5 Common Headless WordPress Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Decoupling your WordPress site is an exciting upgrade, but avoiding key technical pitfalls is essential for success. Here are the top 5 mistakes to avoid.

1. Forgetting Image Domain Restrictions

Next.js requires explicit remotePatterns configuration in next.config.ts to serve external WordPress media safely.

2. Setting API Timeouts Too Short

Remote REST API requests require adequate timeouts (e.g. 10s) to prevent cold-start build failures.

3. Neglecting DOM Sanitization

Always sanitize raw HTML from WordPress using DOMPurify to prevent XSS vulnerabilities.

4. Hardcoding Static Page Slugs

Use dynamic routes ([slug]) with dynamicParams = true to allow newly published blog posts to generate pages automatically.

5. Skipping Core Web Vitals Audits

Verify your site performance regularly using Google PageSpeed Insights to maintain 95+ scores.