How our guides are made

We use AI. We also use people. Here's the order they come in, and who the people are.

From draft to published, in six steps

1. 1

   A draft, written with AI

   Yes, really. Claude Code drafts most of what you read here, and it would be strange to hide that, since it is sitting right there in the terminal while we work. AI is fast and tireless. It is also confidently wrong about new versions of Astro, which is why there are five more steps.

2. 2

   Every command is run

   Before a guide is published, each command is run for real on the Astro version named at the top of the page, and the output you see is what it printed. If a step could not be run, the guide says so in plain words.

3. 3

   A named person signs it off

   Every page has a review lead from the board below. They read every sentence and ask one question: would a complete newcomer know what to do next? When they sign a page off, its byline changes from "Review lead" to "Reviewed by", with the date.

4. 4

   The reading level is measured

   A script grades every page. Our target is grade 5 or lower, and the course sits between grade 2 and 4. Big words get explained, or replaced.

5. 5

   Facts are checked at the source

   Features come from the official Astro and EmDash docs. Prices and limits come from the host, with the date we checked.

6. 6

   It gets updated, not abandoned

   When a new Astro release changes a step, we fix the guide and change the date at the top. Old tutorials are how beginners get hurt.

The review board

The Seahawk Media team. Between them they build websites, run hosting partnerships and look after customers all day, which is a useful set of people to have reading a guide before a beginner does. No single person writes Astro Nursery. Every page is a team effort, and every page has a review lead from this board, shown on the page with their photo.

Ryan James

Founder & CEO, Seahawk Media

Started Astro Nursery. Reads the final draft of every guide, and is the one who gets the email when a step is wrong.

Ankur Gandhi

VP of WordPress

Anything we say about WordPress, and about moving away from it, goes past Ankur.

Blaise Kavai

VP of Product

Reads guides the way a product gets reviewed: does each step do what it says?

Akshay Kumar

VP of Marketing

Our check on what we say about search, titles and getting found on Google.

Nusrat Haneef

VP of Customer Success

Reads as a beginner would, and flags the step where someone would get stuck.

Amandeep Singh

VP of Growth

Watches which guides people need next, so we write those first.

Monika Singh

VP of Operations

Keeps the testing honest: a guide is not published until its steps have been run.

Shubhrata Dubey

Chief of Staff

Keeps the team and the site moving in the same direction.

Anil Thaakran

Head of Business Development

Hears what hosts and agencies are asking about, and brings the questions back.

Morale

Humdee

Guard dog, also known as Sweedy

Sits beside the keyboard while every command is tested. She has reviewed nothing. She has approved everything.

Simon

Mascot

The Seahawk himself. Appears when morale needs it. Cannot type.

The promises, in one place

• Tested. Each guide says which Astro version its steps were run on. If a step wasn't run, it says that too.
• Plain. Short sentences, common words, every technical term explained where it first appears.
• Sourced. Facts, prices and limits link to where we found them, with the date we checked.
• Independent. No paid placements, no affiliate links. If that ever changes, it will say so on the page. See our disclosure.
• Correctable. Found a mistake? Email ryan@seahawkmedia.com. Corrections get a new date at the top of the guide.

More about Astro Nursery