Scaling Éclair in an agency

Using Éclair for agency work changes the economics of a business website: no plugins to update, no database to monitor, a fast site from delivery day. This lesson offers a method to produce sites at scale without cutting corners: positioning, process, starter site, client accounts, training, maintenance, pricing, license and quality control.

Which projects suit Éclair for agency work?

When you pitch to a client, rely on verifiable facts: a 480 KB archive, no database, 100 in all four Lighthouse categories (measured locally on the demo site), no cookies on the public site, an offensive security review. And no plugins to update, which Éclair's README presents as the main source of vulnerabilities in a typical WordPress site.

The production process

1. Brief: business, audience, goals, pages, languages, legal information (legal notice, terms of sale if there's a shop) and existing content.
2. Art direction: show the client two or three of the 12 directions in the live preview, or have Imagine my direction with AI suggest three options, for about $0.03 with Claude Sonnet 5.5 according to the official guide.
3. Content: compose the pages with Create with AI (about $0.08 per page with Claude Sonnet 5.5, $0.16 with Opus 5.5), with the built-in assistant, or with Claude and ChatGPT through the MCP connector on your subscription. The AI makes up no facts: the “[To complete⁠: …]” placeholders list what the client has to provide.
4. Review: the SEO, GEO and Design scores in the Analysis tab, then a human review of every page.
5. Launch: the quality checklist at the end of this lesson.

Starter site and duplication

First build a starter site: art direction, menus, legal page outlines, standard pages, custom CSS, SEO and GEO settings. For a new client, copy the whole folder, as you would for a move, then remove what must never pass from one site to another.

# New client site from the starter site (over SSH, on the same server)
cp -a /var/www/modele /var/www/client-dupont
cd /var/www/client-dupont/data
rm -rf keys.php vault.php ai sessions limits logs messages inbox.php

Without SSH access, make the same copy and the same deletions via FTP. Then:

1. Open the copy's admin directly, without visiting its public pages: as long as the address hasn't changed, they would redirect with a 301 to the starter site, and your browser would remember it.
2. In Settings › General, enter the client's official address: Éclair verifies it right away; if it doesn't, do it from the Security page. Also change the name, the tagline and, in Settings › Advanced, the admin URL.
3. In My profile, change your password, then turn two-factor authentication off and on again: you get a secret and recovery codes specific to this site, since the old codes no longer work with the new secret.
4. Create the client's accounts in Users.

Editor accounts for clients

The Editor role suits most clients: it writes and publishes content and manages media, categories, menus, messages and redirects, but can't access the settings, the accounts or the Security page. The agency keeps control of the configuration and the updates.

Éclair generates a temporary password when the account is created: pass it on in person or through a secure channel, and the client will replace it at first login. The Editors can use the assistant box (Settings › AI assistant) opens or closes the assistant and the MCP connector to them. Also recommend two-factor authentication to them.

Training clients with the academy

No need to write a manual for each client: send them to this academy's Beginner path, then to the lessons that fit their case, such as Write and publish your first blog post or Connect Claude to your site. At handover, show them three things: the public site's Edit button, Visual mode and the version history.

The maintenance plan

An agency's Éclair maintenance plan comes down to concrete tasks:

• Éclair updates, following the procedure in the advanced security lesson, then an integrity scan;
• a monthly backup stored off-site, plus one before every update;
• monitoring: protection level, security log, site uptime;
• hosting follow-up: a maintained PHP version, a renewed HTTPS certificate;
• reviewing accounts and revoking unused MCP access;
• an agreed volume of small content changes.

With no plugins and no database, the time spent per site stays predictable.

Pricing structure: illustrative examples

No market figures here: build your prices from your measured time, your hourly rate and your real costs. The table shows the method, with fictitious values.

The MIT license and the “Powered by Éclair” notice

Éclair is distributed under the MIT license: you can use it, modify it, redistribute it and sell the sites you create with it, including for commercial purposes. The condition is to keep the copyright notice (“Copyright (c) 2026 Thierry Gustin”) and the license text in copies of the software. The archive provides them in LICENSE.txt, along with THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt for the icons derived from Lucide (ISC license) and the Impeccable method (Apache 2.0 license): let them accompany every copy you deliver.

The software is provided “as is”, without warranty: your contract sets your maintenance and turnaround commitments, so have it reviewed. Finally, the footer notice is set in Settings › Appearance › Show “Powered by ⚡ Éclair”: unchecking it doesn't breach the license, which covers the software's files.

The MCP connector for your clients

A client can connect their own Claude or ChatGPT subscription to their site, at no cost for the site: turn on Allow MCP connections in Settings › AI assistant, on an HTTPS site at the root of a domain or subdomain. The AI will be able to read, create drafts and suggest changes, 60 per hour per app at most, and you can cut off each access in one click. On the agency side, add one connector per client site in your Claude, with an explicit name; the Free plan only allows one, and in a Team or Enterprise organization, an owner adds them.

The quality checklist

Key points

• Éclair for agency work suits business websites, blogs, portfolios, sales pages and small shops; steer large catalogs and plugin needs elsewhere.
• Duplicate a starter site, but renew its secrets, remove its API keys and change the address, passwords and two-factor authentication.
• Clients get editor accounts; configuration and updates stay with the agency.
• Maintenance comes down to concrete tasks: updates, off-site backups, monitoring and access reviews.
• MIT license: free commercial use, with the copyright notice kept; “Powered by Éclair” is optional.

Going further

• Advanced security and maintenance: the update procedure and the monthly routine.
• Advanced AI workflows: one connector per client site and a review checklist.
• Art directions and Design score: set each client apart with no development.
• Open Source Initiative: the MIT license text.
• Official repository: Éclair's license on GitHub.

All the lessons of this path