Headless WordPress, minus the second backend.
Going headless gets you a Next.js frontend — and keeps PHP, MySQL, a GraphQL layer and two deploy pipelines. Presscomet puts the admin, editor and API inside the Next.js app itself.
2 hosts2 deploys2 security surfaces1 theme written twice
Where headless hurts — and what changes.
- Preview breaks
- Draft previews need tokens, cookies and a bridge. In Presscomet the editor and the site share one origin, so Preview just opens the page.
- Plugins go dark
- Forms, SEO tags and shortcodes stop rendering on a headless frontend. Presscomet’ bundled plugins render where the content renders.
- Schema drift
- Add a field in ACF, update the GraphQL schema, redeploy the frontend. Here, custom fields live in the same app and database as the pages that use them.
- Twice the bills
- A PHP host for WordPress plus a frontend host. One Node.js host replaces both.
Presscomet vs WPGraphQL + Faust.js
| Topic | WPGraphQL + Faust.js | WP REST + Next.js | Presscomet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still runs PHP | Yes | Yes | No |
| Theme rebuild | Manual, block by block | Manual | Captured automatically |
| Draft preview | Plugin + auth config | DIY | Built in |
| Plugin output on frontend | Only if exposed to GraphQL | Raw HTML only | Bundled plugins render natively |
| GraphQL API | Yes | No | No — REST only |
| Deploys | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Presscomet serves the same /wp-json/wp/v2 routes and JSON as WordPress, so a REST-based frontend can point at it while you plan the move.
Questions, answered.
Can I still use Presscomet headless?
Yes. The REST API at /wp-json/wp/v2 has the same routes and response shapes as WordPress, so a REST-based front end can point at Presscomet. Use application passwords for anything that writes.
Is there a GraphQL API?
No. Presscomet implements the WordPress REST API only. A front end built on WPGraphQL would need to move to REST.
Do I write my theme in React?
Only if you want to. Themes are React server components; four are bundled, and the importer captures your current theme’s markup and CSS so you don’t have to write one to switch.