Creating Themes
Themes define the entire visual experience of a SitePack website: layout, colors, fonts and style (see Theme & Design for how site owners customize a theme once it's active on their site). As a SitePack partner, you can design themes for two different purposes: private themes built for a specific client, and public themes offered to the entire SitePack community through the Marketplace.
Theme overview
The Themes section of your Partner Dashboard displays every theme owned by your organisation, along with:
- Theme Identity: The theme's name, initials, and current version number.
- Visibility:
- Public: Available to all SitePack users through the Theme Marketplace, where anyone can discover and install it.
- Private: Restricted to your own organisation or to specific client sites, ideal for bespoke client work that shouldn't be publicly available.
The Themes overview also shows, per theme, its status and its key figures at a glance: total installs, monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and annual recurring revenue (ARR).
Publishing and review
To offer a theme publicly through the Theme Marketplace, it goes through a short review, and SitePack approves it before it goes live.
The theme details page shows a Review checklist: the exact checks our reviewers run, such as a valid icon, a complete English marketplace listing, a valid theme.json, and the templates your manifest references. Each check shows green when it passes and explains what is still missing when it does not.
You can only Submit for review once every check passes. Keeping the checklist green up front means our review can focus on your theme's design and quality rather than technical gaps. After you submit, you can follow the theme's status on its page: Submitted, Under review, and finally Live once it is approved.
Sharing a theme with a customer
Every theme page has an Install link in the Distribution card. Send it to your customer to put the theme on their website, the same way you share an app:
- Copy the link: the link appears once you have published a version of the theme. For a private theme the link contains a security code, so only people you send it to can use it. An approved Marketplace theme can be installed by anyone who opens its link.
- Your customer approves it: they open the link while signed in to SitePack, see your theme, the website it goes on and that their live website stays as it is, and click Install on staging.
- The theme runs on staging: the theme now shows on the staging version of their website only, starting from its own colors with their brand color and fonts carried over. Their live website keeps its current theme.
- Your customer puts it live: when they are happy, they click Publish staging theme under Design & Theme, and the theme goes live.
Paid themes cannot be installed through a link yet, and a theme without online store support cannot go on a webshop.
Listing images
On the theme details page you upload the images shown on your marketplace listing: the theme icon and up to four screenshots per language. You can use PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP or SVG files, each up to 5 MB. If you upload an SVG, SitePack automatically cleans it before saving, so use plain vector artwork without any interactive or scripted elements.
Performance
Once your theme has at least one install, the theme page and the Themes overview show how it is doing: total installs, how many of those are paying customers, and the recurring revenue it generates as MRR (per month) and ARR (per year).
Versioning
SitePack themes support versioning, letting you continue improving a theme's design over time and roll out updates safely rather than risking a client's live site with untested changes. The current version number for each theme is always visible directly in your Themes list, so you always know exactly what's deployed where.
Resources
Ready to start building? Our technical developer portal covers everything you need to design a theme using SitePack's theme engine:
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a public and private theme?
A public theme is listed in the Theme Marketplace and available for any SitePack user to discover and install. A private theme is restricted to your own organisation or specific client sites, and never appears publicly.
Can I update a theme after it's already in use on a live site?
Yes. SitePack themes support versioning, which lets you release updates and improvements over time while keeping deployments safe and controlled.
Where do I find technical documentation for building a theme?
Visit the SitePack Theme Documentation on our developer portal for the full technical guide to the theme engine.
Can I sell the themes I create?
Yes, by setting a theme's visibility to Public, it becomes available in the Theme Marketplace, where you can earn commissions on sales. See Commission Platform for details.
How do I get my theme listed on the marketplace?
Set the theme to Public, complete the marketplace listing, and get every point on the Review checklist to pass. Then use Submit for review on the theme page. SitePack reviews and approves the theme before it appears publicly.
Why can't I submit my theme for review yet?
The Submit for review button stays disabled until every check on the Review checklist passes. Open the checklist on the theme page: each failing check explains exactly what is still missing (for example an icon, a complete English listing, or a template your theme.json references).
Do I need coding skills to create a theme?
Yes. Building a theme uses SitePack's theme engine, which involves development work. This is different from the no-code customization tools (colors, fonts, layout) available to regular site owners in Theme & Design.
What image formats can I use for my theme icon and screenshots?
You can upload PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP or SVG files, up to 5 MB each. SVG files are cleaned automatically when you upload them, so stick to plain vector artwork without scripts or interactive elements.