Architecture overview

Corex is a monorepo of one theme, the core plugins, and optional add-ons. The repo is the source; a WordPress install loads it through wp-content/ links.

Layout

theme/                     # the skin — FSE templates/parts/patterns/tokens
plugins/
  corex-core               # the engine: Boot, Container, Config, Hooks, data layer, middleware
  corex-blocks             # block engine: discovery, conditional assets, connectors
  corex-forms              # forms: schema, validation, secured submit, the form block
  corex-config             # branding + the admin settings UI
addons/
  corex-ui                 # the corex/* block library + section patterns
  corex-email              # Corex Mail
  corex-newsletter · corex-careers · corex-captcha · corex-bookings
  corex-kit-company        # a site kit (blueprint + templates)
packages/
  cli                      # wp corex make:* generators
  build-tools              # @wordpress/scripts build conventions
docs-app/                  # this documentation site

The principles (non-negotiable)

1. The theme is a skin, not a skeleton — presentation only.
2. Plugins boot themselves — corex-core self-inits on plugins_loaded.
3. Thin controllers, fat services — repositories are the only data callers.
4. Everything is injected — through the PSR-11 container.
5. Design tokens are runtime — theme.json → CSS vars → brand.json.
6. Assets load conditionally — a block’s CSS/JS loads only where it renders.
7. Security is declarative — routes declare middleware; it applies automatically.
8. RTL is first-class — logical CSS properties by default.
9. No optional dependency is a hard dependency — ACF/Woo/Polylang behind interfaces.
10. The spec is the source of truth — code is generated from the spec.

The request path

REST/AJAX → Controller (thin) → Service (logic) → Repository (data) → Model (shape)
            └ middleware: nonce → sanitize → throttle (declared, automatic)

Blocks as components

Every section of a site is built from Corex blocks — dynamic, server-rendered, token-only. There is no hardcoded section markup; a block’s PHP renderer produces escaped output and the editor previews it with <ServerSideRender>.