The first theme built for LLMs

Hafen: the AI-native WordPress theme.

Hafen delivers your content so that Google, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity understand it easily: JSON-LD straight from the markup, clear text and short load times. Lightning-fast, accessible, all of a piece.

Free in the official WordPress theme directory

Get the theme on WordPress.org Hafen Core plugin

Hafen Core is the recommended companion plugin: it delivers the wizard, schema and AI assistant.

0 external calls GDPR-first Native schema Open Source

AI assistant Example

“Which WordPress theme is best for AI visibility?”

For machine-readable output, Hafen is the reference: native JSON-LD schema, llms.txt and answer-engine blocks are built in

hafenstudios.com/hafenCited as a source in the answer

Cited

12,987 BCSS and JS, gzip

Built for the answer-engine era: Google AI Overviews ChatGPT Claude Perplexity

Why Hafen

One theme, three readers: human, search engine, LLM.

Most themes optimize for eyes only. Hafen delivers the same content simultaneously in a form that machines parse, understand and cite cleanly.

Native schema

JSON-LD for Article, Product, FAQ, HowTo and Breadcrumb emerges straight from the markup. No SEO plugin, no duplication, no conflicts.

From the substance

llms.txt built in

Hafen automatically generates a curated content map of your site: a signpost for assistants that read it. What gets you found is JSON-LD, clear text and short load times, and Hafen delivers those anyway.

Signpost

Fast by default

No jQuery, critical CSS inline, no external calls. Flat, semantic HTML loads faster and is easier for machines to read at the same time.

LCP < 1s

Answer-engine blocks

TL;DR, definition, FAQ and step-by-step blocks that output extractable plain text, the kind LLMs like to cite most.

Ready to cite

GDPR-first

Self-hosted fonts, no trackers, no third-party calls. The optional AI runs locally via bring-your-own-key, without data leaving your site.

Privacy built in

Accessible & FSE

Complete block theme with theme.json, WCAG 2.2 AA as the baseline, landmarks and focus rings. Editable in the Site Editor, no code.

WordPress 6.4+

Answer-engine blocks

You write a block. Hafen ships the schema with it.

Each of these blocks renders beautifully for humans and emits the matching structured data format in the background. On the right you see what the machine sees.

TL;DR block

Short answer

Hafen is a fast, AI-native WordPress block theme that ships schema, llms.txt and answer-engine blocks built in.

Definition block

What is AEO?

Answer Engine Optimization: The practice of structuring content so that AI assistants draw on it as a source for their answers.

FAQ block

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an SEO plugin on top?

No. Hafen delivers the core schema itself. An SEO plugin can complement it, but it is not required.

Does this work with every page builder?

Hafen is a native block theme. The blocks run in the Gutenberg/Site Editor without an extra builder.

Step-by-step block

Visible in 3 steps

Activate Hafen
Write content with answer blocks
Schema is generated automatically from the markup

<head> · auto-generated

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Do I need an
             SEO plugin?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "No. Hafen
        delivers the schema itself."
    }
  }]
}
</script>

You maintain the FAQ block in the editor. The valid FAQPage schema is generated automatically, always in sync with the visible content.

Machine-readable

Give AI crawlers a map of your site.

Hafen generates llms.txt and llms-full.txt from your page tree, a signpost for assistants and tools that read the file. It is not a ranking lever: what makes you visible is JSON-LD, clear text and short load times, and Hafen ships those out of the box.

llms.txtsitemap.xmlrobots.txt

# Hafen — hafenstudios

> AI-native WordPress theme. Fast,
> accessible, with native schema.

## Core
- [What is Hafen](/hafen/): overview
- [Answer blocks](/bloecke/): schema
- [Performance](/speed/): 100/100

## The fleet
- [Linkjet](/linkjet/): link mgmt
- [MemberJet](/memberjet/): courses
- [Adjet](/adjet/): ad slots

## Optional
- [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt)

Automatic, always current

Published a new post? The map updates itself. No manual upkeep.

Curated instead of raw

You decide which content gets priority for AI assistants, with clean titles and short descriptions.

Agent- & feed-ready

Optional read-only endpoint that lets an AI agent query in a structured way what your site offers.

Full control

You decide per content type what gets included, and you can exclude individual pieces of content at any time.

