WordPress Performance and Admin Audit Checklist

1. Separate server latency (TTFB) from client rendering

Open DevTools > Network tab. Reload the admin page. Check the Time to First Byte (TTFB) of the main HTML document request.

TTFB > 1.0s: Server-side bottleneck (PHP, DB, outbound HTTP, cache misses).
Fast TTFB, sluggish page: Client-side issue (AJAX polling, JS execution, asset blocks).

2. Check for uncached outbound plugin HTTP calls

Install Query Monitor temporarily and check the HTTP API Calls panel. Look for license checks or analytics calls blocking admin rendering.

// In wp-config.php to block outbound HTTP natively:
define( 'WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL', true );
define( 'WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS', 'api.wordpress.org' );

3. Audit total autoloaded options size in wp_options

Ensure total autoloaded data is under 1MB. Run a SQL query to measure total memory footprint.

SELECT ROUND(SUM(LENGTH(option_value)) / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS total_mb
FROM wp_options WHERE autoload = 'yes';

4. Safely purge stale transients via WP-CLI

Never use raw DELETE FROM wp_options for transients (leaves orphaned timeouts). Use WP-CLI instead.

wp transient delete --all

5. Disable request-driven WP-Cron and schedule system crontab

Prevent heavy background jobs from executing during user requests. Add DISABLE_WP_CRON to wp-config.php, then schedule crontab.

define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );

6. Verify OPcache configuration and revalidation frequency

Verify OPcache is active and set opcache.revalidate_freq = 60 or higher in production.

opcache.enable = 1
opcache.memory_consumption = 128
opcache.revalidate_freq = 60

7. Enable persistent Redis object cache and verify status

Reduce redundant database queries across admin views. Confirm active status via WP-CLI.

wp redis status

8. Use Health Check plugin for production troubleshooting

Do not deactivate plugins globally on a live site. Install Health Check & Troubleshooting to isolate plugin issues for your admin session only.

9. Tune Heartbeat API intervals

Heartbeat polls admin-ajax.php every 15s in the editor and 60s on other screens. Limit frequency via filter.

add_filter( 'heartbeat_settings', function( $s ) { $s['interval'] = 60; return $s; } );

10. Account for MySQL 20-character index limit on meta_value

MySQL only indexes the first 20 chars of wp_postmeta.meta_value. Queries filtering on longer meta values trigger full table scans.

11. Audit dashboard RSS and remote widgets

Dashboard widgets fetch remote RSS feeds synchronously during initial dashboard render. Hide or unhook unused dashboard widgets.

12. Verify asynchronous SMTP and email handshakes

Ensure synchronous wp_mail() calls during admin actions use a local SMTP relay or background queue to prevent connection timeout blocks.

Audit progress