Title: Bug Fix: Don’t add roles on init
Author: WordPress VIP Documentation
Published: December 14, 2020
Last modified: August 5, 2025

---

 1. [Changelog](https://docs.wpvip.com/changelog/)
 2. [VIP MU plugins [Production]](https://docs.wpvip.com/changelog/vip-mu-plugins-production/)
 3. Bug Fix: Don’t add roles on init

# Bug Fix: Don’t add roles on init

---

 14 December 2020

17:01:37 GMT+0000

 [ VIP MU plugins [Production] ](https://docs.wpvip.com/changelog/vip-mu-plugins-production/)

 [ Permalink  ](https://docs.wpvip.com/changelog/vip-mu-plugins-production/bug-fix-dont-add-roles-on-init/)

`add_role` can lead to database writes which, when called on `init`, can trigger
on the frontend. That is not ideal as it can cause performance problems. It can 
also lead to undesirable circumstances with other roles being removed if there are
intermittent database issues.

We still trigger our upgrade routine on `admin_init` so new installs still get the
VIP Support roles added correctly.

https://github.com/Automattic/vip-go-mu-plugins/pull/1912