WordPress reference

File layout, WP-CLI command reference and cron for WordPress on TurboStack.

Reference for running WordPress on TurboStack: where the files live, the command-line tool, and the scheduled jobs. For setup see Deploy WordPress on TurboStack; for tuning see WordPress best practices.

File layout

Everything lives under your system user's home directory. ~ is that home directory (for example /var/www/prod/). ~/public_html is both the WordPress root and the web document root.

Path What it is
~/public_html/ WordPress root and web document root (the served files)
~/public_html/wp-admin/ Admin interface
~/public_html/wp-content/ Themes, plugins and uploads
~/public_html/wp-includes/ Core functions
~/public_html/wp-config.php Site configuration
~/nginx/ Custom Nginx configuration

For ownership and permissions, see Application file layout and permissions.

Command-line reference

WordPress ships a command-line interface (CLI) called WP-CLI. Run its commands with the wp tool from ~/public_html. The common command groups are below.

Command What it does
wp core download / install / update / version / check-update Download, install, update or report the WordPress core
wp plugin install / activate / deactivate / delete / update / list Manage plugins
wp theme install / activate / delete / update / list Manage themes
wp user create / delete / list / update / get Manage users
wp db export / import / reset / check / optimize Manage the database
wp media import / regenerate Import media or regenerate thumbnails
wp option get / update / delete Read or change a site option
wp config create / set / get Manage wp-config.php values
wp cron event list / run / delete Inspect or run scheduled events
wp cache flush Flush the object cache
wp transient get / set / delete Manage transients
wp search-replace <old> <new> Replace strings across the database (add --dry-run first)
wp site url Show or set site URLs
wp rewrite flush Flush permalink rewrite rules
wp eval / wp shell Run PHP code or open an interactive shell

Caching runs in front of WordPress with Redis and Varnish. Page-cache plugins include W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache and LiteSpeed Cache. Clear the platform caches with the TurboStack command-line tool (tscli):

Cron

WordPress schedules tasks with wp-cron, which runs only on page visits. On quiet sites jobs fire late; on busy sites they fire too often and waste PHP processes. For reliability, disable the web trigger and run a real cron that calls WP-CLI.

  1. Disable the web trigger in wp-config.php: 
    define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );
  2. Add a cron entry (every 5 minutes) that runs the due events: 
    */5 * * * * wp cron event run --due-now --path=/var/www/prod/public_html > /dev/null 2>&1

For the multisite variant and full guidance, see WordPress best practices. To run a real cron as a persistent user service, see How to manage user system services.

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