Frontman
Frontman is an AI website editor for sites that already exist. Designers, marketers and developers click any element on a WordPress, Next.js, Astro or Vite page, describe the change in plain language, and get reviewable source-file diffs.
What is Frontman?
Frontman is an AI website editor for sites that already exist. It does not scaffold a new project and it does not rebuild what you have: it plugs into a site you already run and turns visual requests into source changes a developer can review.
The architecture has three parts. Browser tools inspect the live page. Local integrations manipulate the CMS or the file system on your own machine. A server, hosted by the publisher or self-hosted by you, orchestrates the agent and stores task history. What reaches the model is unusually rich for this category: the real DOM, computed CSS styles, component boundaries, source maps, routes, dev server logs, build errors, screenshots and tool results. The publisher's argument is that agents which only read files are blind to the rendering, since a source map resolves only from the build pipeline and the DOM alone knows nothing about the component tree.
There are two ways in. A framework middleware turns your local dev server into an MCP server for Next.js (App and Pages Router, Webpack and Turbopack, server components), Astro (SSR, SSG, hybrid, Islands) and Vite (React, Vue, Svelte, SolidJS). Alternatively, a native WordPress plugin exposes the editor on the /frontman route and drives posts, pages, Gutenberg blocks, Elementor layouts, menus, templates, widgets, settings, cache and WooCommerce. Frontman also reads, writes, searches and greps any file in the project directory, so backend code is in scope too.
Models are bring-your-own-key: Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Google, xAI or any OpenAI-compatible API, with OAuth if you already pay for Claude or ChatGPT. The code and the prompts are source-available on GitHub, and the home page counts more than 1,000 tasks run across Vite, WordPress, Next.js and Astro projects.
The limits are stated up front rather than discovered later. File system tools run on your machine, so the server has no direct disk access; the agent runs no arbitrary shell commands, performs no deployments and pushes nothing to Git by itself. Frontman is a visual frontend editor with runtime context, not a general-purpose AI coding tool.
What it does
- Click any element on the live page and describe the change you want in plain language
- Select several elements at once with Shift+click and apply distinct instructions in a single pass
- See the result in the browser within seconds, then iterate with follow-up instructions
- Edit WordPress posts, pages, Gutenberg blocks, Elementor layouts, menus, templates, widgets, settings, cache and WooCommerce data
- Check every breakpoint with the iPhone, iPad and desktop responsive presets
- Read dev server logs, build errors and stack traces, and fix compilation errors automatically
- Commit and push to Git from the browser, run Lighthouse audits, and read, write, search or grep any file in the project
When to use Frontman / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Frontman is the right fit.
When to use Frontman
- WordPress owners and maintainers who need to update posts, Gutenberg blocks, Elementor layouts, menus and WooCommerce data without waiting for a developer
- Marketing teams running campaign landing pages on Next.js, Astro or Vite who want to rewrite copy and CTAs themselves
- Designers who want to fix spacing, colours and responsive polish directly on the rendered page instead of filing a ticket
- Product managers who spot copy errors and alignment defects during review and want them turned into code straight away
- Front-end developers and design system teams who want an agent with real runtime context: DOM, computed CSS, component boundaries, source maps and dev server logs
When not to use Frontman
- Developers looking for inline suggestions or tab completion: Frontman has none and the publisher points to Cursor, Windsurf or Copilot instead
- Anyone starting from a blank page, since Frontman edits existing sites and never scaffolds a new project; the publisher points to v0, Bolt or Lovable for that
- Teams working on Angular, Remix or standalone SvelteKit, which are not supported frameworks
- People working in StackBlitz, CodeSandbox or other cloud environments, because a local dev server is mandatory for the JavaScript integrations
- Consumers in the sense of §13 BGB: the hosted service is sold to business customers only, and the agent cannot run shell commands, tests or git operations for you
How to use Frontman
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Choose your route: a JavaScript framework project (Next.js, Astro or Vite) or a WordPress site
- For a framework, run the single install command: npx @frontman-ai/nextjs install, npx @frontman-ai/vite install, or astro add @frontman-ai/astro
- Let the installer add its middleware and adjust your dev configuration, which the publisher times at around 60 seconds
- Start your dev server and open http://localhost:3000/frontman in the browser
- For WordPress, go to wp-admin, Plugins, Add New Plugin, search for Frontman Agentic AI Editor, install and activate it (WordPress 6.0+, PHP 7.4+, administrator access)
- Open https://yoursite.com/frontman, or simply append /frontman to the URL of any page you want to work on
- Connect your AI provider, Claude, ChatGPT or OpenRouter, with an API key or an OAuth sign-in
- Click the element you want changed in the live preview and describe the change in the chat panel beside it
- Move between components and divs with the up and down arrow keys, and Shift+click to select several elements at once
