Description
WCKD Fast Pages is a deliberately small full-page cache for sites without a
logged-in front end (brochure sites, organizations, portfolios). The first
visit to a page saves its finished HTML; every visit after that is served
straight from disk before WordPress or the database load, typically
20 to 30 times faster server response.
Built to be boring:
- Content edits clear the cache automatically, so visitors never see stale pages. Editing a page clears just that page and the listings that show it, then rebuilds them in the background.
- Visitors arriving through ads and email links (utm tags, click ids) get the instant copy too. Tracking is untouched: it runs in the browser.
- Each page is compressed once when saved, so browsers get a ready-made gzip copy and the server never compresses the same page twice.
- Logged-in users, visitors with a shopping cart in progress, previews, real query strings, search, feeds, and POST requests always bypass. A page a plugin marks as private is never saved.
- Security headers a plugin adds, such as a Content-Security-Policy, are sent with saved pages too.
- Deactivating, deleting, half-removing or half-uploading the plugin can never break the site: every failure path falls through to a normal WordPress render.
The dashboard (Settings Fast Pages):
- A measured, plain-language speed banner (“Pages on this site load 22× faster…”) with one-click re-measuring.
- Every page on the site with its cache status, timestamp and size, 50 at a time, with filters and search, plus per-page refresh.
- A “Cache All” button that rebuilds every page’s saved copy, one page at a time. Each row updates live as its page is cached, with a time estimate, Pause, Resume and Stop.
- Pause serving for one hour (auto-resumes).
- Settings for what to always show live (content types, categories, tags or specific addresses), how much to clear after an edit, and how fast Cache All runs.
Technical notes (for hosts and developers): on activation the plugin
installs a wp-content/advanced-cache.php drop-in and defines WP_CACHE
in wp-config.php, the standard mechanism that lets cached pages skip
WordPress entirely. It never overwrites another plugin’s drop-in, and
deactivation/uninstall remove both cleanly. Respects DONOTCACHEPAGE and
Cache-Control: private or no-store, offers filters for what is saved,
what bypasses and what an edit clears, and honours the
WCKD_FAST_PAGES_DISABLED and WCKD_FAST_PAGES_TTL constants. WP-CLI:
wp fast-pages status | purge | warm.
Installation
- Install and activate the plugin.
- Visit Settings Fast Pages and press “Cache All”.
- Press “Measure Speed” to see the before/after on your own server.
FAQ
-
Will my visitors see outdated pages after I edit something?
-
No. Saving a post or page clears its saved copy immediately, along with
the copies of every page that lists it. Publishing or unpublishing,
changing a title or address, and editing menus, categories, widgets or
site settings clear everything, because those show up on every page.
Clearing everything is instant, however large the site. Pages are saved
again on their next visit, or all at once with “Cache All”.
Each saved copy is also used for at most 12 hours. The first visit after
that quietly rebuilds it, so pages that change on their own (like event
schedules) stay current even if nobody edits anything. There is no
scheduled rebuilding and no wasted server work: a page nobody visits is
never rebuilt. Developers can tune the window with the
WCKD_FAST_PAGES_TTL constant. -
Does it work on large sites?
-
Yes. It has been tested on a site with over 3,000 pages. The dashboard
lists pages 50 at a time, clearing the cache is instant, and editing a
page clears only that page and the listings that show it, then rebuilds
them in the background (you can change this in Settings). Cache All
rebuilds one page at a time with a pause between each, so even a full
rebuild stays gentle on shared hosting; at the Normal speed, 3,000 pages
take roughly 40 minutes to an hour, in the background. You can pause it,
and on large sites you can also skip it and let pages cache as visitors
arrive.How large? Visitors are served at the same speed whatever the size of the
site. The dashboard and Cache All are comfortable up to roughly 10,000
pages; beyond that the page list and a full rebuild become slow, and
letting pages cache as visitors arrive is the better choice. -
Does it work with my membership / WooCommerce site?
-
It is not designed for sites where visitors log in or see personalized
content. Logged-in users and visitors with something in a WooCommerce or
Easy Digital Downloads cart always bypass the cache, and a page a plugin
marks as private is never saved, so the site keeps working, but those
visitors and pages gain no speedup. -
Not for safety. A site that gives a visitor a cookie may go on to show
that visitor pages made for them, so anyone carrying such a cookie always
gets live pages, and a page is never saved while the site is setting one.
The dashboard names the cookie. If it never changes what a page shows (it
only remembers a consent choice or counts visits, say), list it under
Harmless cookies on the Settings tab and pages are saved as usual. -
My site can be reached at more than one address. What happens?
-
Pages are saved only when they are requested at the site’s own address,
the one under Settings General. A second domain pointed at the same
site, or your host’s temporary address, still works, but its visitors
always get live pages. (WordPress itself redirects between the www and
non-www forms of your address, so those are not affected.) -
What happens if I deactivate or delete it?
-
The site simply becomes a normal WordPress site again. Every removal
path, including deleting the plugin folder by FTP, is fail-safe. -
Does it send any data anywhere?
-
No. There are no external services, no accounts, and no tracking. Every
request the plugin makes is your site talking to itself. -
Are there requirements my site must meet?
-
Pretty permalinks (any structure other than plain ?p=123) are required;
the settings page tells you if they are off. Subdirectory installs work.
Multisite networks are not supported.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“WCKD Fast Pages” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “WCKD Fast Pages” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.4.4
- Built for large sites: the page list has filters, search and 50 pages per screen, and clearing the cache is instant at any size.
- Editing a page now refreshes only that page and the listings that show it, in the background. A new setting lets you clear everything instead.
- Cache All shows live progress with a time estimate, Pause, Resume and Stop, has a speed setting, and keeps running after you close the dashboard.
- Always show live can be set by content type, category or tag.
- Dashboard reorganized into All Pages and Settings tabs.
- Safer with personalized pages: private pages, shopping carts and visitors carrying a cookie from your site are always served live, and pages are saved only for the site’s own address.
- Fixes: comments and category changes now refresh the pages they affect, and pages with non-English addresses are saved once and kept up to date.
1.4.3
- Initial release on WordPress.org.