GB Cache

Server-Level static HTML cache with Admin UI for exclusions, WP-Cron handling, and Cache Warming.

GB Cache is a lightweight and highly efficient WordPress caching plugin designed to deliver static HTML pages directly through server-level .htaccess rewrite rules. By bypassing PHP and the WordPress database entirely for cached pages, GB Cache significantly improves your website's load times and overall performance.

Core Features

• Server-Level Delivery: Modifies your .htaccess file upon activation to serve cached HTML files directly, ensuring lightning-fast Response Times (TTFB).
• Device-Specific Caching: Differentiates cache delivery and generation by device type (desktop, mobile, and ios) to accommodate responsive and adaptive designs.
• Admin Settings Interface: Manage your exclusions easily via Settings > GB Cache:
  • Checkbox list to easily exclude specific WordPress pages from the cache.
  • Text area to exclude custom URI paths (e.g., /cart/, /checkout/, /wp-json/).
• Smart Cache Invalidation: Automatically clears the cache during critical WordPress events:
  • Creating, updating, or deleting posts/pages.
  • Posting, editing, or deleting comments.
  • Activating/deactivating plugins or switching themes.
  • Saving menus or Customizer changes.
• One-Click Manual Clear: Adds a convenient "Clear GB Cache" button directly to the WordPress Admin Bar.
• Intelligent Bypassing: Automatically bypasses the cache for logged-in users, AJAX requests (DOING_AJAX), WP-Cron (DOING_CRON), Search results, 404 pages, and Feeds.
• Cache Preloader (Warming): Automatically warms the cache (for both Mobile and Desktop user-agents) for the homepage, newest 10 pages, and newest 5 posts immediately after a cache purge.
• Scheduled Maintenance: Purges the cache automatically every 10 hours using WP-Cron.
• Safe Installation/Uninstallation: Backs up your existing .htaccess file during activation and safely restores the backup upon deactivation.

Installation

1. Upload the gb-cache folder to your /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress.
3. Note: Upon activation, the plugin automatically creates essential rewrite rules inside your .htaccess file and sets up a protected cache directory at /wp-content/cache/gb-cache.

Configuration

Navigate to Settings > GB Cache in your WordPress admin dashboard.

1. Exclude Specific Pages: Scroll through the checklist of your site's Pages and check the ones that should never be cached.
2. Exclude Custom URIs: Add strings or parts of URLs (one per line) to uniformly exclude them from caching (e.g., /cart/ or /my-account/).

Technical Details

• Cache Storage Path: /wp-content/cache/gb-cache/{device_type}/{http_host}/{request_uri}/index.html
• .htaccess Delivery: The plugin uses Apache's mod_rewrite to intercept requests. It serves the cache directly unless:
  • The request is a POST request.
  • The request has a query string.
  • The user has a designated WordPress login cookie (wordpress_logged_in_, etc.).
• Version: 1.8
• Author: Tyson
• License: MIT License