The wp-config file is one of the core WordPress files, which means that understanding how you can navigate it, and make subtle but essential changes, can make a massive difference to your site.

Responsible for establishing the connections between your WordPress site and the database, the wp-config file is an essential element in determining how smoothly and error-free your site runs.

In this article, we’ll show you how to navigate your WordPress site’s wp-config file safely, and how to make simple changes that will help improve the security and performance of your site. Let’s get started!

What Is wp-config.php?

The wp-config.php file is a configuration file used by WordPress to initialize various settings and options for the website. The file is typically located in the root directory of a WordPress installation and is automatically created when WordPress is first installed. Alternatively, you can create it manually by renaming the wp-config-sample.php file and editing it with your own details.

Basic Settings in wp-config.php

The wp-config.php file plays a crucial role in the functioning of a WordPress website, providing the base configuration details, including:

  • WordPress database connection settings: This includes the database name, username, password, and host. Without this information, your WordPress website will not work, and you will get the “error establishing database connection” error.
  • WordPress salts & keys: These are random strings of characters that are used to enhance the security of your WordPress site. They are used to encrypt information stored in cookies, such as user passwords and authentication data.
  • WordPress database table prefix: This is a prefix that is added to each table name in your WordPress database. By default, it is set to `wp_`, but you can change it to anything you want. Changing the table prefix can help prevent SQL injection attacks and conflicts with other applications that use the same database.
  • ABSPATH: This is a constant that defines the absolute path to the WordPress directory on your server. It is used by WordPress to locate files and directories.

In addition to its core functions, the wp-config.php file also allows for advanced customization of a WordPress website. For example, it can be used to enable debugging and caching options, set up a multi-site installation, and configure environmental variables.

Advanced Settings in wp-config.php

The wp-config.php file also allows you to customize various aspects of your WordPress site by defining constants and variables. Some of these are optional, but some are required for certain features or functions to work properly. For example, you can:

  • Enable or disable WordPress debugging mode: This is a mode that displays errors and notices on your website for troubleshooting purposes. By default, it is disabled, but you can enable it by setting the WP_DEBUG constant to true.
  • Increase memory allocated to PHP: This allows you to increase the amount of memory that PHP can use when running your WordPress site. By default, WordPress tries to increase the memory limit to 40MB for single sites and 64MB for multisites, but this may not be enough for some plugins or themes. You can increase the memory limit by defining the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT constant.
  • Disable or enable cron jobs: Cron jobs are scheduled tasks that run at specific intervals on your WordPress site. For example, cron jobs are used to check for updates, publish scheduled posts, and send pingbacks. By default, WordPress uses a pseudo-cron system that runs when a page is loaded. You can disable this system by defining the DISABLE_WP_CRON constant as true.
  • Change file permissions: File permissions are rules that determine who can read, write, or execute files on your server. By default, WordPress uses the file permissions set by your server, but you can override them by defining constants such as FS_CHMOD_FILE, FS_CHMOD_DIR, and FS_METHOD.

These are just some examples of what you can do with the wp-config.php file. There are many more constants and variables that you can define or modify to customize your WordPress site.

Where To Find The wp-config.php File

Locating the wp-config.php file in a WordPress installation is simple. Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Log in to your web hosting account and access the file manager, or use an FTP client.
  2. Locate the root directory of your WordPress installation. This is typically where you installed WordPress, such as public_html or www. RunCloud users can see the path of their web application in the RunCloud dashboard.
  3. Look for the wp-config.php file in the root directory. It should be located alongside other core WordPress files, such as wp-content and wp-includes.
  1. If you can’t find the file in the root directory, check the subdirectories. Sometimes, the wp-config.php file can be located in a subdirectory, such as /wp/.
  2. If you still can’t find the file, try searching for it using the search feature in your file manager or FTP client.

What Happens If the wp-config.php File Is Missing

If the wp-config.php file is missing from your WordPress directory, you won’t be able to access your WordPress site or dashboard. Instead, you will be redirected to /wp-admin/setup-config.php. 

This setup page will ask about your database connection details and other basic settings. Once you submit the form, WordPress will create a wp-config.php file for you, and install WordPress.

Alternatively, you can manually create the wp-config.php file by copying the wp-config-sample.php file from your WordPress directory, renaming it to wp-config.php, and then editing it with your own details.

