automattic/_s

★ 10,990CSSAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Underscores _s))
    What it does
      WordPress starter theme
      Blank canvas
      Now archived
    Features
      HTML templates
      CSS Grid layouts
      Nav dropdowns
      WooCommerce hooks
    Tech stack
      CSS
      PHP
      SASS
    Workflow
      Clone and rename
      Find and replace
      Build on top

mindmap root((Underscores _s)) What it does WordPress starter theme Blank canvas Now archived Features HTML templates CSS Grid layouts Nav dropdowns WooCommerce hooks Tech stack CSS PHP SASS Workflow Clone and rename Find and replace Build on top

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Use as a blank starting point to build a custom WordPress theme without stripping down an existing one.

USE CASE 2

Learn how WordPress theme templates are structured before building a more complex design.

USE CASE 3

Reference how to integrate WooCommerce hooks and CSS Grid layouts into a WordPress theme.

Tech stack

CSSPHPSASSJavaScript

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 1h+

Requires a running WordPress installation and command-line tools for compiling SASS and packaging the theme.

License not mentioned in the explanation.

In plain English

Underscores, also written as _s, is a starter theme for WordPress. It was created by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, to give theme developers a clean, minimal starting point rather than building from scratch or stripping down an existing theme. The project is now inactive, archived as of September 2025, because the WordPress ecosystem has shifted to a different approach called Block Themes. When it was active, _s gave developers a bare but functional WordPress theme with a small amount of well-organized HTML templates, starter CSS files, and a navigation script that turned menus into collapsible dropdowns on small screens. It also included two sample page layouts built with CSS Grid, hooks for integrating with WooCommerce (a popular e-commerce plugin), and a set of utility functions to keep template code clean. The intended workflow was to download or clone the repository, rename it for your project, and then do a find-and-replace across all the files to swap out the _s_ prefix with your own theme name. From there you would build on top of the provided structure. The theme included command-line tools for compiling styles written in SASS to plain CSS, checking code quality, generating translation files, and packaging the finished theme into a zip file. _s was never meant to be used as-is. It was a blank canvas for building custom themes, not a finished design. With Block Themes now the current WordPress standard, _s is no longer updated, but the repository remains available for reference.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I cloned the Underscores _s starter theme. Walk me through the find-and-replace steps to rename it for my custom WordPress theme project.

Prompt 2

Show me how to use the SASS compilation tools included in the _s starter theme to compile my custom styles.

Prompt 3

I'm building a custom WordPress theme from _s. Which template files should I edit first for a basic blog layout?

Prompt 4

How do I add WooCommerce support hooks to a WordPress theme built on top of the Underscores _s starter?

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