Thorakis Cache

Thorakis Cache saves each page once and then serves it straight from disk, without going through WordPress or the database.

It is built to be installed by somebody who does not want to learn what a cache is.

What it does

• Nothing to configure. One button to turn it on, one to clear it. Everything else is worked out from your site.
• It keeps itself up to date. Publishing a post, switching themes, editing a menu or a widget clears what needs clearing, without you thinking about it. Editing one post only clears the pages that showed it, not the whole site.
• It never serves a page to the wrong person. As soon as a visitor carries any cookie the plugin does not recognise, their page is served normally instead of from the cache. Fewer pages accelerated, but never mixed-up content.
• It calls no outside server. No data leaves your site. No sign-up, no key, no account.
• It works on multisite networks, with each site keeping its own cache, its own settings and its own records.
• It removes itself completely. On uninstall, not one option and not one file is left behind.

What else it speeds up

• Compressed ahead of time. Each page is saved compressed at the same moment it is cached. The server has nothing left to compress on the fly, and the visitor receives three to five times fewer bytes.
• Pages prepared in advance. After a clear-out, the plugin rebuilds the most visited pages while you work in the admin, so no visitor pays for the rebuild.
• The next page, fetched early. The browser quietly prepares the page a hovered link points to. Navigation feels instant.
• Painting without waiting for stylesheets. An analysis — run in your own browser — finds the styles used at the top of your pages and writes them straight into them; the rest stops blocking. Measured on common themes: four fifths of a stylesheet is not needed for the first screenful.
• Third-party scripts deferred until the visitor’s first interaction, at the highest optimisation level.
• Oversized images pointed out. The plugin does not touch your images — it shows you which ones are sent far larger than they are displayed, with their real weight. Only you can see it.

If something looks wrong

Clear the cache: in the vast majority of cases that is enough. If the problem stays, deactivate the plugin — your site goes straight back to normal, with nothing lost.

There is also an exclusions field, so you can set one page aside without giving up the rest.

Compatibility

Thorakis Cache refuses to turn on if another caching plugin is already in place, and tells you which one. Two caches stacked on top of each other break one another; a clear refusal beats an obscure failure.

What it changes on your server

Turning the cache on adds one line to your wp-config.php and creates a wp-content/advanced-cache.php file. That is how WordPress knows a cache is present — it is the standard mechanism, used by every page-caching plugin. Both are removed when you turn the cache off, and if wp-config.php is not writable the plugin shows you the exact line to add yourself.

External services

This plugin does not connect to any external service. It sends no data anywhere,
it has no licence key, no account, no telemetry and no update server of its own.

Two points are worth stating plainly, because an automated scan of the source
can suggest otherwise.

Requests the plugin does make. The only HTTP requests are loopback requests
to your own site, at the address returned by home_url(). They are used for two
things: measuring how long a page takes to build, so the settings screen can show
what the cache is saving, and fetching pages again after the cache is cleared so
the first real visitor does not pay for the rebuild. These requests never leave
your server, and no third party is involved.

Why third-party domain names appear in the source. The file
src/Optimisation/ThirdPartyScripts.php contains a list of host names such as
googletagmanager.com, connect.facebook.net and intercom.io. That list is a
matching list, not a set of endpoints. If your own pages already load a script
from one of those hosts, the plugin holds it back until the page has been drawn,
then lets it run. The plugin never contacts those hosts, sends them nothing, and
adds no script that was not already on your page. Remove the third-party script
from your site and the plugin has nothing to defer.