Tools and monitoring
POM Cache provides a small set of tools for checking configuration, measuring stored files, and clearing the current site's cache. These tools answer specific questions; they are not a general performance-monitoring or analytics system.
Where to find the tools
On a single-site installation, open Settings → POM Cache. On WordPress multisite, use Network Admin → Settings → POM Cache when you have the required network permissions.
The General tab contains:
- Runtime, with the main HTML cache controls;
- Cache tools, with HTML statistics and the manual delete action;
- Progressive JSON runtime, with the JSON cache controls;
- Progressive JSON tools, with JSON statistics and its own delete action.
The Advanced tab contains:
- Storage, where the cache location is configured;
- WordPress configuration, a read-only check of the drop-in and constants;
- Apache rules, for optional direct HTML delivery;
- Progressive JSON Apache rules, for optional direct JSON delivery.
The WordPress admin bar also contains Delete Cache. That shortcut clears both the HTML and progressive JSON stores for the current site. It has a broader scope than either individual button on the settings screen.
Choose the guide for your task
- Read cache statistics explains exactly what the counters measure and what they cannot reveal.
- Delete cache files safely distinguishes the two stores, the admin-bar shortcut, and external CDN caches.
- Repair the saved settings files covers General → Cache tools → Configuration → Fix Configuration and its deliberate limits.
- Monitor storage usage helps identify normal growth, obsolete paths, and capacity problems.
- Verify a cache hit shows how to prove PHP, Apache, JSON, and CDN delivery separately.
- Benchmark responsibly provides a repeatable cold-versus-warm measurement method.
- Run the diagnostic checklist gives an ordered health check for a new or changed deployment.
- Trace one HTML cache generation request runs an anonymous request from WP-CLI and reports the exact eligibility or file-write decision without requiring WordPress debug mode.
A useful monitoring routine
After installing POM Cache or changing its configuration:
- Open the public page while signed out and confirm that its content is safe to share between visitors.
- Load it once to allow generation, then reload the identical URL.
- Check the appropriate HTML or JSON counter.
- Inspect response headers and, if applicable, the origin without the CDN.
- Repeat with a logged-in session to confirm that personalized output is not reused.
- Clear the affected store, load the route again, and confirm that it can be regenerated.
Repeat this routine after permalink changes, web-server rule changes, CDN configuration changes, or any feature that changes cache eligibility.
What POM Cache does not report
The settings screen does not calculate a hit ratio, list the most frequently requested URLs, show the age of every file, or measure database queries. The counters describe stored files, not traffic. Use browser developer tools, server/CDN observability, and an application-performance tool when you need request-level measurements.
Always establish that the origin behaves correctly before diagnosing the CDN. An edge cache can continue returning an older response even after the corresponding POM Cache file has been removed.