- Review the resulting diff, then commit and push; to try the whole flow without installing anything, open the disposable WordPress Playground instance first
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Real runtime context, with the DOM, computed CSS, component boundaries, routes, source maps and logs handed to the model, where file-only agents work blind to the rendering
- Usable by non-developers: designers, product managers and marketers work from the page they can see, and the FAQ answers No to Do I need to know how to code
- Developer control is preserved, because every change lands as an ordinary git diff the team reviews before anything ships
- Source-available from day one, with code and prompts inspectable on GitHub and self-hosting possible
- Bring your own key means no AI markup: you pick the model and control the budget yourself
- One simple price with no tiers: EUR 15 per seat per month, or EUR 150 per seat per year
- EU hosting on Hetzner and an unusually complete legal stack for a company this size: DPA, technical and organisational measures, subprocessor list, impressum, and no training on customer content
Cons
- Deliberately narrow scope: no inline suggestions or tab completion, no shell commands, no test runs and no git operations performed by the agent
- It does not generate new projects, and Angular, Remix and standalone SvelteKit are not covered frameworks
- A local dev server is mandatory, so StackBlitz, CodeSandbox and other cloud environments are out of reach
- Installation is not zero-trace: the installer modifies your project's dev configuration, unlike a browser extension
- The WordPress plugin is in beta and described by the publisher itself as experimental software; on Next.js, the generated middleware has no automatic development-only guard and can remain active in a deployment
- AI cost sits on top of the subscription and is billed separately by the model provider, and a payment card is required to start the trial
- The hosted service is closed to consumers and sold to professionals only, accounts are personal to the user with team features described as maybe later, and the company is very young and very small
Pricing & Plans
Frontman is offered on a freemium basis. Self-hosting is free of charge, but the publisher describes it as free currently and free while available, and it comes with no hosted support, no uptime commitment and no onboarding; the pricing FAQ answers No to the question of a free hosted plan. The lowest paid entry point is Frontman Pro at EUR 15.00 per seat per month, billed monthly, or EUR 150.00 per seat per year, advertised as a 17% saving against a EUR 180 reference price. A 14-day free trial is available on Frontman Pro, with a payment card required up front and a reminder sent before the first charge. Prices are quoted excluding VAT and other taxes, which are calculated at checkout, and payment runs through Stripe Managed Payments, where Stripe or an affiliate may act as merchant of record and the transaction may appear as sold via Link. Fees are non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. AI usage is not included: the model provider bills the customer directly under their own API key. Readers should note an internal inconsistency: the terms of service, last updated 5 May 2026, state a 7-day trial and EUR 20 per month, which contradicts the pricing page figures used here.
- AI visual editing in the browser
- real source file changes
- DOM
- CSS
- screenshot
- component and log context
- reviewable diffs
- unlimited projects within an organisation
- 14 days at no charge
- payment card required
- converting into the paid subscription unless cancelled before day 14.
- you provide the infrastructure
- handle updates and bring your own AI provider key
- while hosted support
- uptime commitment and onboarding are not included.
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Frontman handles your data.
GDPR overview
GDPR implementation is concrete and documented. The publisher is established in Berlin, Germany, so the regulation applies directly and no Article 27 representative is required. The privacy policy and the terms are both dated 5 May 2026. An Article 28 data processing agreement is published, along with technical and organisational measures and a subprocessor list. Legal bases are named: contract, legal obligation, legitimate interest, and consent for marketing analytics. Data subject rights are listed in full: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection and withdrawal of consent. The competent supervisory authority is named as the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit. Transfers outside the EEA are acknowledged for analytics, payment, monitoring and customer-chosen AI providers, with adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses and supplementary measures cited as safeguards. GDPR requests go to support@frontman.sh; no data protection officer is named.
Who owns the data?
The terms state that the customer keeps ownership of Customer Content: code, prompts, screenshots, logs, project data, files and generated output. Boilerplate Ventures UG takes only a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence, expressly limited to providing, securing, maintaining, troubleshooting and improving the hosted service, complying with the law and enforcing the terms. Feedback and suggestions are the exception: anything you send in that form is covered by a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free licence to the publisher. Under the GDPR, a business customer processing personal data through Frontman is generally the controller and Boilerplate Ventures the processor, in which case the published data processing agreement applies.