If you want to generate nonce keys and salts, refer to our Salts and Keys section.

Understanding the Structure and Format of the wp-config.php File

The structure and format of the wp-config.php file are as follows:

  • PHP Tags: wp-config.php is a php file that contains PHP code which defines the configuration settings for WordPress. All PHP files start with <?php and (optionally) end with ?>.
<?php
// content
?>
  • Comments: These are lines of text that are ignored by PHP and are used for information purposes only. They start with // for single-line comments or /* */ for multi-line comments. For example:
// MySQL settings 
/* The name of the database for WordPress */
  • Constants: These are names that represent fixed values that can’t be changed. They’re defined using the define() function, which takes two parameters: the constant name and the constant value. The constant name is usually written in uppercase letters and underscores, and the constant value can be a string, a number, a boolean, or an array. For example:
define( 'DB_NAME', 'database_name_here' ); // Database name
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); // Debugging mode
  • Variables: These are names that represent values that can be changed. They are assigned using the = operator, and they start with a $ sign. The variable name can be any combination of letters, numbers, and underscores, and the variable value can be any data type supported by PHP. For example:
$table_prefix = 'wp_'; // Database table prefix
  • Require statements: These are statements that include or require another PHP file to be executed. They use the require_once() function, which takes one parameter: the file path of the file to be included or required. The file path can be absolute or relative to the wp-config.php file. For example:
require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php' ); // WordPress settings file
require_once( dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/local-config.php' ); // Local configuration file

Editing The wp-config.php File

It’s important to edit the wp-config.php carefully to avoid causing any issues. Here are the steps to do this safely:

  1. Back up your website: Before making any changes to your site, it’s essential to create a backup of your website in case something goes wrong. You can use a backup plugin or ask your hosting provider for backup options.
    If you don’t have a backup plugin installed on your site, you can simply copy the old file using the cp command and change the name, so it is abundantly clear which file is the old one, such as wp-config-BACKUP.
  1. Open the file in a text editor: After backing up the wp-config.php file, open it in a text editor, such as VS Code, Sublime Text, or nano. 
  2. Make your changes: Once a file is open in a text editor, be cautious, as a small mistake can cause significant problems with your site.
  3. Save the file: Once you have made your changes, save the file and close the text editor.
  4. Test your site: After saving the changes, you should check your website to ensure it is functioning correctly. You can revert to the backup you created if there are any issues.

It’s important to remember that even small changes to the wp-config.php file can have a significant impact on your website, so be careful when making edits. If you’re not familiar with editing files, or are unsure about a change, it’s best to consult a developer or seek support from your hosting provider.

General Settings in wp-config.php File

Here are the most important settings that should be configured in the wp-config.php file relating to the functionality and security of your site:

Database Connection Settings

These settings define the connection to your database, and store information such as the database name, username, password, and host.

The database connection settings must match the information for your database, or you will receive an error message when trying to access your site.

You can define these settings as follows:

editing wp-config.php file

Security Keys and Salts

These keys are random strings of data that enhance the security of your site by adding an extra layer of protection against hacking attempts. They are used to encrypt information stored in cookies, such as user passwords and authentication data.

By changing these keys and salts periodically, you can invalidate any existing cookies and force users to log in again. This can help prevent cookie hijacking attacks and improve security.

salts in wp-config.php file

You can generate new security keys and salts in several different ways:

  • By visiting https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ and copying the generated keys and salts. Then, you can paste them into your wp-config.php file, replacing the existing ones. 
  • You can also use a WP CLI command to generate new security keys and salts without visiting any website. To do so, you need to:
    • Connect to your server via SSH or use a control panel.
    • Navigate to your WordPress installation directory with cd /path/to/wordpress.
    • Run the following command: wp config shuffle-salts.
  • You can also use a plugin to generate new security keys and salts without editing any file. One such plugin is Salt Shaker, which allows you to either change the keys and salts manually, or automatically on a schedule.

WP_CACHE Setting

This setting controls whether caching is enabled in WordPress. Caching can improve the performance of a WordPress site by storing frequently accessed data in a cache memory, which is significantly faster than re-processing it every time the page is loaded.

