Big news this month: we’re expanding beyond WordPress, and adding an AI assistant to the admin dashboard.
AI Assistant in the Dashboard
You can now ask questions about your site directly from the admin dashboard — in plain English.
“Is my site healthy?” “Why was it slow this morning?” “What plugins am I running?” “Are there any errors in the logs?”
The AI assistant checks your site’s logs, database, resource usage, and caching, then tells you what it finds. It has read-only access — it can look at everything but can’t change anything.
What this means for you:
- Get quick answers to technical questions without waiting for support
- Check error logs, plugin status, and site health yourself
- Understand what’s happening with your site in plain language
- Available 24/7 from the admin dashboard
This doesn’t replace personal support — I’m still here for anything that needs a decision or a hands-on fix. Think of it as a way to get quick answers when you want them, on your own schedule.
Orchard Core CMS Support
We’ve added full support for Orchard Core, a modern .NET CMS built on ASP.NET Core. This means you can now run .NET applications on the same reliable infrastructure that powers your WordPress sites.
What this means for you:
- Run .NET and WordPress sites side by side
- Same security model: admin areas protected behind Google authentication
- Same infrastructure: automatic backups, NFS storage, CDN
- Same management: everything in one admin dashboard
Orchard Core sites get their own isolated database, dedicated storage, and can scale independently. If you’ve been wanting to build something in .NET but didn’t want to manage separate infrastructure, now you don’t have to.
Why Orchard Core?
For certain projects, .NET makes more sense than PHP:
- Custom business applications where you need the power of C# and Entity Framework
- Enterprise integrations with systems that speak .NET natively
- Performance-critical sites that benefit from compiled code and Kestrel’s efficiency
- Teams with .NET expertise who want to use their existing skills
Orchard Core is a mature, open-source CMS with a thriving community. It handles content management, multi-tenancy, workflows, and much more out of the box.
How It Works
Orchard Core sites run just like WordPress sites:
- Deployment – We provision the database, storage, and Kubernetes resources
- Configuration – Settings managed through environment variables and config files
- Storage – Media files on NFS (or GCS for larger sites)
- Caching – Shared Memcached cluster for session and output caching
- Security – IAP protection for admin paths, same as WordPress
The key difference is the runtime: instead of PHP and Apache, you get .NET Core and Kestrel behind nginx.
Full Admin Access
Just like WordPress sites, you get direct access to your data:
- phpMyAdmin – Browse and edit your database directly. Run queries, export data, manage tables.
- FileBrowser – Access your Media folder, App_Data, and logs through a web interface. Upload files, edit configs, download backups.
Both tools are protected behind the same Google authentication as the admin dashboard. No SSH required, no complex setup — just click and go.
Custom Modules Coming Soon
We’re working on support for deploying custom Orchard Core applications with your own modules. Two options are planned:
WebDeploy packages – The familiar Visual Studio “Publish” workflow. Build your application, zip it up, upload via FileBrowser, click Deploy. Perfect for teams without CI/CD pipelines.
Custom container images – For teams with existing CI/CD, push your custom image to our registry and reference it in your site config. Full control over your application build.
Your data stays safe: Deployments only replace your application code. Your App_Data folder (tenant configs, runtime settings), Media uploads, and logs all live on persistent storage that survives every deployment. Even multitenant setups work seamlessly — configure your tenants once, deploy code updates as often as you like. Rolling back is as simple as clicking a button.
Getting Started
Interested in running an Orchard Core site? Get in touch and we’ll set one up for you. Same straightforward pricing, same personal support, just a different runtime.
This is particularly useful if you:
- Already have a WordPress site with us and want to add a .NET component
- Need to host a custom .NET application without managing infrastructure
- Want to try Orchard Core but don’t want to deal with server setup
What’s Next
The Orchard Core foundation is solid. Coming up:
- Custom modules deployment – The WebDeploy and container image workflows described above
Questions about Orchard Core hosting? Just ask.