Reuse rights
Because ownership of Customer Content stays with the customer, the code, diffs and generated output can be reused freely, without asking the publisher for permission. The publisher states in both the terms and the privacy policy that it does not use Customer Content to train or fine-tune AI models. Data is processed to operate the service: account data, billing through Stripe and Link, support exchanges, website and product usage, encrypted API credentials and security data. The legal bases cited are contract (Art. 6(1)(b)), legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)), legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) and consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) for marketing analytics. Google Analytics runs on the marketing site after consent, Heap Analytics inside the authenticated product, and Sentry handles error monitoring. One caveat matters under the bring-your-own-key model: your content is sent to the AI provider you choose, with your own credentials and under that provider's own terms, which the publisher does not control. API keys are stored encrypted server-side, and authorised staff can decrypt them when necessary.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
The hosted Frontman service runs in the European Union on Hetzner infrastructure, a statement repeated on the privacy policy, the data processing agreement and the technical and organisational measures page. Only the region is named, never a specific country. The published subprocessor list gives locations: Hetzner in the European Union; Stripe and Link, worldwide depending on customer location; Sentry, worldwide or the configured region; Heap Analytics, worldwide or the configured region; and Google Analytics, worldwide or the configured region. AI providers are not the publisher's subprocessors, since the customer chooses and connects them. Transfers outside the EEA are acknowledged for analytics, payment, monitoring and customer-chosen AI providers, with adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses and supplementary measures cited as safeguards. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS, and API keys and sensitive credentials are encrypted server-side at application level. One architectural point matters: file system tools run on the customer's own machine, so the server has no direct access to the project files on disk.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Frontman.
- The site publishes two different prices: the terms of service, updated 5 May 2026, state a 7-day trial and EUR 20 per month, while the pricing page states a 14-day trial and EUR 15 per seat per month. Check the figures at checkout before subscribing.
- The free trial requires a payment card from the start and converts automatically into a paid subscription unless you cancel before day 14.
- Self-hosting is described as currently free and free while available, so the free route is not guaranteed over time; the pricing FAQ separately answers No to the existence of a free hosted plan.
- AI cost is extra and not capped by the publisher: it depends entirely on the key and the model you connect, and Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter bills you directly.
- The WordPress plugin is in beta and labelled experimental software, with staging and backups recommended by the publisher. On Next.js, the installer-generated middleware has no automatic development-only guard and can stay active in a deployment, so check your production build and whether the /frontman route is exposed.
- Treat secrets carefully: authorised staff can decrypt the API keys stored in the hosted service, diagnostic filtering is imperfect, so avoid putting secrets in prompts, file names, logs or URLs, and remember that bring-your-own-key sends your content to a provider governed by its own terms, outside the publisher's control.
- The safety of the model rests on humans actually reading the diffs, which is easy to skip once changes look right on screen. Note too that the hosted service is closed to consumers under §13 BGB, accounts are personal with team features not yet available, the Popular with engineers from logos are presented as individual engineers rather than company endorsements, and the .sh domain registered on 7 November 2025 and expiring on 7 November 2026 shows Israel as the registrant country while the operating company is German.
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low for daily use, moderate to install, high to self-host. On a JavaScript framework, one command (npx or astro add) takes about 60 seconds, but it modifies your dev configuration and requires a local dev server, which rules out StackBlitz or CodeSandbox. WordPress needs 6.0+, PHP 7.4+ and administrator access. In both cases you must connect an AI provider key or sign in by OAuth. Self-hosting is far more demanding: an HTTPS endpoint with WebSocket, a database, outbound access to WorkOS and LLM providers, plus updates and network controls. No coding skill is needed for everyday use.
Deployment
Integrations
Behind Frontman
Fundraising
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Frontman.
Frequently asked questions
What is Frontman?
How is it different from Cursor or Claude Code?
Which frameworks and CMS platforms are supported?
How much does it cost, and are AI costs included?
Which AI providers can I connect?
Is Frontman open source?
Is it risky to let non-engineers change the code?
Is my data used to train AI models, and where is it hosted?
What can Frontman not do?
Should you pick Frontman?
Frontman occupies a narrow position and owns it. It is not a general-purpose coding agent, and the publisher says so in its own documentation: no inline completion, no shell, no test runs, no git operations by the agent, no new project generation. Instead it edits websites that already exist, starting from the page itself.
The real differentiator is runtime context. Where file-reading agents work blind to the rendering, Frontman feeds the model the actual DOM, computed CSS, component boundaries, source maps, routes and dev server logs. That explains why designers, product managers and marketers can drive it while developers keep control: every change comes back as a git diff someone reviews.
The market coverage is unusual: WordPress on one side, modern JavaScript frameworks on the other. Few tools serve both, and the paths differ, since the framework middleware is development-only by design while the WordPress plugin can run in production.
Legal and privacy hygiene sits well above average for a company this size, with an Article 28 DPA, published technical and organisational measures, a subprocessor list, a German impressum, EU hosting on Hetzner and an explicit commitment not to train on customer content.
The reservations are equally real. Boilerplate Ventures UG is a very young, very small company with EUR 500 of share capital, and its own security page frames its measures as appropriate for a small B2B startup. The WordPress plugin is in beta and labelled experimental. The site contradicts itself on price, with 7 days and EUR 20 per month in the terms against 14 days and EUR 15 per seat on the pricing page. And free self-hosting is presented as free currently. Check the figures at checkout, start on staging, and keep the diff review discipline that makes the whole model safe.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
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