Case study · Sitefar
I didn't want to pay for a WordPress dashboard, so I designed and built my own
Sitefar keeps many self-hosted WordPress sites updated, backed up and under control from one calm dashboard, and lets AI assistants help safely. From the first "why can't I build this?" to a live product in two weeks.
My role
Product design, front end, back end and the WordPress plugin
Timeline
Two weeks to a standalone product, Sep–Oct 2026
Platform
Web app, Chrome extension, WordPress plugin, MCP server
Status
Live at sitefar.com, one active user so far: me
The Overview: every site, what's online and what needs attention, at a glance.
Challenge
Looking after several WordPress sites means logging into each one, and the tool I wanted was locked behind a paid plan.
Solution
One dashboard for updates, backups and everyday site care, with safety nets built in and AI assistants as an option.
Outcome
Live in two weeks and used daily to run my own sites. The next challenge is finding its first real users.
01 · Context
It started with a paywall
I build most of my websites with Elementor, the WordPress page builder. When Elementor started offering a way to manage several WordPress sites from one place on its platform, it was exactly what I needed. It was also only available on a paid plan.
My reaction was simple: what? Why? Can't I build this myself?
I design products for clients every day, and I knew precisely what I'd want from a tool like this. Sitefar started as my answer to that question, and became a way to test how far one designer can take a product on their own.
02 · The problem
Why looking after many sites hurts
Without a central tool, every site is its own little chore. In my own work, the same frustrations kept coming back:
- Logging into each WordPress dashboard just to check for updates
- Updates falling behind, which quietly becomes a security risk
- The fear that one plugin update breaks a client's site
- No clear picture of which sites have a recent backup
- The tools that exist are expensive, heavy, or tied to one platform
How might I keep many WordPress sites updated and healthy from one place, safely, without paying for a platform I don't otherwise need?
03 · Users and insights
Designing for people like me, then checking that assumption
Sitefar is for freelancers and small agencies who keep several client sites running, and for site owners with a few projects of their own. People who know WordPress well, but don't want maintenance to eat their week.
I was user zero. From years of building and maintaining WordPress sites, I knew what that person needs to answer quickly:
- Which of my sites need attention right now?
- Can I update this without breaking anything?
- When was this site last backed up?
- Can I do this from my phone, or just ask an assistant?
Designing for yourself is fast, but it's also a trap. When I shared Sitefar in a WordPress community, the replies widened the picture: some people run WordPress Multisite, others already rely on tools of their own. Those answers now shape what comes next.
04 · Design principles
Four rules for every decision
Before designing screens, I wrote down what the product should feel like. Every later decision was checked against these.
Calm over clever
Maintenance is stressful enough. Quiet layouts, plain language and only the information you need to act.
Safe by default
Design for the scariest moment first: a failed update. Every risky action has a safety net and an undo.
Earn trust
Be clear about what Sitefar can access, what it stores and how to disconnect. No black boxes.
Works where you are
On a big screen, on a phone, in a browser extension, or through an AI assistant you already use.
05 · Information architecture
Navigation that follows your questions
The structure is simple: a workspace holds your websites, and each website holds its plugins, themes, WordPress core and reports. The main navigation maps to the questions people actually ask:
- Overview: what needs my attention?
- Websites: which site, and how is it doing?
- Updates: what's pending across everything?
- Plugins and Themes: where is this used?
- Activity: what changed, and when?
Websites: every site with its status, WordPress version and pending updates, filterable by what needs work.
06 · Key flow: safe updates
Updates you don't have to be afraid of
The moment people dread is pressing "update" on a live client site. So I designed this flow around that fear first, and only then around speed.
- Review before anything changes: every pending update across all sites, in one batch.
- Backups in view: each site's backup status is shown before you press go, and "never backed up" is told apart from "can't tell".
- A health check after every update, with an automatic rollback if the site stops responding.
- One-click undo to the previous version, any time.
Updates: everything pending across all sites, reviewed in one place.
The same flow on a phone.
How the review step and undo are explained on sitefar.com: backup status per site, then an undo if an update misbehaves.
06 · Key flow: one site in detail
Every site gets its own home
Opening a site shows exactly what's installed and what's out of date, without opening wp-admin. Tabs split Plugins, Themes, WordPress core and Site Kit, each with a count of pending updates, so the next action is always obvious.
On a phone, the tabs scroll sideways and actions stay within thumb reach, because a quick check often happens away from the desk.
A demo site's plugins, with versions, updates and switches.
The same site on a phone.
06 · Key flow: everyday site care
From updates to everything else you check
Once updates worked, I added the other things I kept logging in for: Google Site Kit traffic and search reports per site, scheduled backups through UpdraftPlus, and editing navigation menus without opening WordPress.
Site Kit: Analytics and Search Console side by side, per site.
Site Kit on a phone.
Menus, as explained in the docs.
06 · Key flow: AI assistants
Ask your assistant to look after your sites
Sitefar runs an MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor can check sites, run updates or edit menus on your behalf. Giving an AI that much power needed careful design:
- Proper sign-in: assistants connect through OAuth or personal tokens, never your WordPress password.
- Clear permissions: you choose what each assistant can see and do.
- An off switch: pause every assistant on your account at once.
How the AI assistant is presented on sitefar.com, with the permissions a user grants.
Connecting an assistant, step by step, in the docs.
07 · The front door
A marketing site and docs, built to the same standard
A product needs a front door. I designed and built sitefar.com and the help centre at docs.sitefar.com as a separate site, so the story and the help are as considered as the app.
- React with Next.js, exported as fast static pages
- All the words live in Prismic, a headless CMS, so copy changes need no code; publishing rebuilds the site automatically
- Product visuals are coded, not screenshots, from the app's own colours, so they stay sharp and follow light and dark mode
- Deployed on my own VPS, managed through MCP from an AI assistant
sitefar.com: one promise, one call to action, and the product itself as the hero.
The hero on a phone.
docs.sitefar.com: plain-language guides, from getting started to troubleshooting.
08 · Running it as a product
The parts nobody sees, but every product needs
Behind the dashboard sits everything a small SaaS needs to be trustworthy and supportable:
- Email sign-up with two-step verification and passkeys
- WordPress credentials encrypted on the server, never sent back to the browser
- An admin area with an audit log, and switches to turn any feature off for everyone
- An in-app feedback chat, answered as tickets
- An activity log of every change, so nothing happens silently
- Privacy-friendly analytics with all text masked in session replays
Activity: every update, check and connection problem, accounted for.
09 · Outcome
Live, used daily, and honest about what's next
Sitefar went from a side project to a standalone product in two weeks. Today it has one active user, and it's me: I run my own sites on it every day.
During the latest redesign of pavell.me, it handled the navigation menus, pulled the Google Site Kit traffic report, and merged and retired fifteen old blog posts, all through an AI assistant, without opening the WordPress dashboard.
When I shared it in a WordPress community and asked for testers, nobody signed up. Building the product turned out to be the easy half. The harder half is finding the people who feel this problem strongly enough to switch, and speaking their language.
10 · What I learned
What I'd tell a founder building something similar
- Design for the scariest moment first. For Sitefar, that was a failed update.
- Trust is a feature: show what you store, what you don't, and how to leave.
- Ship a demo before a sign-up form, so people see the value in seconds.
- Talk to users before the product feels ready. You'll learn faster than you build.
What's next
- Talk to freelancers and small agencies who look after 5 to 50 client sites
- Explore WordPress Multisite, the most common request so far
- Find pricing that stays well below the platform paywall that started all this
Have an idea that deserves to be a real product?
I help founders go from a first sketch to a working, launched product, with the same care I put into Sitefar.
