# Craft CMS best practices

Craft CMS renders pages from a database and a Twig template layer, so a fast site depends on effective caching and a primed page cache. TurboStack provisions the stack and warms the cache on a schedule. This page covers what is already configured and how to use it effectively.

## What TurboStack configures for you

When you deploy a `craftcms` app, the platform sets up a Craft-aware stack:

- **Document root** - the vhost serves from your app's `public_html` directory (`/var/www/<user>/[<app>/]public_html`), with a Craft-specific Nginx configuration (`50main.conf`). Static assets (`js`, `css`, images, `webp`) are served with long `expires` headers, and PHP requests are routed to a per-site PHP-FPM backend with an extended `fastcgi_read_timeout` for long-running admin operations.
- **Varnish full-page cache** - when Varnish is enabled, the platform installs a Craft-aware VCL. It bypasses the cache for the control panel (`/admin`) and all `/actions` requests. It strips cookies from cacheable responses and supports `xkey` tag-based purging and ESI. The default Time to Live (TTL) is 3 hours, with 6 hours of grace so stale pages can be served if the backend is busy.
- **Cache warming** - the platform crawls your site with `wget` (two levels deep, images excluded) immediately after a deploy and then every 6 hours via cron. This ensures visitors are served cached pages instead of triggering cold rebuilds.
- **App directory** - a dedicated `craftcms/` directory is created under your app root for the Craft codebase, with `storage/` for runtime data, caches and logs.
- **Log handling** - Craft rotates its own logs under `storage/logs/`, so the platform leaves log rotation to the application.

## Recommended optimizations

Combine Craft's vendor guidance with the TurboStack options below. Most services can be enabled on the host's [Services](../../platform/hosts/services.md) tab.

- **Keep Varnish enabled** - full-page caching is the biggest time-to-first-byte win for content sites; keep it on in production.
- **Enable Redis** for Craft's data cache and sessions instead of file or database storage, so cache reads and session lookups stay fast under load.
- **Use a static page cache** - Craft's [Blitz](https://putyourlightson.com/plugins/blitz) plugin pairs well with the Nginx config (the `50main.conf` already includes a commented `cache_path` block ready for Blitz).
- **Enable OPcache** in the PHP runtime to cut PHP parsing overhead on every request.
- **Run in production config** - disable `devMode`, enable template caching, and deploy a compiled `config/project/` so the control panel runs read-only in production.
- **Optimize images** - ensure the GD Graphics Library or ImageMagick is available and serve WebP/optimized transforms; offload `web/` assets to a Content Delivery Network (CDN) where possible.
- **Add an HTTP cache / CDN in front** for static asset delivery; this complements Varnish rather than replacing it.
- **Let the queue run** - long tasks (image transforms, search indexing, emails) are processed through Craft's queue. Drive it reliably by running Craft's queue runner as a [user system service](../../technologies/system-services/manage-user-services.md) instead of relying on web-triggered runs.

## Sizing and scaling

TurboStack auto-tunes resource limits from the host's size, so start with the defaults. Override the tuning variables only when you have measured evidence (slow queries, cache evictions, a low page-cache hit ratio):

| Variable | Tune when |
| --- | --- |
| `mysql_innodb_size` | The InnoDB buffer pool is too small for your content volume |
| `redis_memory` | Redis is evicting keys under load |
| `varnish_cache_size` | The page-cache hit ratio is low because the cache is too small |

See [Performance tuning](../../concepts/performance-tuning.md) before changing any of these. When a single host can no longer keep up, scale up the host before splitting services.

## Stability

- **Back up regularly** - verify scheduled [Backups](../../platform/hosts/backups.md) cover the database, your `config/` (including `project/`), and the `storage/` and asset directories.
- **Watch [Health](../../platform/hosts/health.md)** - monitor CPU, memory, and disk; Craft's `storage/` (runtime caches and logs) grows over time.
- **Keep versions current** - track Craft and plugin releases and the PHP and MySQL versions you run.
- **Test on a staging clone** - always trial upgrades, plugins, and project config changes on a copy before publishing to production.

## Related

- [Deploy Craft CMS](deploy.md)
- [Craft CMS reference](reference.md)
- [Troubleshooting Craft CMS](troubleshooting.md)
- [How to manage user system services](../../technologies/system-services/manage-user-services.md)
- [Services](../../platform/hosts/services.md)
- [Performance tuning](../../concepts/performance-tuning.md)