Major Update Coming to WP Super Cache: New REST API, User-Friendly Settings Page, and Improvements to Legacy File Storage

WP Super Cache, a WordPress caching plugin maintained by Donncha Ó Caoimh and Automattic, is looking for users to help test the plugin ahead of the next major update. Ó Caoimh said the upcoming release is in a “stable and usable” state, but with the unusually large number of bug fixes and new features, it could use some testing in different environments.

WP Super Cache is set to introduce a REST API, which will be useful for situations where administrators are not using wp-admin to manage their sites. The plugin is also changing the location for storing legacy cache files to the supercache directory.

“This makes it easier to manage these files,” Ó Caoimh said. “The plugin doesn’t have to search through potentially hundreds of cache files for those that need to be deleted if a page updates or someone leaves a comment. Now all those files will be in the same directory structure the anonymous “supercache” files will be. I’m really excited about this feature as it makes caching for logged-in users/users who comment and caching of pages with parameters so much faster now.”

Ó Caoimh is also updating the settings page to make it easier for new users to understand the options. Currently it asks the user to select from mod_rewrite, PHP, or Legacy page caching with little explanation for why a user might opt for a certain delivery method. The new settings page simplifies the language used to describe the caching types.

The upcoming release will also fix nearly 100 bugs. As WP Super Cache is one of the most popular WordPress caching solutions and is active on more than a million sites, any problems with a major release will have a far-reaching impact. The latest changes to the plugin are available on GitHub for anyone who wants to help test.