Editorial note: This old checklist has been rewritten for current WordPress theme work. Treat it as a release checklist, not a replacement for the official WordPress Theme Developer Handbook.
Theme release checklist
- Decide whether the theme is a block theme, classic theme, or child theme, and document that choice clearly.
- Test templates, patterns, navigation, comments, archive pages, search, 404 pages, and WooCommerce templates if supported.
- Check accessibility basics: keyboard navigation, focus states, labels, contrast, skip links, and readable typography.
- Validate mobile layouts across narrow, tablet, laptop, and wide desktop widths.
- Escape output, sanitize inputs, avoid bundled plugin behavior, and do not hide required theme functionality behind upsells.
- Review image sizes, script loading, fonts, Core Web Vitals, and plugin compatibility before release.
- Include licensing, changelog, support policy, setup steps, and demo import instructions.
Before submitting or selling
Install the theme on a clean WordPress site, import real sample content, test with common plugins, and verify that users can reproduce the demo without custom support. A theme that looks good only on the developer's install is not ready for distribution.
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