sp8 OS
“We're not building a classic CMS – we're building an operating system for modern web processes.”
Interview with Walter Hagenmayer, founder of sp8. About the origins, the biggest technical challenges and the vision behind an AI-native CMS.
sp8 is often described as an AI-CMS. What is sp8 really, in your view?
Long term, sp8 isn't a classic CMS for me anymore. We see it more as an operating system for modern web and business processes.
The origin was actually quite different: For more than 23 years I worked as a managing director, project lead and project manager between clients and developers. I know TYPO3, WordPress and classic agency projects very well. And I kept seeing the same problems:
- technical debt,
- long development cycles,
- plugin chaos,
- hacked WordPress sites,
- painful relaunches,
- SEO losses,
- and clients who don't understand why an update suddenly costs thousands of euros.
sp8 came out of the desire to remove that friction.
What was the original trigger for building it?
It really started in September as a prototype for a client project.
I had just seen how powerful modern AI-assisted development had become. The first thing that emerged was a marketing automation solution. Then came our own editorial system. After that segments, pipelines, business apps and CRM functions.
Today we're already building on sp8 version 2.2 with:
- starter kits,
- mothership architecture,
- an extension system,
- AI onboarding,
- SEO automation,
- content migration,
- and business-app integration.
What is the core problem sp8 is meant to solve?
From my perspective, the biggest problem is the huge amount of outdated web infrastructure.
There are hundreds of thousands of WordPress installs:
- that are technically outdated,
- have security issues,
- are hard to maintain,
- have become slow,
- or run completely fragmented.
Many companies carry technical debt with them for years.
Our goal: automate website transformation.
How does that work in practice?
The user enters a web address. Then a multi-stage onboarding system kicks in:
- analysis of the existing site,
- detection of the industry DNA,
- automatic design suggestions,
- mockup generation,
- structuring of the content,
- preparation of the SEO migration,
- and later automated deployment.
The goal: turn an existing website into a modern system in an automated way.
What was technically harder than expected?
Definitely the AI onboarding. Especially steering the AI in a way that produces truly creative but at the same time structured and brand-consistent drafts.
It's not just about images or text. The system has to understand:
- Where does the navigation belong?
- Which structure does this industry need?
- How does the design stay consistent?
- How is SEO built up cleanly?
That was significantly more complex than expected.
You talk a lot about SEO. Why?
Because SEO is one of the biggest pain points in any relaunch. Many companies lose rankings:
- through broken redirects,
- bad migrations,
- lost site structures,
- or technical errors.
That's why we're currently building an SEO cockpit that brings Google Search Console, SISTRIX data, rankings and content together.
The system is meant to actively guide marketing leads: "There's potential here." "These rankings could be improved." "These actions would make sense."
We want to make SEO more understandable and more operational.
Have there been real projects already?
Yes. One of the first projects was a WordPress news portal with around 12,000 articles. The site had been hacked and was offline for several weeks.
We:
- took over the entire structure,
- migrated the content,
- remapped images and videos,
- built SEO redirects,
- and rolled out the portal again within a few weeks.
It was a real stress situation – but that's exactly where you find out whether an architecture works.
How do clients react?
Sceptically at first, of course. Many clients first compare: "WordPress could do that too." And then you have to deliver feature by feature.
In our case we had to rebuild a custom AdRotate extension, for example. That was a lot of effort and went through many bug-fix rounds.
But by now the client says: he doesn't want to go back to WordPress.
How important is AI for sp8?
AI is important – but it's not the actual core. The core is: structure.
We use AI:
- for acceleration,
- for automation,
- for support,
- for guidance,
- for pipelines.
But long term, the architecture is more decisive.
I sometimes compare it to a huge shelving system: I build the structure piece by piece and know exactly which compartment goes where.
What role do extensions and the app store play?
Long term, that's a central part. sp8 already has:
- a GitHub-based extension repository,
- starter kits,
- modular extensions,
- an internal credit system for AI and SaaS functions.
Long term, external developers should be able to build their own extensions – similar to an app-store model. But: controlled and quality-assured.
We don't want an uncontrolled plugin hell like in classic CMS systems.
Is sp8 designed to be open or closed?
Currently deliberately controlled. We want first:
- stable architecture,
- clear standards,
- consistent UX,
- secure processes.
Later there will be controlled opening:
- certified extensions,
- vetted developers,
- partner programs,
- marketplace structures.
How would you describe sp8 today in one sentence?
sp8 is not a classic CMS. We are building an AI-powered platform to modernise and steer digital web and business processes.
Walter Hagenmayer
More than 25 years at the intersection of web, marketing and technology – first as founder and managing director of a Cologne-based internet agency, today as co-managing director of CCDS GmbH and architect of sp8 CMS.
- StudiesCologne.
- 2003Founded fh-konzept GmbH in Cologne together with Frank Fischer (today CTO of CCDS GmbH). Internet agency specialising in TYPO3 – started with TYPO3 3.6, building up SMB to enterprise clients. Focus: marketing, SEO and steering large client projects.
- ~2019Merger of fh-konzept GmbH into CCDS GmbH, a long-standing partner on large web projects. Co-managing director and head of the web department – TYPO3 and WordPress agency with SEO focus and enterprise clients.
- 2025Adoption of vibe-coding approaches, Level 5 Diamond certification and start of development of sp8 CMS.
Sometimes he wakes up at night.
I live with my family in Cologne, married, father of three. Sometimes I wake up at night, wide awake, with a thought I want to follow up on immediately – and I sit down at my computer because in that very moment I realise how a detail in sp8 could work better. Many of today's building blocks were created in exactly those hours.
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