Kirki

What is Kirki?

Kirki is a freeform visual builder for WordPress. It lets you design on an infinite canvas and build pages using a real CMS alongside a visual editor, all within the same workflow.

Instead of working inside rigid grids and columns, Kirki uses a freeform canvas and page-building blocks (such as sections, rows, columns, and elements) to help you lay out designs with more direct control over positioning and styling.

Key Features

• Infinite freeform canvas: Design without grids or columns, using a canvas-based workflow for layout flexibility.
• Unlimited breakpoints: Apply responsive styling across an unlimited set of breakpoints.
• CSS variable design system: Build styles using a CSS-variable approach, supporting consistent theming.
• Interactions & animations: Create interaction behavior and animations, including an interaction timeline and keyframe editor.
• Built-in CMS with content manager and custom fields: Manage content directly in the builder with reference and multi-reference capabilities.
• Dynamic templates and collection filtering: Use dynamic template behavior such as scheduling posts and applying collection filters and pagination.
• Realtime collaboration: Support multiple editors working on the same canvas, with comment threads placed on the design.
• Collaboration and handoff tooling: Use staging mode and publish history, plus client view-only share links and a dev mode for handoff.
• Text animations and Lottie support: Include text animation tooling and support for Lottie files for motion assets.

How to Use Kirki

1. Install Kirki on your WordPress site and start a new design project using a provided template kit.
2. Customize the template on the freeform canvas by adding and arranging building blocks (sections, rows, columns, elements) and adjusting styles.
3. Connect the design to content using the built-in CMS, including custom fields and references (or multi-references) for dynamic content.
4. Add behavior with interactions and animations using the interaction timeline/keyframe editor, including interaction presets where applicable.
5. Collaborate with your team using realtime editing, comments, and staging/publish history before sharing with clients via view-only links.

Use Cases

• Marketing page builder with responsive layout: Create landing pages on the infinite canvas while styling across unlimited breakpoints.
• Template-driven site sections powered by CMS content: Build dynamic templates that pull from the built-in CMS with references, pagination, and collection filtering.
• Team design-and-review workflow: Work with multiple editors in realtime, leave comments directly on the design, and use staging mode plus publish history for review cycles.
• Interactive product or portfolio experiences: Add scroll/click/hover/mouse-move interaction behavior and text animations, optionally using Lottie assets.
• Client handoff and controlled review: Share client view-only links for feedback and use dev mode to support handoff workflows.

FAQ

Is Kirki a WordPress page builder or a CMS?

Kirki is a visual builder for WordPress that also includes a built-in CMS content manager. The editor is designed to work with CMS content and custom fields.

What does “freeform canvas” mean in Kirki?

Kirki’s editor is described as an infinite canvas that avoids grids and columns, letting you design directly on the canvas rather than inside strict layout frameworks.

Does Kirki support responsive design?

Yes. The product describes unlimited breakpoints for responsive styling.

Can multiple people work on the same design?

Yes. Kirki lists realtime collaboration with multiple editors, plus comments directly on design.

Does Kirki include interaction/animation tooling?

Yes. It includes an interaction timeline and keyframe editor, interaction presets, and support for text animations and Lottie files.

Alternatives

• Traditional WordPress page builders (grid/section-based): These typically use row/column systems and may be less focused on an infinite freeform canvas and an embedded CMS workflow.
• No-code website builders with collaboration: Often provide visual editing and teamwork features, but may not integrate directly into a WordPress-based CMS and custom-field workflow.
• Custom WordPress theme/page development: Offers full control but generally requires more developer effort; it lacks a built-in visual CMS-and-canvas editing workflow.
• Front-end design tools paired with WordPress templating: A common approach is designing elsewhere and then implementing in WordPress templates; compared with Kirki, it may separate design, CMS wiring, and interaction configuration into different tools.