Chisel Wordpress Theme

Wordpress Starter Theme based on Timber library

Chisel is a Wordpress Starter Theme powered by Timber library that helps to seprate the logic from view by using Twig engine to render html content. It also simplifies the code, makes it more readable and speeds up development.

Installation

Use node version 24.11.1

Chisel is installed as a npm package using npx command: npx generator-chisel, which installs the whole projet for you including composer and node dependencies, however when you join the project and clone the repository, follow these steps to start the local developent:

1. Go to the theme folder

2. Run composer install

3. Run npm install

4. Run npm run wp-config

   After creating the wp-config-local.php file make sure you have these lines in the file:

   define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
   define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
   define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
   
   // Required for the theme fast refresh mode.
   define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true );
   define( 'WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'development' );

5. Run npm run build

   The local url for the new project should be project-name.test

6. Run npm run dev to start local development. The url for local development is the same with "fast refresh" mode enabled for CSS and JavaScript.

Updating Chisel

To check if a new version of Chisel is available:

npm run check-update

To update the core files to the latest version:

npm run update-chisel

Or run both at once:

npm run update

Note: The update command will overwrite all files in the core/ folder.

Core Folder Protection

The core/ folder contains base Chisel files that are updated automatically when you run npm run update-chisel. A pre-commit hook will warn you if you try to commit changes to these files.

Setting Up Git Hooks

Git hooks are set up automatically by the Chisel generator if git is already initialized. If you cloned the project or ran git init after installation, run:

npm run prepare

Recommended Approach

Instead of modifying core files directly, create corresponding files in the custom/ folder:

Instead of modifying...	Create/modify...
core/WP/Site.php	custom/app/WP/Site.php
core/Helpers/ImageHelpers.php	custom/app/Helpers/ImageHelpers.php

Bypassing the Hook

If you understand the implications and need to commit core changes anyway:

# Option 1: Skip verification
git commit --no-verify

# Option 2: Use environment variable
CHISEL_SKIP_CORE_CHECK=1 git commit

Known issues

1. Browser keeps refreshing after starting the dev mode - Open dev tools (Chrome) Network tab, select "Disable cache" checkbox and refresh the browser.
2. Css does not refresh after modifying the styles - Same as #1