NPP allows WordPress users to manage Nginx Cache operations (Purge & Preload) directly from the WordPress admin dashboard, enhancing website performance and caching efficiency. NPP supports Nginx FastCGI, Proxy, SCGI, and UWSGI cache purge and preload operations, making it one of the most comprehensive solutions for managing Nginx cache directly from WordPress.
One of NPP’s key differentiators is its advanced cache preloading system. Unlike many Nginx cache plugins that only purge cache, NPP can actively warm the cache by crawling your site and rebuilding cache entries automatically.
NPP includes safexec - a hardened command execution wrapper written in C for NPP. It safely executes system utilities used by NPP while enforcing strict security controls. An optional library can also normalize percent-encoded HTTP request lines during cache preloading, preventing cache key inconsistencies in Nginx.
Dockerized repository that provides a complete full-stack deployment for NPP. It includes pre-configured Dockerfiles, a Docker Compose setup, and detailed instructions to get your site running in minutes. Maintained alongside the main NPP plugin. It’s ideal for production, development, and testing environments, offering a streamlined way to simplify your deployment workflow with containerized solutions.
⚡ Spin up a full environment and try NPP in minutes with the ready-to-run Docker setup.
🖥️ If you are on All-in-One Monolithic Server arc you can still use pre-made automation bash script below.
NPP is compatible exclusively with Nginx web servers running on Linux-powered systems.
The PHP shell_exec() function must be enabled and unrestricted, as NPP relies on system utilities for certain operations. Because of this, the plugin may not operate fully on shared hosting environments where native Linux commands are blocked.
📌 If you see warnings or if any plugin settings or tabs are disabled, this could indicate permission issues, an unsupported environment, or missing dependencies that the plugin requires to function properly. NPP is completely free OpenSource project!
📌 You do not need any external Nginx module.
NPP allows WordPress administrators to manage Nginx cache purge and preload operations directly from the WordPress dashboard.
Instead of purely relying on special Nginx purge modules, NPP interacts with the Nginx cache directory itself, removing or warming cache files when needed. As long as the PHP process owner (PHP-FPM-USER) has the required permissions to the cache directory, NPP can manage cache operations without requiring direct Nginx integration.
This approach provides a flexible and architecture-agnostic way to control Nginx cache behavior, making it suitable for traditional servers as well as modern containerized environments.
🧹 Purge All Nginx Cache: Completely clear all cached data stored by Nginx.
🔄 Preload All Nginx Cache: Warm the Nginx cache with the most recent data for the entire website.
🎯 HTTP Purge (ngx_cache_purge): When the Nginx cache module is available, NPP uses it as the fastest purge path. Falls back gracefully to index and filesystem purge when the module is not present.
🚀 Auto Preload Nginx Cache: Automatically preloads the cache when Auto Purge is enabled for a POST/PAGE or after the Purge All action.
🧼 Auto Purge Nginx Cache: Purge cache on Post/Page content changes, comment status updates, theme/plugin updates, or when compatible Cache Plugins trigger a purge. Nginx cache is preloaded automatically if Auto Preload is enabled (for the entire site or individual page).
🔗 Purge Scope (Related Pages): Automatically purge related pages such as the Homepage, WooCommerce Shop page, and Category/Tag archives when a single URL is purged. Optionally preload those pages to keep the cache warm.
⏰ Schedule Nginx Cache Purge & Preload via WP Cron: Automate the purge and preload process using WordPress Cron jobs.
🧭 Proxy Support for Preload: Route preload requests through a proxy server for edge-case environments and containerized deployments.
⏱️ Live Preload Progress Monitoring: Watch the Nginx cache preload process in real time — complete with a dynamic progress bar, currently processed URL, 404 tracking, server load, and total completion time.
🌐 Remote Nginx Cache Purge & Preload via REST API: Remotely trigger cache purging and preloading through REST API endpoints.
⚙️ Manual Nginx Cache Purge & Preload: Allow manual purging and preloading of cache through the table view in the Advanced Tab.
📚 Nginx Cache Analyzer: Full HIT/MISS cache analyzer dashboard, from the last preload crawl with what is currently stored in the Nginx cache. Instantly spot uncached pages and Purge or Preload them directly in the Advanced Tab.
🔍 On-Page Nginx Cache Purge & Preload: Manually purge and preload Nginx cache for the currently visited page directly from the frontend.
🗝️ Custom Cache Key Support: Define a regex pattern to parse URLs based on your custom _cache_key format.
📊 Monitor Plugin and Nginx Cache Status: Monitor plugin status, cache status, and Nginx status from the Status tab.
📈 Cache Coverage Ratio: Live gauge in the WordPress dashboard widget showing the cache coverage ratio, based on the last preload snapshot. Refreshable on demand without a page reload.
