Fernlight Theme 1.2.21 — tier-copy decoupled, shipped to WordPress.org

Fernlight Theme 1.2.21 shipped to WordPress.org on June 27, 2026, superseding 1.2.20 (submitted the day before). This is the version currently in review.

What’s in 1.2.21

Tier-copy decoupling (the headline change)

The theme no longer holds any tier names or upgrade copy. Previously, plan names like “Business” and “Agency” were baked into the reviewed code — meaning any pricing or tier rename required a new WP.org submission. That’s over.

  • fernlight_pro_tier_normalized() is now a pass-through sanitizer — it renders whatever tier string the Pro plugin reports, including legacy slugs, without an allowlist
  • New filter fernlight_pro_tier_label: Pro registers the human-readable tier label; free fallback is ucfirst($tier)
  • New filter fernlight_pro_upgrade_cta: Pro registers the label, URL, CSS class, icon, and support visibility for the upgrade/support button; free fallback says “Explore Fernlight Pro” and links to the pricing page
  • The WooCommerce-inactive card was reworded to be fully tier-agnostic (“Fernlight Pro commerce surfaces need WooCommerce active”)
  • All hardcoded “Upgrade to Business / Agency” blocks removed from the getting-started panel

Authoritative translation template

languages/fernlight.pot was regenerated from scratch with wp i18n make-pot on the test server — the canonical WP-CLI tool, not a fallback extractor. All new and changed strings from the tier-decoupling pass are covered.

The full 1.2 series, for context

1.2.21 completes a series that began with a single goal: make the theme strictly presentation-only so it passes WP.org review cleanly and so switching themes never touches your content.

  • 1.2.10–1.2.14: Site Editor Pro upgrade panel, starter-site creator and admin UI, style-switcher, and settings forms all relocated from the theme into Fernlight Companion. JS modernized (const/let).
  • 1.2.15: The three query-loop block variations converted to plain block patterns. Last block-editor JS removed from the theme.
  • 1.2.16–1.2.17: Theme Check minor fixes, packaging hardened for the directory.
  • 1.2.18: Reserved-template-prefix pattern rename across 14 files and slugs; all Companion slug references updated.
  • 1.2.19: Final deep-scan cleanup — removed a public admin plugin link from the WooCommerce fallback, grep-cleaned bundled text.
  • 1.2.20: Listing screenshot refreshed to a real live-theme capture. First WP.org submission.
  • 1.2.21: Tier-copy decoupled into the Pro bridge. Authoritative POT regen. Supersedes 1.2.20 in review.

Why this is the last review like this

Future tier renames, pricing changes, and plan restructuring now edit only the Fernlight Pro plugin — a private file that never touches the WP.org review queue. The free theme is permanently decoupled from those decisions.

Package: Fernlight Theme · Version: 1.2.21 · Released: June 27, 2026 · Distribution: WordPress.org theme directory (in review)