When does WP Rocket delete which files?
Below you'll find the specific triggers which cause the contents of each of WP Rocket's folders to be deleted.
/cache/www.example.com
- Clear Cache lifespan
- Only files older than the specified lifespan will be deleted.
- When WP Rocket settings are changed
- Automatic triggers:
- See our guide: How Often is the Cache Updated
- View the related code on GitHub
- Manual triggering of Clear Cache (from the WP Rocket admin toolbar, or WP Rocket Dashboard tab)
- When the cache is cleared by calling rocket_clean_domain
- Can also be triggered by hosting/caching compatibilities to keep the caches in sync (e.g. on WP Engine and others )
- When Elementor’s CSS Print Method is set to External File, if a post or the Elementor CSS of a post is updated.
- Updating WP Rocket, depending on the type of changes included in the new version.
- After the dynamic lists of exclusions are automatically imported each week.
Related function: rocket_clean_domain
/cache/min
- Manual triggering of Clear Cache (from the WP Rocket admin toolbar, or WP Rocket Dashboard tab)
- Deactivation of CSS/JS Minify (not Combine)
- Is NOT deleted when Clear Cache lifespan is triggered or via a cron job using ONLY rocket_clean_domain
- Is deleted when clearing cache is triggered via a cron job using rocket_clean_domain AND rocket_clean_minify
- Beaver builder cache clear
- When Elementor's CSS Print Method is set to External File, and the Elementor CSS in a post is updated, the CSS files in this folder are deleted.
Related function: rocket_clean_minify
/cache/busting
- Manual triggering of Clear Cache (from the WP Rocket admin toolbar, or WP Rocket Dashboard tab)
- ⚠️ Is NOT deleted when Clear Cache lifespan is triggered or via a cron job using rocket_clean_domain
- When Elementor's CSS Print Method is set to External File, and the Elementor CSS in a post is updated, the CSS files in this folder are deleted.
Related function: rocket_clean_cache_busting
/cache/critical-css
- When the theme is changed
- When Load CSS Asynchronously is enabled
- When a regeneration of Critical Path CSS is triggered
Related function: clean_critical_css()
/cache/used-css
- Manual triggering of Clear Used CSS via the WP Rocket toolbar menu
- Switching themes
- Changing the items added to Remove Unused CSS's CSS safelist text area
For specific pages/posts:
- Editing a post/page
- Clearing a post/page cache
- Editing/deleting terms
- When the comment count changes
💡In some cases 3rd party plugins/themes/hosts could also be using our “clean” functions in their code