However, caching can also serve stale or outdated data, which can lead to an inconsistent user experience. Therefore, you should set this value carefully depending on your content and caching plugin. Read our deep dive on WordPress object caching to learn more. 

By default, WP_CACHE is not defined, which means caching is disabled in WordPress. You can set it to true to enable caching in WordPress, which will use the caching plugin that you have installed and activated on your site. 

define( 'WP_CACHE', true ); // Enable caching in WordPress

File Permissions Setting

This flag determines how WordPress interacts with the file system of your web server. The file system is where your WordPress files and folders are stored and accessed.

The default value of FS_METHOD is “direct”, which means WordPress accesses the file system directly without using any protocol.

This is usually sufficient for most hosting environments, but in some cases, you may need to change this value to resolve file permission issues. The possible values of FS_METHOD are:

  • direct: WordPress accesses the file system directly
  • ssh2: WordPress uses the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol to access the file system
  • ftpext: WordPress uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to access the file system
  • ftpsockets: WordPress uses the FTP Secure (FTPS) protocol to access the file system

For example, you can define this setting as follows:

define( 'FS_METHOD', 'ssh2' ); // Use SSH to access the file system

Multi-site Setup

A multi-site installation allows you to create a network of multiple sites using a single WordPress installation. This can be useful if you want to run multiple websites with different themes and plugins, or if you want to manage multiple sites from a single dashboard. You can read more about WordPress multisite in our blog post.

You can enable multi-site by defining the WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE constant in your wp-config.php file. By default, this flag is not defined, which means multi-site functionality is disabled in WordPress. You can define this setting as follows:

define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true ); // Enable multi-site functionality in WordPress

After defining this setting, you need to log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the “Tools” menu. You should see the “NetworkSetup” option, which will guide you through the process of creating and configuring your network of sites.

Disabling Automatic Updates

You can edit your wp-config.php file to disable automatic updates for WordPress core releases, translations, themes, and plugins. While these updates can help keep your site secure and up-to-date, they can also cause compatibility issues – or break your site if something goes wrong.

Moreover, if you have customized your themes or plugins, automatic updates can overwrite your changes and erase your work.

// Disable all automatic updates
define( 'AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', true );
// Disable automatic updates for core
define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', false );
// Disable automatic updates for themes
add_filter( 'auto_update_theme', '__return_false' );
// Disable automatic updates for plugins
add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin', '__return_false' );

These lines will disable all types of automatic updates for your WordPress site. If you want to enable only specific types of automatic updates, you can modify the corresponding lines. For example, if you want to enable automatic updates for minor core releases only, you can change WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE to minor.

Reading Environmental Variables

Environmental variables are a way to store configuration data that can be easily managed and changed without affecting the codebase. This is particularly useful in WordPress, where you might want to use different settings in different environments.

These variables are set outside of the WordPress code, usually in the server configuration or the .env file – very different from WordPress constants. WordPress constants are defined inside the WordPress code, usually in the wp-config.php file or a custom plugin.

Environment variables can be different for different environments (such as development, staging, or production), while WordPress constants are usually the same for all environments (unless they are conditionally defined).

One reason why someone would load their database credentials from environment variables is to keep them secure and out of the version control system. This way, they can avoid exposing sensitive information to unauthorized users or hackers.

Another reason is to make it easier to switch between different environments without having to edit either the wp-config.php file or the database.

For example, if you use a .env file for storing your database credentials, you can simply change the values in that file when you move your site from development to production, without affecting the rest of your WordPress code.

To retrieve the environmental variables in wp-config.php, you can use the PHP function getenv(). For example, if you have an environmental variable named “DB_PASSWORD”, you can retrieve it in wp-config.php using the following code in wp-config.php:

define( 'DB_PASSWORD', getenv('DB_PASSWORD'));

It’s essential to remember that environmental variables should be stored securely, and never included in either version control or shared publicly, as they often contain sensitive information. 

Configure WordPress Environment

The WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE variable controls the environment type for a WordPress site. The possible values are local, development, staging, and production. The value of the environment type can affect how WordPress behaves, and how plugins and themes handle specific functionality.

