After running joe0.com on WordPress for more than two decades, I finally made the jump to a modern static site generator. What I thought would take days turned into just 30 minutes, thanks to Claude Code. The result? Faster site, lower costs, and far less stress.
🎯 Key Outcomes
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 18 hours | 30 minutes | 97% faster |
| Cost | $300/year | $18/year | 94% cheaper |
| Performance | 3–5s load times | <1s load time | Huge speed boost |
| Quality | 5.9/10 “meh” | 9.4/10 “slick” | +59% improvement |
Think of it like swapping your old beat-up commuter car for a Tesla overnight—same website, completely different experience.
Why I Left WordPress
WordPress did the job for years, but it aged like milk in the sun:
- Performance drag: Every page request meant database queries and PHP juggling.
- Security headaches: New plugin, new vulnerability.
- Maintenance hell: Updates broke things more often than they fixed them.
- Cost creep: Hosting + SSL + premium plugins added up fast.
Static sites with Gatsby solved all of these at once: blazingly fast, inherently secure, and practically free to host.
🚧 The ServerlessWP Detour
I first tried migrating with ServerlessWP, hoping to keep WordPress but make it “serverless.” Cool idea… until reality hit:
- Cold starts: Lambda functions meant 10–15s load times (users thought the site was broken).
- Plugins broke: Many rely on file systems or PHP quirks that don’t exist in Lambda.
- Costs weren’t lower: Between RDS minimums and CloudFront traffic, it actually cost more than my VPS.
- Debugging was painful: When the admin dashboard went down after a plugin update, I basically had to play sysadmin in the dark.
Lesson learned: sometimes a clean break (WordPress → Gatsby) beats duct-taping old tech.
🤖 Enter Claude Code
Claude Code changed everything. In one conversation it:
- Pointed out why ServerlessWP was a dead end.
- Recommended Gatsby.js + AWS Amplify.
- Generated the configs, component architecture, and DNS fixes.
- Solved tricky issues (like dark mode CSS conflicts and SPA routing) in minutes.
Instead of days of trial-and-error, I had:
- Content exported and converted to Markdown.
- A Gatsby site with pagination, category pages, and client-side search.
- A proper dark/light theme system (no more white boxes at midnight).
- GitHub → Amplify auto-deploy pipeline with SSL and CDN baked in.
⚡ Results
| Area | Before | After | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 3–5s load times | Sub-1s load times | 🚀 |
| Reliability | Dependent on VPS/DB | Static files, no downtime | ✅ |
| Costs | $25/month ($300/year) | ~$1.50/month ($18/year) | 💰 |
| Workflow | Manual updates, plugins | Git push → auto deploy | 🔄 |
Basically: more speed, less stress, and my wallet finally gets a break.
📚 Lessons Learned
- Don’t force old tech into serverless—WordPress isn’t built for it.
- Always account for hidden costs (time, debugging, gray hairs).
- Strong ecosystems matter—Gatsby’s is thriving, ServerlessWP’s was tumbleweeds.
- Automate early—CI/CD saves headaches later.
- Even failed experiments are valuable—document them for future you.
🚀 Bigger Picture
This wasn’t just a migration; it was proof of how AI is reshaping development. Claude Code wasn’t just “helpful”—it felt like pair programming with a senior dev who never sleeps:
- Instant stack expertise.
- Best-practice code generated in minutes.
- Debugging that feels like cheating (but hey, I’ll take it).
✅ Conclusion
Migrating from WordPress to Gatsby on AWS Amplify would normally take days of work and a chunk of cash. With AI, it was a 30-minute sprint that delivered:
- 94% cost savings
- Sub-second load times
- Simpler, more reliable architecture
The big takeaway? AI isn’t optional anymore—it’s your new dev partner.