify Storefront API, and caching layers like Upstash/Redis and CDN-backed ISR.
Can you migrate an existing site to headless?
Yes. We audit your current WordPress/Shopify setup, map URLs and content models, then roll out a headless frontend in phases to avoid risky "big bang" launches.
Will this break SEO?
Done incorrectly, yes. Done correctly, no. We use server-side rendering and pre-rendering so search engines get full HTML, preserve URL structures, and manage redirects and metadata across the migration.
Explore a headless roadmap
Share where your current WordPress or Shopify build is straining, and we’ll outline what a realistic headless path could look like.
- Headless WordPress & WooCommerce
- Shopify Storefront API builds
- Performance and caching strategy
Prefer email? admin@ravenrock.codes