Purge by URL

The page cache serves cached versions of responses from WordPress and Node.js applications, static assets that are deployed from an application’s code repository, and a site’s files that are served from the VIP File System.

Cached content can be selectively purged on demand in the VIP Dashboard, with VIP-CLI, or in a site’s WordPress Admin Toolbar or dashboard.

Cached resource URLs can be purged for:

• Posts and pages
• REST API endpoints
• Deployed static assets such as images, CSS, and JS files
• Files that are stored in the VIP File System

Purge by URL

Cached responses for site URLs on a WordPress or Node.js environment can be purged from the cache in the Purge Page Cache panel of the VIP Dashboard.

Up to 4,000 URLs that share the same domain can be purged at one time.

Prerequisites

A user must have at minimum an Org admin role or an App admin role for that application.

The Purge Page Cache panel is environment-specific (e.g., Production, Develop).

1. Navigate to the VIP Dashboard for an application.
2. Select an environment from the environment dropdown located at the upper left of the VIP Dashboard.
3. Select “Performance” from the sidebar navigation at the left of the screen. 
4. Select “Cache” from the submenu.
5. Enter one or more URLs sharing the same domain in the “URLs” text field. Multiple URLs must be separated per line by return values.
6. Select the “Purge” button to purge the URLs from the page cache.

Up to 4,000 URLs can be purged at one time.

Purge the cache for one or more URLs (up to 4,000) that share the same domain with the VIP-CLI command vip cache purge-url.

Prerequisites

• VIP-CLI is installed and has been updated to the most current version.
• A user must have at minimum an Org admin role or an App write role for that application.

If multiple URLs are passed in the command, they must be separated by a single space.

vip @<app>.<env> cache purge-url <url> <url>

VIP-CLI command examples

For demonstration purposes, the <app-name> value example-app and the <env> value develop are used in the VIP-CLI command examples below. Read more about how to target environments in VIP-CLI commands.

In this command example, two URLs hosted on the develop environment of the “example-app” application are purged in a single VIP-CLI command:

$ vip @example-app.develop cache purge-url https://dev.example.com/page-path/ https://dev.example.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/example.png
- Purged URL: https://dev.example.com/page-path/
- Purged URL: https://dev.example.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/example.png

URLs with parameter strings may need to be passed to the vip cache purge-url command within quotation marks. For example:

vip @example-app.develop cache purge-url "https://dev.example.com/page-path/?a=b"

Purging a URL with parameter strings purges all other cached variants of that URL.

--from-file

Accepted values: A relative or absolute path to a UTF-8-encoded text file

The --from-file option extracts a list of URLs from the file existing at the relative or absolute path in the passed value.

Use the --from-file option to pass a text file containing multiple URLs (separated by newlines) to a vip cache purge-url command.

In this example command, a list of URLs contained in the multiline contents of a *.txt file named url-purge-list.txt is passed to the vip cache purge-url to purge:

vip @example-app.develop cache purge-url --from-file=/path/to/url-purge-list.txt

Prerequisites

By default, any logged-in WordPress user that has the edit_others_posts capability (e.g. the default roles Editor, Administrator, and Super Admin) has access to a button in the WordPress Admin Toolbar that clears the page cache by URL.

The Purge Page Cache button is positioned in the WordPress Admin Toolbar on the front end of a site when a user is logged in:

To purge the cache for the current page—as well as all file assets referenced in that page (e.g., images, CSS files, JS files)—select the Purge Page Cache button. If the purge action is successful, the text in the button label will update to display the number of URLs that were purged.

Prerequisites

By default, any logged-in WordPress user that has the edit_others_posts capability (e.g. the default roles Editor, Administrator, and Super Admin) has access to the Purge Cache tool.

The cached response for a single URL can be purged from the page cache with the Purge Cache tool that is located within the WordPress Admin dashboard.

In the WordPress Admin dashboard:

1. Select the navigation menu item labeled “VIP“.
2. Select the sub-navigation menu item labeled “Purge Cache“.
3. Select “Purge a specific URL” from the dropdown menu labeled “Purge action“.
4. In the text field below the selected option, enter the full URL (including scheme) to purge from the page cache.
5. Select the button labeled “Purge Cache“.

The response message “Purge queued for URL” indicates that the purge has successfully completed.

Purge WordPress responses from origin

The cached responses from a WordPress site’s origin server can be purged from the page cache with the Purge Cache tool that is located within the WordPress Admin dashboard. This purging action will not affect other cached files such as uploads or deployed static asset files.