☁️ Cloudflare APO Sync: Automatically mirrors NPP purge actions to Cloudflare APO to keep edge cache synchronized with your Nginx cache.
🔴 Redis Object Cache Sync: Bidirectional sync between NPP and Redis Object Cache. NPP Purge All flushes the Redis object cache, and a Redis flush triggers a full Nginx cache purge via NPP (when auto-purge is enabled).
🛒 WooCommerce Auto-Purge: Automatically purges Nginx cache when WooCommerce product stock quantity changes, stock status changes (in stock / out of stock / on backorder), or when an order is cancelled and stock is restored.
🔒 Concurrent Purge Serialization: Atomic lock mechanism prevents simultaneous purge operations from colliding, ensuring cache integrity during concurrent admin actions or background events.
🧩 Modular by Design: Easily integrate with external scripts and automation tools.
🖥️ User-Friendly Interface: Easy-to-use AJAX-powered settings, integrated into the WordPress admin bar and dashboard for quick access.
📋 Admin Notices and Logs: Receive notifications and view logs for plugin status and all cache-related actions within the WordPress admin area.
📧 Email Notifications: Receive email alerts upon completion of preload actions, with customizable templates to suit your needs.
Some server architectures run the web server (WEBSERVER-USER) and PHP-FPM (PHP-FPM-USER) under different system users. In such environments, the PHP process may not have permission to modify the Nginx cache directory.
To simplify setup in these cases, NPP provides a pre-configured automation script that helps resolve permission boundaries by creating a FUSE-based bindfs mount for the cache directory.
This script is only required in environments where user isolation prevents PHP from accessing the cache path. In many setups—such as when Nginx and PHP-FPM run under the same user—it is not required at all.
- Download latest plugin from official wordpress plugin repository or from our latest releases and install to your wordpress instance also you can search plugin on wordpress admin dashboard as 'fastcgi cache purge and preload for nginx'
- Call
install.shone liner to start automated setup;
Switch to root user:
sudo su - root || su - root
bash <(curl -Ss https://psaux-it.github.io/install.sh)or directly with sudo
sudo bash -c "$(curl -Ss https://psaux-it.github.io/install.sh)"The script first attempts to automatically identify the PHP-FPM-USER along with their associated Nginx Cache Paths. If cannot automatically match the PHP-FPM-USER with their respective Nginx Cache Path, provides an easy manual setup option using the manual-configs.nginx file, where users can add multiple PHP-FPM-USER and their associated Nginx Cache Paths.
In environments with two distinct user roles—the WEBSERVER-USER and the PHP-FPM-USER —this script automates the management of Nginx Cache Paths. Utilizes bindfs to create a FUSE mount of the original Nginx Cache Paths, enabling the PHP-FPM-USER to write to these directories with the necessary permissions. This approach resolves permission conflicts by granting the PHP-FPM-USER access to a new mount point, while keeping the original Nginx Cache Paths intact and synchronized.
Note
As mentioned before, If your environment runs both the WEB-SERVER and PHP-FPM under the same user (for example nginx, www-data, or similar), this script or any server side action is not required, since no permission boundary exists between the web server and PHP processes.
After the setup (whether automatic or manual) completed, the script creates an npp-wordpress systemd service. Thats All!
These instructions guide you through setting up the NPP plugin in environments where PHP-FPM-USER and WEBSERVER-USER are distinct, manually, without the automation script install.sh
- Web Server:
NGINXconfigured with caching. - Example Users:
PHP-FPM-USER(PHP process owner, e.g.,psauxit).WEBSERVER-USER(commonlynginxorwww-data).
- Tools: A Linux-based server with bindfs installed.
- Original Nginx Cache Path:
/dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit - FUSE Mount Point:
/dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit-mnt- This mount path will be used as the Nginx Cache Path in the NPP plugin settings.
Install bindfs using your Linux distribution's package manager:
# For Gentoo
emerge --ask sys-fs/bindfs
# For Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install bindfs
# For Red Hat/CentOS
sudo yum install bindfsCreate a new directory for the FUSE mount:
mkdir /dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit-mntMount the original Nginx cache path to the FUSE mount directory with the appropriate permissions for psauxit:
bindfs -u psauxit -g psauxit --perms=u=rwx:g=rx:o= /dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit /dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit-mntTo make the mount persistent, add the following line to /etc/fstab:
bindfs#/dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit /dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit-mnt fuse force-user=psauxit,force-group=psauxit,perms=u=rwx:g=rx:o= 0 0After editing /etc/fstab, apply the changes:
mount -a- Go to the NPP plugin settings page in your WordPress dashboard.
- Set
/dev/shm/fastcgi-cache-psauxit-mntas the Nginx Cache Path. - Check the plugin Status tab for any warnings.