Sonic 777, the authority-site agent built by Robbie Riz, now lives on the Merlino fleet's primary Hetzner box. License activated as device 2 of 3, all 17 skills synced, the full 8-stage build pipeline loaded.
Captured live from sonic status on merlino-fleet-hel1. This is the actual licensing and skill-pack state on the box, not a mockup.
⚡ Sonic — status ──────────────────────────────────────── Version: 2.0.9 Sonic home: /home/merlino/.sonic Installed: yes License key: SONIC-N52L-****-****-SHNM Licensed to: mike@merlinomarketing.com Installed at: 2026-06-12T19:10:11Z Config: Model: claude-opus-4-8 (Sonic-controlled) Images: openai-image-2 Builder: gutenberg Deploy: rest-api Agency: Merlino Marketing License cache: fresh Devices: 2/3 (primary) Skill pack: installed (v2026.3.0)
Brand first, design second, content third. Each stage signs off before the next. One page sets the bar for the next ninety-nine.
A real discovery session. The why behind the design, before the design. Output: BRAND-BRIEF.md.
Color, type, imagery, mood. Output: STYLE-GUIDE.md, the source of truth for every layout.
Optional motion profile. Lighthouse-safe anime.js patterns baked into the theme.
Custom theme, responsive foundation laid once, hero imagery generated.
The conversion layer. Six-section scroll architecture and CRO-tested patterns.
Capture the shell as a reusable template. Build the design once, reuse it forever.
A fresh sub-agent per page keeps context clean across 150 pages while the sandbox stays alive.
SEO QA and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility QA run before handoff. Then ship via WP REST API.
Sonic loads each skill's instructions automatically when the build reaches the stage that needs it. Descriptions below are pulled straight from the skill pack now installed on merlino-fleet-hel1.
Harvests real Google SERP data (People-Also-Ask, AI Overview, local pack) and competitor data, then turns it into an AKA build brief. Used at the strategy stage before the page plan.
strategyCreates SEO-driven pages at scale from templates and data: location pages, keyword-plus-city pages, directory pages, comparison pages. The engine behind bulk generation.
scaleA brand discovery session run before any building. Produces the Brand Brief: voice, tone, positioning, target customer, brand pillars. The source of truth for every decision downstream.
foundationGenerates a custom visual identity from the Brand Brief: palette, typography, image style, mood board. Outputs STYLE-GUIDE.md that informs the theme and every layout.
identityCreates distinctive, production-grade frontend interfaces with high design quality, deliberately avoiding generic AI aesthetics. Used for the theme, homepage, and components.
build qualityCollects motion preferences and saves a MOTION-PROFILE.md, signalling the theme stage to bake in anime.js patterns. Fully optional, roughly 7KB gzipped, Lighthouse-safe.
optionalGenerates realistic, contextual images for the site: hero images, service photos, blog visuals, location-specific imagery. Web-ready in 16:9, 4:3, or square.
imageryStock-asset fallback for when generated imagery is not the right fit. Used as a backup image source during a build.
fallbackThe orchestration helper that ties the build skills together into the full authority-site workflow.
orchestrationBuilds complete WordPress authority sites (200+ pages) using the Authority-Knowledge-Answer framework: topical clustering, pillar and content-hub structure, internal-link planning.
200+ pagesSpins up an instant local WordPress site, no server, no install, as a build target. Wraps the WordPress Playground CLI as a background subprocess. A throwaway test site on demand.
sandboxThe high-conversion design and scroll-telling layer. Takes a built site from professionally good to obsessively converting: a six-section scroll architecture, CRO patterns, and niche trust signals. Also works standalone on existing sites.
conversionCaptures the shell of a built site (theme, layouts, brand patterns, style guide) as a reusable template, without carrying over content or client data. Saves to a local template store.
reuseTakes a saved template and applies it to a new client: substitutes variables, creates the folder, pre-populates the Brand Brief and Style Guide. Output is a ready-to-build project.
reuseThe final SEO pass before handoff. Scans every page for duplicate H1s, titles, and metas; missing tags; missing schema; broken internal links. Generates sitemap.xml and a pass/fail report.
gateAudits against WCAG 2.1 AA, the legal bar for ADA compliance. Catches contrast, alt text, labels, keyboard traps, ARIA, and heading-hierarchy issues, then applies fixes via WP REST API.
complianceWordPress development and deployment: themes, plugins, Gutenberg blocks, WooCommerce, performance and security, and shipping pages via the WP REST API. The skill that actually ships the site.
shipSonic is a Claude Code agent, so an actual site build needs Claude authentication on whichever box it runs from. On merlino-fleet-hel1 the Claude Max subscription is currently org-disabled and the standing Anthropic API key is intentionally turned off, so the install is complete but a live build cannot run unattended here yet.
Two clean ways to flip it on, your call:
Note on output: Sonic builds into a local WordPress sandbox and ships via the WP REST API to a WordPress host. It does not deploy to Vercel. This page is the proof-of-install showcase; the sites Sonic builds land on WordPress.