Olivia: an AI solution architect for ProcessWire

[maximus]

Hi everyone!

In my recent interview and ProcessWire weekly update, I mentioned that I had a couple of larger workflow-focused modules coming.

This is one of them.

I’m continuing to explore what AI-assisted development can become when it is integrated into a real CMS—not just used to generate isolated snippets, static landing pages or disposable prototypes.

The result is Olivia, an AI solution architect for ProcessWire.

What is Olivia?

Describe the website you need, and Olivia turns that request into a structured, reviewable ProcessWire build plan.

After you review the plan, Olivia can create:

• fields;
• templates;
• pages and page relationships;
• starter content;
• responsive frontend views;
• navigation;
• SEO and Open Graph metadata;
• contact and enquiry forms;
• optional generated images;
• integrations with other ProcessWire modules.

Most AI website builders produce something that looks finished but has no meaningful content model behind it.

Olivia takes a different approach: the result remains a real ProcessWire website. Fields, templates and pages are created through ProcessWire and remain editable through the normal admin interface. Generated frontend views are ordinary PHP files under /site/templates/.

The goal is not to replace ProcessWire with AI. The goal is to let AI understand and build with ProcessWire.

The workflow

Olivia follows a reviewable workflow:

Prompt → Plan → Validate → Preview → Build → History → Undo

Nothing is built immediately after entering a prompt.

Olivia first generates structured plan JSON describing the proposed site, including its information architecture, fields, templates, pages, content, visual theme and optional module recommendations.

You can inspect and edit that JSON, preview the planned page structure and only then start the Build.

Every completed Build creates a rollback manifest and appears in Build History.

If the result is not what you expected, you can use Undo.

Direct and Interview modes

Olivia includes two supported planning modes.

• Direct

Describe the website and receive a complete plan immediately.

For example:

Build a modern restaurant website with a menu, delivery information, an about page and contact details. Use a warm editorial style and realistic starter content.

• Interview

Olivia asks focused questions about the business, audience, content, visual direction and required functionality before preparing the plan.

This is useful when the initial idea is incomplete or when important architectural decisions should be clarified first.

Supported website types

The first release contains explicit generation contracts and deterministic blueprints for four primary site types.

Landing page

• A focused offer with benefits, proof, calls to action and a lead form.

Business website

• A multi-page company website with services, trust content and a tailored enquiry path.

Catalog

• A structured product or service catalog designed for larger collections, including search, categories, detail pages, prices, availability, galleries and product-specific enquiry forms.

Online store

• A real transactional store powered by Mercato, with products, collections, cart, checkout, payments, customers, orders, discounts, fulfilment and inventory.

Olivia does not present a decorative product grid as a working online store. An Online store Build fails closed unless Mercato is installed or the administrator explicitly approves its installation.

Deterministic blueprints are also included. They can create starter plans instantly without making an AI request.

Visual references

The Reference dialog accepts:

• a public website URL;
• design notes;
• up to four uploaded screenshots;
• optional automatic screenshot capture through ScreenshotOne;
• optional current web research through Squad.

Olivia can extract a bounded visual profile containing colors, typography, border radius, container width, spacing density, layout patterns, components and mobile behavior.

References are treated as design direction. Olivia does not copy another website’s branding or content.

If a reference URL cannot be accessed, planning continues with the supplied prompt, notes and screenshots.

ProcessWire module ecosystem

Olivia can learn from installed ProcessWire modules.

If a module provides AGENTS.md, API.md, EXAMPLES.md or sufficiently clear documentation, Olivia can record its capabilities in a local skills library.

This allows Olivia to recommend compatible modules and, where a documented public API exists, connect them to a generated website.

Optional integrations currently include:

• Squad as the provider-independent AI gateway;
• Mercato for commerce;
• Atlas for semantic indexing and grounded site context;
• Ichiban for extended SEO;
• GrokImagine for image-provider configuration.

Module recommendations do not install themselves. Installation always requires an explicit administrator action or an approved pre-Build option.

Background workers

Planning, vision analysis, content generation and image creation can take longer than a normal web request.

Olivia runs slow operations in detached CLI workers. The admin page returns immediately and displays the current activity while the job continues in the background.

Workers have execution deadlines, single-flight protection and diagnostics. Repeated clicks, reloads and parallel tabs do not intentionally start duplicate paid model requests for the same operation.

Safety and control

Giving an AI permission to modify a CMS requires stronger boundaries than simply asking it to generate code.

Olivia therefore follows several rules:

• plans are validated before Build;
• every plan is previewed before anything is created;
• Builds are additive;
• every completed Build has a rollback manifest;
• failed manifest persistence triggers an immediate rollback;
• existing profile template files are not overwritten;
• optional integrations are capability-checked;
• module installation requires explicit approval;
• payment credentials, analytics IDs, legal text and production settings are never invented;
• telemetry is local, content-free, opt-in and disabled by default;
• API keys and private content are excluded from support bundles.

Undo also uses compare-before-restore behavior. If someone manually edits generated content after a Build, Olivia preserves the newer value instead of silently overwriting it during rollback.

Undo is not a replacement for normal backups. The first release should be tested on a development or staging installation before being used on an important site.

Change and Improve

Olivia also includes two additional modes.

Change site

Ask Olivia to extend an existing site with new fields, page types, sections or content.

Improve

Audit the current website and receive prioritized improvement suggestions. A suggestion can be transferred into Change mode for review.

Change and Improve are included in 1.0.0, but they should currently be considered experimental while compatibility is expanded across more existing ProcessWire sites.

The supported first-release path is:

Create with Direct or Interview → Preview → Build → History → Undo

Requirements

• ProcessWire 3.0.200 or newer;
• PHP 8.1 or newer;
• Squad 1.9.0 or newer;
• at least one text-generation provider configured in Squad.

Vision, embeddings, image generation and web research require providers that support those capabilities and may have additional usage costs.

Online store Builds additionally require Mercato.

Installation

1. Install and configure Squad.
2. Download the Olivia release ZIP.
3. Extract its Olivia directory into /site/modules/Olivia/.
4. Refresh modules in ProcessWire Admin.
5. Install Olivia.
6. Open Setup → Olivia.
7. Review the module configuration before enabling image generation, content filling, screenshot capture or telemetry.

The package contains two ProcessWire modules:

• Olivia — the configurable product module;
• ProcessOlivia — the automatically managed admin companion.

Install and update Olivia; ProcessWire handles the admin companion through the normal dependency lifecycle.

Version 1.0.0

This is the first public release of Olivia.

I would be very interested to see what other ProcessWire developers build with it and how well the generated architecture matches real project requirements.

Feedback is especially welcome around:

• generated information architecture;
• field and template structure;
• frontend output;
• module recommendations;
• visual reference analysis;
• Undo behavior;
• compatibility with different ProcessWire site profiles.

Please test it on a development or staging installation and report reproducible issues through GitHub. The Support info page provides a secret-free diagnostics bundle that can be attached to a report.

Links

GitHub repository:
https://github.com/mxmsmnv/Olivia

Olivia 1.0.0 release:
https://github.com/mxmsmnv/Olivia/releases/tag/v1.0.0

Download Olivia 1.0.0:
https://github.com/mxmsmnv/Olivia/releases/download/v1.0.0/Olivia-1.0.0.zip

Documentation:
https://github.com/mxmsmnv/Olivia/blob/main/README.md

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how AI can participate in building a website without taking control away from the developer or site owner.

Olivia is my first serious attempt to answer that question for ProcessWire.

I hope you find it useful.c