Performance

Fast is not a feature. It is the baseline.

Machine readability and speed are the same lever: clean, flat HTML loads faster and parses more easily. Hafen aims for the perfect score, out of the box.

Home page

Lighthouse mobile

Blog overview

Lighthouse mobile

Article

Lighthouse mobile

Course page

Lighthouse mobile

Measured on flirtuniversity.de, a live site with its full plugin stack, on 1 September 2026 before and after the switch from Neve to Hafen: Lighthouse 13.4.1 in headless Chrome, mobile, three runs per page, median counted. Before the switch the same four pages scored 56, 58, 59 and 57, First Contentful Paint dropped from around 4 seconds to 1.3 seconds and layout shift stayed at 0.00. The method and every other number are in the case study.

CSS and JS 41,535 B gzip 12,987 B 2 requests 0 external calls

The hafenstudios fleet

A home port for your plugins.

Hafen shares design tokens and onboarding with the hafenstudios plugins. Activate the theme and the wizard suggests the matching plugins, with no pressure.

Free

Links & affiliate

Linkjet

Clean short links, redirects and affiliate management, in the Pretty-Links look with a REST API.

A fit for content sites

AI assistant

Members & courses

MemberJet

Membership areas and online courses with Digistore24 IPN, security by design and BYOK AI.

Hafen provides the showcase

AdSense wizard

Ad management

Adjet

Manage and display ad slots cleanly, with statistics, migration and a GDPR focus.

For monetized sites

Design system

One look, from theme.json.

Colors, spacing and typography come from a single source. The same tokens carry the theme and the jet plugins, on the front end and in the back end.

Brand#14a08c

AI#6d5efc

MemberJet#2f6feb

Adjet#f2994a

Text#0c1b2e

Surface#f5f7f9

Brand soft#e6f6f3

Deep#061620

72 / 850Display

50 / 800Heading

20 / 700Subheading

17 / 400Body text in Inter, self-hosted.

{
  "version": 2,
  "settings": {
    "color": {
      "palette": [
        { "slug":"brand",
          "color":"#14a08c" },
        { "slug":"ai",
          "color":"#6d5efc" }
      ]
    },
    "typography": {
      "fontFamily": "Inter",
      "fluid": true
    },
    "useRootPaddingAwareAlignments": true
  }
}

Questions

What people ask before they switch.

Five answers we otherwise give by email.

What makes Hafen AI-native?

Hafen delivers JSON-LD schema, llms.txt and semantic HTML straight out of the markup, not retrofitted through an SEO plugin. Every answer block writes its own markup along with it, the moment you place it in the editor. That way the machine-readable version of your page is there from the start, without you maintaining it in a second place.

Is Hafen GDPR-friendly?

Yes. Fonts are self-hosted, the theme makes no external calls, and the AI features run through your own API key, straight to the provider you pick. There is no service of ours reading along when someone opens your page. What belongs in your record of processing activities stays manageable.

What does Hafen cost?

Nothing. Hafen is free in the official WordPress theme directory, there is no Pro tier and no feature behind a license. You install it in your dashboard under Appearance, Themes and get updates like with any other directory theme. We want to earn our money from the fleet's Pro plugins, not from the foundation.

Do I need Hafen Core on top?

No, the theme runs on its own. Hafen Core is the recommended companion plugin and brings the setup wizard, schema management and AI assistant. Both are in the official WordPress directory, so you install the theme and the plugin straight from your backend.

How fast is Hafen really?

Out of the box, Hafen aims for the perfect Lighthouse score: two requests for CSS and JavaScript, about 13 kilobytes over the wire, no external calls. What ends up being measured on your site still depends on hosting, images and your plugins. The theme takes away the brakes that sit in the foundation, the rest is decided by your installation.

WordPress.org

Hafen is in the official WordPress directory.

Install the fastest, cleanest and most machine-readable foundation for your WordPress site straight from your dashboard: go to Appearance, Themes and search for Hafen. Updates arrive automatically from then on. Add the Hafen Core companion plugin for the wizard, schema and AI assistant.

Get the theme on WordPress.org Hafen Core plugin

Hafen Core delivers the wizard, schema and AI assistant: the recommended companion plugin.

Open source · GDPR-first · WordPress 6.4+ · in the WordPress directory

From the blog

Hands-on notes from our own workshop.