Built by an agency owner.
Tired of SaaS tolls & middlemen.
For twenty years, agency owners have watched commercial SaaS vendors charge compounding per-site fees for basic wrappers around hosting APIs. Clockwork Control is our answer: a self-hosted command center with zero per-site taxes, direct server access, and complete data privacy.
Take back ownership of your operational stack
For decades, commercial SaaS vendors built multi-million dollar businesses charging agencies $2 to $5 per site every month for basic CRUD interfaces, hosting wrappers, and remote plugin toggles. When an agency grows from 30 sites to 150 sites, their software bill balloons while the actual service provided remains identical.
Even worse: to use those multi-tenant SaaS tools, you have to hand over master API keys, SSH credentials, and client database access to a third-party cloud. When their cloud suffers an outage, your agency goes dark.
Clockwork Control was built to break that cycle: an open-source command center you own and run on your own hardware, connecting directly to the infrastructure you already pay for.
Zero Rent-Seeking Per-Site Tolls
When an agency lands 10 new clients, why should their management software bill double? Third-party multi-tenant vendors charge perpetual per-site taxes for superficial HTTP pings and remote plugin toggles. We believe infrastructure tools should run on your own hardware with unmetered capacity.
Private & Self-Hosted Sovereignty
Your client fleet holds SSH private keys, database credentials, and master provider tokens. Those keys should never live on a shared public SaaS server. Clockwork Control is strictly engineered as a private local appliance running on your office hardware or behind Tailscale with zero open inbound ports.
Deep Server-Level Telemetry
Superficial SaaS wrappers only check whether an HTTP response returns 200. Clockwork Control connects directly to your hypervisors and hosting providers: pulling true CPU and RAM load, tracking origin SSL certificates behind Cloudflare, and escalating brute-force attacks to Linux kernel fail2ban jails.
100% Free & Open-Source (MIT)
No feature gating, no closed-source enterprise tiers, and no telemetry tracking your agency. Everything in Clockwork Control is available in our public GitHub monorepo under the permissive MIT license for the community to run, audit, and extend.
2,105 Automated Tests.
Zero Compromises on Reliability.
Building out a fleet command center takes real operational scar tissue: battle-testing fail2ban SSH log parsers, handling origin SSL edge cases behind Cloudflare, decoupling billing terminology from operational queues, and engineering zero-downtime database backups.
Clockwork Control ships with a comprehensive Pest test suite covering every controller, job, command, and module. You start with a proven, enterprise-grade foundation that you can inspect, audit, and extend for your agency.
Meet Aaron Reimann
Over thirty years of hands-on agency scar tissue, server architecture, and WordPress community leadership.
Aaron Reimann
Founder of Clockwork Web Dev, LLC • 30+ Years Building on the Web
Hi, I’m Aaron Reimann 👋
I’m a veteran web developer, agency founder, and infrastructure architect based in Atlanta, Georgia. I've been actively building for the web since 1996 — spanning the early days of 3D computer animation and Flash, through the rise of PHP and MySQL, all the way to modern headless WordPress architectures, Laravel, and static frameworks like Astro.
My journey into deep programming took off in 2001 when I dove into server-side engineering. I actually engineered my own custom Content Management System from scratch — before promptly abandoning it the moment I discovered the immense power and open-source flexibility of WordPress in 2008.
In 2010, I co-founded the digital agency Sideways8 with my business partner Adam Walker. We spent nearly a decade scaling the agency, delivering high-performance websites for everyone from local non-profits to Fortune 100 enterprises, before successfully selling the company in 2019. That same year, I returned to my deep engineering roots to launch Clockwork Web Dev, LLC, a specialized agency dedicated to high-performance WordPress development, custom API integrations, and robust server infrastructure.
Throughout my career, I’ve also been an active leader in the WordPress community. I served as a longtime lead organizer for WordCamp Atlanta and the Atlanta WordPress Meetup, and I’ve spoken at tech conferences and WordCamps around the globe on WordPress security, server infrastructure, and performance optimization.
Why I Built Clockwork Control
"I spent years managing hundreds of client sites across SpinupWP, Pressable, and cloud Linux VPSs. I watched third-party SaaS vendors charge recurring per-site tolls for superficial dashboards that couldn't even see my actual server RAM or firewall jails.
I wanted a modern, self-hosted command center with zero per-site taxes, direct hosting API sync, and absolute data privacy. So I engineered it with 2,105 automated tests — and then gave it away 100% free under the MIT License."
Evolution of a Web Architect
First Code & SCAD Roots
Started building for the web at the dawn of the internet. High school 3D animation work earned a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), leading directly into early HTML, CSS, and Flash development.
Custom CMS to WordPress Discovery
Dove deep into server-side engineering with PHP and MySQL. Engineered a custom Content Management System from scratch before discovering WordPress in 2008, quickly recognizing the transformative power of open source.
Co-Founding & Scaling Sideways8
Co-founded Atlanta digital agency Sideways8 with Adam Walker. Over nearly a decade, built custom web solutions for clients ranging from non-profits to Fortune 100 enterprises, before successfully selling the agency in 2019.
Clockwork Web Dev & Modern Stacks
Founded Clockwork Web Dev, LLC, specializing in advanced WordPress engineering, custom API integrations, high-performance hosting, and modern static architectures like Astro.
Why 30 years in the trenches makes all the difference
Building a fleet command center isn't just about rendering a dashboard table. It demands deep understanding of how servers fail, how WordPress behaves under real traffic, and how agencies operate.
30 Years of Real Agency Scar Tissue
Clockwork Control was not designed in an ivory tower by venture-backed founders looking to flip a SaaS. Aaron has spent three decades in the trenches: managing client servers, cleaning malware infections, fixing DNS outages at 2 AM, and watching monthly per-site bills eat away at agency retainer margins.
Full-Stack Server & Hypervisor Fluency
Most WordPress developers only know theme and plugin PHP. Most sysadmins know Linux but do not understand WordPress hooks. Aaron bridges both worlds fluently: from Linux kernel limits, fail2ban jails, and MySQL indexing to WordPress mu-plugins, HMAC-SHA256 nonces, and modern Laravel architecture.
Decade of WordPress Community Leadership
As a longtime lead organizer for WordCamp Atlanta and the Atlanta WordPress Meetup, and a frequent speaker at WordCamps globally, Aaron has spent over a decade teaching, sharing, and advocating for open-source software that keeps power in the hands of creators.
Agency Operator Economics
Having built, scaled, and successfully exited Sideways8, and now running Clockwork Web Dev, LLC, Aaron understands agency profitability inside and out. Clockwork Control was engineered specifically to protect agency margins by eliminating perpetual recurring per-site software fees.
Built by Clockwork Web Dev, LLC
Clockwork Control was born out of daily frustration managing hundreds of client websites across SpinupWP, Pressable, and cloud Linux droplets. We aren't software middlemen or VC-funded growth hackers — we are a working WordPress agency that wrote the tool we needed to run our own business with complete peace of mind.
Stop paying rent. Start building.
Clone the monorepo, boot it on your local hardware, and experience complete operational clarity across your entire client WordPress fleet.
