The Legacy Path

We Built What You Asked For

You wanted WordPress. We delivered WordPress—with every feature from the handoff document. 100% complete.

But along the way, we learned some things. This page documents the journey—the wins, the workarounds, and why we also built something better.

Read the Journey

We Got the Memo

What we received from Kendall <kendall@rinardmedia.com>

A detailed PDF handoff document outlining the vision: WordPress with Airtable backend, interactive county map, Stripe payments, broker intake forms, and automated delinquency handling. We converted it to structured markdown and built every feature specified.

See how we interpreted this brief

Original PDF Markdown

But Here's the Thing

We built exactly what you asked for. Every checkbox, checked. But building it taught us things.

It works.

The WordPress implementation does what the handoff document asked for. You could ship it. It would function.

But it's held together with duct tape.

Airtable rate limits mean we added server-side caching. ESRI was slow so we added Leaflet as fallback. WordPress transient caching caused bugs so we added cache-busting. Each "fix" adds complexity.

The ongoing maintenance burden is significant.

WordPress core updates, plugin updates, plugin conflicts, security patches, Airtable API changes, Stripe webhook versioning, hosting patches, SSL renewals. Each WordPress plugin is another piece of "flair" you're required to maintain just to keep the system running.

The performance gap is real.

This WordPress build loads in 2.3 seconds. The modern Astro version loads in 84 milliseconds. That's not marketing—that's measured against the same data, same network, same machine.

The Result

ESRI ArcGIS Map

3,227 counties with ESRI SDK. Green = assigned.

Leaflet + CARTO

WordPress demo with Leaflet map showing 3,227 US counties

Same data, <2 seconds load time.

WordPress Admin

Dashboard

HURE Settings

Plugin Active

WordPress plugins page showing HURE Map Integration

demo.hure.supported.systems

A fully functional WordPress site with:

Interactive county map (Leaflet + ESRI)

3,227 counties with status colors

Stripe payment integration

Airtable backend + caching

Partner profile modals

30-day delinquency grace period

Visit the WordPress Demo

Requirements

15/15

Map loads quickly; no persistent 'loading' state

Map fetches only /wp-json/hure/v1/counties (single request)

Server-side Airtable caching (10-minute transient cache)

Open county popup shows area_blurb/highlights/photo_url + consumer request form

Assigned county popup shows brokerage + phone + brokerage_url link

Consumer request creates lead record + routes email to correct Partner/Admin

Broker intake submission creates record + emails admin

Stripe enrollment webhook updates county row to status=Assigned

Stripe payment failure sends email and starts 30-day clock

Day 31 cron reverts county to Open if still unpaid

Dynamic Checkout Sessions with FIPS metadata

Counties, Leads, Brokerage_Intake Airtable tables

Partner profile modals with contact info

Dual map implementation (ESRI + Leaflet) Bonus

3,227 counties loaded with status indicators Bonus

100% Complete

Every requirement from the handoff document—checked off.

We Don't Just Use WordPress. We Build For It.

TigerStyle is our WordPress plugin ecosystem—five professional-grade plugins covering SEO, privacy, performance, backups, and OAuth2 authentication. We've spent years making WordPress more bearable. So you don't have to.

These plugins are offered as a free public service by Supported Systems. Because if you're going to use WordPress, it might as well not hurt.

🔥

Heat

🐱

Whiskers

⚡

Dash

💾

Life9

🔑

Scent

Explore TigerStyle Read Kyra's Blog

"How Kyra made WordPress bearable" — tales from the trenches of plugin development

There's a Better Way

We built the WordPress version. It works. But we also built a modern Astro + FastAPI solution that's 27× faster, costs 92% less to run, and gives you full data ownership.

84ms page loads (vs 2.3s WordPress)

$87/year (vs $1,145/year WordPress)

25 production-ready features

See What We Built Instead

Want to see how we built it? Keep scrolling for the technical details.

The Build Timeline

PDF Handoff → Markdown

Day 1, Hour 1

Converted scanned PDF to structured markdown using OCR (87.5% confidence). Identified gaps and assumptions.

OCRWrite

Outcome: HURE-Developer-Handoff.md

Architecture Planning

Day 1, Hours 1-2

Created comprehensive 9-phase implementation spec covering Docker, WordPress plugin structure, APIs, maps, payments.

Plan Mode

Outcome: Implementation roadmap

Docker Environment

Day 1, Hours 2-4

Set up docker-compose.yml with WordPress, MariaDB, Redis, and caddy-docker-proxy for automatic HTTPS.

Docker ComposeCaddy

Outcome: Services running at demo.hure.supported.systems

Automated WordPress Install

Day 1, Hours 4-5 Highlight

Used Playwright browser automation for the WordPress 5-minute install. 100+ automated browser interactions.

Playwright MCP

Outcome: WordPress installed with admin access

Plugin Architecture

Day 1, Hours 5-8

Created complete plugin structure with PSR-4 autoloading, 5 REST API endpoints, admin settings page.

WriteComposer

Outcome: 94 files created

Airtable Integration

Day 1, Hours 8-10 Blocker Hit

Wrestled with PAT permissions, discovered scope requirements, created tables via Meta API, populated sample data.

Airtable APIcURL

Outcome: Counties, Leads, Brokerage_Intake tables

⚠️ INVALID_PERMISSIONS_OR_MODEL_NOT_FOUND errors

ESRI Map Integration

Day 1, Hours 10-12 Blocker Hit

Implemented ArcGIS map with county polygons, popup templates, and styling. Debugged AMD module loading issues.

ESRI ArcGIS SDK

Outcome: Interactive county map

⚠️ JavaScript Map shadowing

Stripe Billing

Day 1, Hours 14-18 Highlight

Built complete payment flow: dynamic checkout sessions, webhooks, Airtable updates, email notifications, delinquency tracking.

Stripe APIWebhooks

Outcome: End-to-end payment system

Leaflet Migration

Days 2-3 Highlight

ESRI was slow with 3,227 counties. Migrated to Leaflet with CARTO tiles and GeoJSON boundaries. Solved z-index layering with custom panes.

LeafletGeoJSON

Outcome: 3,227 counties loading in <2 seconds

Production Data Import

Days 4-12

Created Python scripts for bulk imports. Imported all US counties with centroids, partner profiles, broker assignments.

PythonAirtable API

Outcome: Full production dataset

Automated Browser Testing

How do you test a website with 3,227 interactive counties? You don't click each one manually.

What We Did

We used automated browser testing—software that controls a real web browser just like a person would. It clicks buttons, fills out forms, navigates pages, and verifies everything works correctly.

500+ Automated actions performed (clicks, form fills, navigations)

100% WordPress installation automated (zero manual clicking)

Why It Matters

Consistency: Every test runs exactly the same way, every time
Speed: Test hundreds of scenarios in minutes, not days
Confidence: Changes don't break existing features—tests catch problems instantly