There are two ways to set the WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE variable for your WordPress site:

  • Using a PHP environment variable: This can be done using various methods, depending on your server configuration and hosting provider.
  • Using a WordPress constant: To do this, you need to add the following line to your wp-config.php file:
define( 'WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'production' );

Once you have set the WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE variable for your WordPress site, you can use it in various ways to customize and optimize your site’s behavior and functionality. For example, you can use it to enable or disable debugging features, automatic updates, caching, specific plugins or themes, and more.

To use the WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE variable in your code, you can use the wp_get_environment_type() function, which returns the current environment type as a string. For example, you can write something like this:

switch ( wp_get_environment_type() ) {
  case 'local':
    // do something for local sites
    break;
  case 'development':
    // do something for development sites
    break;
  case 'staging':
    // do something for staging sites
    break;
  case 'production':
  default:
    // do something for production sites or any other sites
    break;
}

This way, you can conditionally execute different code blocks depending on the environment type of your WordPress site.

Modify the Location of WordPress Folders

Change the content folder

WordPress stores all your themes, plugins, uploads, and other files in the wp-content folder by default. You can change this folder name and location by defining the WP_CONTENT_DIR and WP_CONTENT_URL constants in your wp-config.php file. Here is an example:

define( 'WP_CONTENT_DIR', $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/assets' ); // Change content folder name and location
define( 'WP_CONTENT_URL', 'https://example.com/assets' ); // Change content folder URL

Change the plugins folder

WordPress stores all your plugins in the wp-content/plugins folder by default. You can change this folder name and location by defining the WP_PLUGIN_DIR and WP_PLUGIN_URL constants in your wp-config.php file. 

define( 'WP_PLUGIN_DIR', $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/assets/extensions' ); // Change plugins folder name and location
define( 'WP_PLUGIN_URL', 'https://example.com/assets/extensions' ); // Change plugins folder URL

Change the uploads folder

WordPress stores all your media files in the wp-content/uploads folder by default. You can change this folder name and location by defining the UPLOADS constant in your wp-config.php file. For example, to rename the uploads folder to ‘media’ and move it to the assets folder, you can add this line:

define( 'UPLOADS', 'assets/media' ); // Change uploads folder name and location

Set a Custom Default Theme

WordPress uses the latest default theme (such as Twenty Twenty-One) as the fallback theme when no other theme is available or active. You can define a custom default theme by using the WP_DEFAULT_THEME constant in your wp-config.php file. For example, to use a theme named ‘MyTheme’ as the default theme, you can add this line:

define( 'WP_DEFAULT_THEME', 'mytheme' ); // Use MyTheme as the default theme

Configuring Developer Settings

The wp-config.php file also allows you to configure some developer settings that can help you debug and optimize your WordPress site. Some of the most useful developer settings are:

Enabling Debugging

You can turn on the WP_DEBUG constant to display PHP errors and notices on your site. This can help you identify and fix any coding issues or compatibility problems. 

By default, WP_DEBUG is set to false, which means the debugging mode is off. You can set it to true in order to turn on debugging mode. This will log errors and warnings to a file, and display them on your site.

You can also set WP_DEBUG_LOG to true to specify that debugging information should be logged to a file, and set WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY to false to hide debugging information from being displayed on your site. For example, you can define these flags as follows:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); // Turn on debugging mode in WordPress
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); // Log debugging information to a file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false ); // Hide debugging information from being displayed on the site
define('SCRIPT_DEBUG', true); //loads the development (non-minified) versions of all scripts and CSS, and disables compression and concatenation.

Controlling Script Concatenation and Minification

WordPress concatenates (combines) and minifies (reduces) some of its core scripts and stylesheets to improve performance and reduce HTTP requests. However, this can sometimes cause issues with some plugins or themes that rely on specific scripts or styles. You can disable script concatenation and minification by adding the following line to your wp-config.php file:

define( 'CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS', true );
define('COMPRESS_SCRIPTS', true); 
define('COMPRESS_CSS', true); 
define('ENFORCE_GZIP', true); //forces gzip for compression instead of deflate

Logging SQL queries

WordPress uses SQL queries to interact with the database and fetch data for your site. Sometimes, you may want to see what queries are being executed and how long they take. This can help you troubleshoot any database issues or optimize your site for speed. You can log SQL queries by adding the following lines to your wp-config.php file:

define( 'SAVEQUERIES', true );
global $wpdb;
print_r( $wpdb->queries );

