Rocketsky's WordPress starter theme
SKYE
A starting point for WordPress websites with the Classic Editor and custom ACF sections. For projects where you want to define the structure yourself.
The approach
Build your own theme on Skye.
Skye is the foundation for our WordPress projects. Each becomes a standalone theme with sections designed for the website and the people editing it.
Classic editing
Gutenberg is disabled for pages, posts and widgets. Editors use the Classic Editor or the project's ACF sections. No separate Classic Editor plugin is needed.
Sections shaped around the content
A case study needs different fields from a contact section. You define the available sections and their design. Editors add content and arrange the sections into pages.
A standalone project theme
Skye provides the PHP structure, components and asset build. Development continues in your own repository. Later improvements from Skye are merged deliberately and tested in the project.
Editing with ACF PRO
Fields that fit your content.
A title goes in a title field, a question in an FAQ section. The theme handles the design and implementation. For simpler pages, you can switch to the standard editor; both sources of content stay saved.
This page uses the same builder.
Introduction
A heading, introduction and the main links
Approach
Your own topics with the fields they need
Questions and answers
Answers maintained in the page editor
Contact
The next step for your visitors
Theme structure
Where the code lives.
Editorial content lives in WordPress. In the repository, you develop the PHP and HTML templates that display it, along with the website design.
lib/- PHP reads the WordPress and ACF data needed for a response and prepares it for display. Permission checks and the theme's own functions also live here.
components/- Reusable HTML templates live here. get_component() loads them with explicitly supplied data; PHP handles tasks such as loops and output escaping.
views/- These PHP views assemble pages, posts and archives from the appropriate components. The WordPress Loop supplies the posts for each view.
assets/styles/- The design is written in Sass files using SCSS syntax. The Bootstrap modules needed by the project are included here too. The build compiles these sources into CSS.
assets/scripts/- JavaScript for browser behaviour lives here and is included as each project needs it. This website's navigation and FAQ work with native HTML.
build.mjs- Node.js runs the build. It compiles Sass into CSS, bundles JavaScript and publishes the generated files with content hashes under dist/. npm run watch rebuilds when source files change.
Under the hood
Performance belongs in the foundation.
Skye provides the tools. The right way to deliver assets is tested on the actual website. Unknown cases retain the complete native WordPress loading path.
CSS from the same sources
The build generates the complete CSS along with mobile and critical variants. Critical delivery is enabled only with a verified layout contract. Without that contract, the complete stylesheet loads.
Smaller images in the background
The media pipeline can generate WebP alternatives while keeping the original files. A new set of variants is published only if every file is smaller. WordPress serves the appropriate image sizes.
Native APIs
WordPress manages script dependencies, inline data and permissions. PHP logic stays separate from HTML components. Output is escaped for its context.
Your branding on the login page
The build also prepares the website colours for the administration area. The configured customer logo appears on the login page, without a second design to maintain manually.
From the repository
Development is open.
See the published release and the current development state on master. The figures are retrieved from GitHub in the background.
Data source: GitHub API. Last checked: Nov 6, 2026 09:50 UTC.
Good to know
Does Skye fit your project?
How does Skye differ from other starter themes?
Skye combines classic WordPress editing, a renderer for custom ACF sections and Bootstrap. PHP models stay separate from HTML components. Sage uses Blade, Acorn, Tailwind and Vite. The choice depends on the structure that fits your project and your team.
Is Skye a ready-made theme I can configure?
Skye is a starting point for developers. Sections and design are built for each project. This website shows one possible implementation; the starter does not include a universal library of finished page layouts.
Are ACF PRO and Redis included?
Both remain separate installations. The ACF page builder requires a suitable ACF PRO licence. Redis is optional and configured independently of the theme. This keeps the original packages separately updatable.
What is the technical foundation?
Skye uses Bootstrap 6 Alpha and currently requires WordPress 6.8.12 or later and PHP 8.3 or later. Build and watch run directly on CentOS 7 with Node 14.21.3 and npm 6.14.18. The documentation contains the full requirements and setup steps.
Where do the name and bird come from?
The name is inspired by Skye from Valorant. The green colours and bird follow the same idea. This website’s bird mark was drawn specifically for Skye. The theme is a Rocketsky project.
Built with Skye
A Rocketsky project
How we build WordPress.
Want a website with custom sections, or to use Skye for a project? Find out more about our work on Rocketsky.