Block themes in WordPress lack the dynamic template loading flexibility of classic themes. Using the `render_block_data` filter hook, you can intercept block rendering and swap a template part's slug based on post category, page context, or any conditional logic — without duplicating entire templates. The tutorial walks through a real-world music site example where different sidebars load for different post categories, using early-return guards for performance and `locate_template()` to check for the existence of category-specific template part files before swapping slugs.
Table of contents
The render_block_data filter hookBuilding the category-based sidebarSetting up the template parts9.3K Impressions