In the WordPress Admin dashboard:

1. Select the navigation menu item labeled “VIP“.
2. Select the sub-navigation menu item labeled “Purge Cache“.
3. Select “Purge WordPress responses from origin” from the dropdown menu labeled “Purge action“.
4. Select the button labeled “Purge Cache“. A dialog titled “Confirm cache purge” will be presented to the user.
5. Enter the current site URL in the text field to confirm that the cached version of WordPress responses from origin can be purged from the page cache.
6. Select the button labeled “Confirm purge“.

The response message “Purge queued for origin responses” indicates that the purge has successfully completed.

Purge files uploaded to the VIP File System

The cached version of files that have been uploaded or imported to a WordPress site and stored on the VIP File System can be purged from the page cache with the Purge Cache tool that is located within the WordPress Admin dashboard.

In the WordPress Admin dashboard:

1. Select the navigation menu item labeled “VIP“.
2. Select the sub-navigation menu item labeled “Purge Cache“.
3. Select “Purge files uploaded to the VIP File System for this site” from the dropdown menu labeled “Purge action“.
4. Select the button labeled “Purge Cache“. A dialog titled “Confirm cache purge” will be presented to the user.
5. Enter the current site URL in the text field to confirm that the cached version of all files uploaded or imported to the site can be purged from the page cache.
6. Select the button labeled “Confirm purge“.

The response message “Purge queued for uploaded files” indicates that the purge has successfully completed.

Purge deployed static asset files

The cached version of static asset files that were deployed to a WordPress environment can be purged from the page cache with the Purge Cache tool that is located within the WordPress Admin dashboard.

In the WordPress Admin dashboard:

1. Select the navigation menu item labeled “VIP“.
2. Select the sub-navigation menu item labeled “Purge Cache“.
3. Select “Purge deployed static asset files” from the dropdown menu labeled “Purge action“.
4. Select the button labeled “Purge Cache“. A dialog titled “Confirm cache purge” will be presented to the user.
5. Enter the current site URL in the text field to confirm that the cached version of all deployed static asset files can be purged from the page cache.
6. Select the button labeled “Confirm purge“.

The response message “Purge queued for static asset files” indicates that the purge has successfully completed.

Purge files that are protected by Access-Controlled Files

Access can be restricted for files that have been uploaded or imported to a WordPress site and stored on the VIP File System by activating the Access-Controlled Files feature. Cached responses for file URLs might already exist on the edge cache prior to the activation of the Access-Controlled Files feature and mode enablement. Cached content for file URLs must be purged from the edge cache in order for those requests to receive the expected 404 response.

The cached version of protected files can be purged from the page cache with the Purge Cache tool that is located within the WordPress Admin dashboard.

In the WordPress Admin dashboard:

1. Select the navigation menu item labeled “VIP“.
2. Select the sub-navigation menu item labeled “Purge Cache“.
3. Select “Purge files that are protected by Access-Controlled Files” from the dropdown menu labeled “Purge action“.
4. Select the button labeled “Purge Cache“. A dialog titled “Confirm cache purge” will be presented to the user.
5. Enter the current site URL in the text field to confirm that the cached version of all deployed static asset files can be purged from the page cache.
6. Select the button labeled “Confirm purge“.

The response message “Purge queued for Access-Controlled Files” indicates that the purge has successfully completed.

Purge the cache for the entire site

All URLs and assets related to a site can be purged from the page cache with the Purge Cache tool that is located within the WordPress Admin dashboard.

In the WordPress Admin dashboard:

1. Select the navigation menu item labeled “VIP“.
2. Select the sub-navigation menu item labeled “Purge Cache“.
3. Select “Purge WordPress responses from origin” from the dropdown menu labeled “Purge action“.
4. Select the button labeled “Purge Cache“. A dialog titled “Confirm cache purge” will be presented to the user.
5. Enter the current site URL in the text field to confirm that the action to purge all URLs and assets related to the site from the page cache should proceed.
6. Select the button labeled “Confirm purge“.

The response message “Purge queued for entire site” indicates that the purge has successfully completed.

Manage access to WordPress Admin purge tools

Access to the purge tools that are built into the WordPress Admin dashboard and the WordPress Admin Toolbar can be managed programmatically with the vip_cache_manager_can_purge_cache hook.

By default the filter checks if the current user has the edit_others_posts capability. The hook expects boolean true to be returned if the current user is allowed to access the button.

Custom code can filter vip_cache_manager_can_purge_cache to further restrict access. This code example demonstrates how to restrict access to the purge tools to the WordPress Administrator role via the manage_options capability:

// Allow only admins to acces edge cache controls
add_filter( 'vip_cache_manager_can_purge_cache', function() { 
    return current_user_can( 'manage_options' );
} );