If you build client sites in Bricks or Etch, a lot of Astro will feel familiar: you think in sections, components and reusable styles, and the result is a fast site with clean markup. What changes is where the work happens. Astro has no visual builder of its own, you normally work in a code editor and a terminal, and a client cannot edit the site without a separate content tool. Those are real gaps, and each one has an answer. Here is what to expect.

Astro is a modern way to build websites that turns your pages into fast, plain HTML files. It is popular with developers because the sites are quick, stable and cheap to host.

What stays the same

  • You still think in components. In Bricks you build with components and global classes; in Etch you work close to real HTML and CSS with reusable components. Astro is built around exactly that idea: a header, a card or a pricing table is a component you build once and reuse everywhere.
  • Clean, semantic markup. Many makers moved to Bricks or Etch because they wanted control over the HTML and CSS. Astro gives you that by default, without builder wrappers around every element.
  • Design systems. Spacing, type and color as shared values that update the whole site. If you work with a framework of variables today, the same approach carries over.
  • The client work itself. Discovery, design, content, launch and the relationship with your client do not change. Only the tool under the site does.

What changes

  • No visual builder out of the box. This is the big one. Astro on its own has no canvas where you click a section and drag a slider. You describe layout in files.
  • A code editor and the terminal. Creating, previewing and publishing an Astro site normally means typing commands in a terminal. For many Bricks and Etch users that is the moment they close the tab.
  • No dashboard for your client. WordPress gives every client a login. With Astro, client editing needs a separate content tool that you choose and connect. We compare the options in the best CMS for Astro client sites.
  • No plugins to install. That is a loss and a gain. You cannot add a feature with one click, but there are also no plugin updates, no plugin conflicts and nothing on the live site to patch.
  • Your site is a set of files. Pages, sections, styles and content live as plain files in a folder, not in a database. You can copy, back up and version them like any document.

Why that last point matters now

Because the site is plain files, AI tools can work on it directly. You can ask for a new section, a variant of a card or a full landing page, and see exactly what changed. In Bricks or Etch, the layout lives in the database in the builder’s own format, which makes that much harder. We go into the trade-offs in Astro vs WordPress for client sites.

What a sensible first step looks like

  • Start with a new, simple site, not a migration. A landing page or a small brochure site for a friendly client is ideal.
  • Rebuild your favorite components first: the header, a hero, a card and a footer. Once those exist, pages go quickly.
  • Decide early how the client will edit, or agree that you make the changes for now.
  • Keep your Bricks or Etch sites running. There is no reason to move a happy client. Use Astro where it fits best: sites that are mostly pages, a blog and a form.

Keep building visually, on Astro

This is the gap Tado Studio fills. It is the visual builder that Astro does not have: a desktop app where you select a section or component and change it with visual controls, the way you would in a page builder. You can let AI do the heavy lifting with Codex or Claude Code, and you do not need a terminal: you build and publish from the app. Client editing with EmDash is on our roadmap, so clients will be able to edit content without opening the builder. Read more on our Astro website builder page, or see how it compares with a WordPress workflow.

Tado Studio is not publicly available yet. Join the waitlist for launch news and an exclusive launch discount.