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Integrate Composer with Canvas or a Third-Party Theme

Composer and the active theme have separate responsibilities:

  • Composer owns the Config Set, Site Contract, Blueprints, validation, audit, and draft-only execution.
  • The theme owns templates, template parts, patterns, styles, theme.json tokens, and final rendering.

Composer never edits theme files and a theme never silently activates Composer configuration.

SmartCloud Agent Canvas​

Canvas is the reference presentation layer for Composer. It is intended to provide a coherent set of core-block templates, patterns, styles, and a read-only presentational manifest. The manifest confirms semantic mappings that Composer can inspect; it must not contain provider credentials, prompts, runtime callbacks, or executable policy.

A Canvas setup should follow this order:

  1. Install and activate Canvas.
  2. In Composer, rescan the site and confirm the Canvas theme, templates, patterns, and core blocks.
  3. Create a new inactive Config Set from Universal Gutenberg, SmartCloud Recommended, or Detected Theme Starter, or create one manually.
  4. Review the generated Site Contract and every Blueprint rather than assuming the preset matches the site.
  5. Confirm that Blueprint target templates and pattern slugs exist in the active Canvas version.
  6. Validate and explicitly activate the Config Set.
  7. Run a draft-and-preview test for each page type before using it in a regular workflow.

Keep site-specific WP Suite contracts separate from general Canvas presets. A specialized private contract should not become the default configuration for a clean public Canvas installation.

Third-party block themes​

Composer can work with a standard or third-party Gutenberg block theme without Canvas. Compatibility is capability-based, not brand-based.

Start with a deliberately small contract:

  1. Activate the chosen theme and rescan Theme & providers.
  2. Inspect its registered templates, patterns, blocks, and theme.json presets.
  3. Choose Detected Theme Starter when Composer finds a safe theme pattern, or begin with Universal Gutenberg.
  4. Define one simple page type using only confirmed capabilities.
  5. Prefer core blocks and stable theme patterns over copied HTML or inline styles.
  6. Validate, activate, and create a test draft.
  7. Expand the contract only after the preview proves that the current theme renders the first Blueprint correctly.

Detected Theme Starter accepts only a single-root, core-block theme pattern, excludes dynamic query, navigation, template, HTML, shortcode, and hidden utility patterns, adds the required H1 contract, and strips non-preset inline styling from the generated working pattern. Partial support is expected. A theme may support a standard page and article Blueprint but not a specialized product or architecture layout. Do not weaken validation to hide a missing capability; either add an appropriate pattern/template to the theme or remove that requirement from the working Config Set.

Pattern and template rules​

An allowed pattern must be registered on the current site and every nested block in that pattern must also be allowed by the Blueprint. Required sequences should contain only the patterns that every valid draft truly needs.

Use a no-title template when the content pattern supplies the H1. If the theme template renders the post title, do not add a second H1 inside the content. Composer validates the complete assembled tree, but the administrator must choose a template/pattern combination that avoids duplicate page titles in final rendering.

Theme changes​

After switching or upgrading a theme:

  1. keep the currently active Config Set unchanged,
  2. rescan the site,
  3. clone the active Config Set,
  4. update template, pattern, block, and preset references in the clone,
  5. validate every affected Blueprint,
  6. preview representative drafts,
  7. activate the clone only after review.

If the old and new themes expose different capabilities, preserve both Config Sets for comparison and rollback. A theme switch alone must never rewrite or activate configuration.

Provider plugins​

Provider plugins can add blocks and provider-owned WordPress Abilities. Composer discovers and delegates to them, but does not republish those operations under Composer ownership. A Blueprint may require a provider block only when the plugin is installed, registered, and ready. Review the provider's own external-service and privacy documentation before enabling provider-backed content.