Use Different Table Names for Users and Usermeta Tables

Change the users table name

WordPress uses the wp_users table to store user information by default. You can change this table name by defining the CUSTOM_USER_TABLE constant in your wp-config.php file. For example, to use a table named my_users instead of wp_users, you can add this line:

define( 'CUSTOM_USER_TABLE', $table_prefix . 'my_users' ); // Use my_users instead of wp_users

Change the usermeta table name

WordPress uses the wp_usermeta table to store user metadata by default. You can change this table name by defining the CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE constant in your wp-config.php file. For example, to use a table named my_usermeta instead of wp_usermeta, you can add this line:

define( 'CUSTOM_USER_META_TABLE', $table_prefix . 'my_usermeta' ); // Use my_usermeta instead of wp_usermeta

Repairing and Optimizing The Database

Sometimes, your WordPress database may get corrupted or damaged due to various reasons, such as server errors, hacking attempts, plugin conflicts, or power failures. This can cause your site to malfunction or display errors.

To fix your database, you can use the WP_ALLOW_REPAIR constant in your wp-config.php file. This will enable a database repair and optimization feature that you can access by visiting this URL: https://example.com/wp-admin/maint/repair.php

To enable this feature, add the following line to your wp-config.php file:

define( 'WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true );

After visiting the URL, you can choose to either repair your database, or repair and optimize your database.

Once the process is complete, you should remove the WP_ALLOW_REPAIR line from your wp-config.php file to prevent anyone else from accessing the feature.

Disabling Table Updates

WordPress updates its database tables whenever a new version of WordPress is released, or when a plugin or theme requires a database change. This ensures that your site is compatible with the latest features and security patches.

However, sometimes you may want to disable table updates for various reasons, such as:

  • You have a large site with many tables, and updating them may take a long time or cause downtime.
  • You have a staging or development site that mirrors your live site and you don’t want to update the tables until you are ready to deploy the changes.
  • You have a specific scenario where updating the tables may break something on your site, or cause conflicts with other plugins or themes.

To disable table updates, you can add the following line to your wp-config.php file:

define( 'DO_NOT_UPGRADE_GLOBAL_TABLES', true );

This will prevent WordPress from updating any of the global tables, such as wp_users, wp_usermeta, wp_blogs, etc. However, this may also prevent some plugins or themes from working properly, so use this option with caution – and only when necessary.

Database Collation

WordPress does not create the database on installation. This is important to know because all tables within a database will inherit their charset and collation from the database setting. So you should ensure that the database’s charset and collation is properly set before WordPress is installed.

The default charset is ‘utf8’  and its collation is ‘utf8_general_ci’, which means case-insensitive comparison using the general rules of Unicode.

To change the database collation in wp-config.php you can simply modify the value of the DB_COLLATE constant to match your desired collation. For example, if you want to use ‘utf8mb4_unicode_ci’, you can write:

define( 'DB_COLLATE', 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci' );

Security and Performance

The wp-config.php file is not only a configuration file, but also a security file. It contains sensitive information that can compromise your WordPress site if exposed to unauthorized users or malicious attacks. Therefore, it is essential to protect the wp-config.php file from visitors and hackers, and to optimize it for better security and performance.

Protecting Access to wp-config.php by Visitors

If an attacker gains access to this file, they can compromise your site and database. Therefore, you need to protect the wp-config.php file from visitors by using one of the following methods:

  • Moving the wp-config.php file: One of the simplest ways to protect the wp-config.php file from visitors is to move it to a higher level, outside the public directory of your WordPress installation. This way, the file will not be accessible via a web browser, and only WordPress will be able to locate it. WordPress will automatically look for the file in the parent directory if it is not found in the root directory.
  • Block access to the file: Another way to protect the wp-config.php file from visitors is to use directives in .htaccess or Nginx configuration files. These are files that control how your server handles requests and responses. By adding some rules to these files, you can deny access to the wp-config.php file. If someone tries to access it, they will get a 403 Forbidden error.

Disabling File Editors

Another way to improve the security and performance of your WordPress site is to disable the file editors. These are the theme editor and the plugin editor that allow you to edit the code of your themes and plugins from within the WordPress dashboard.

While these editors can be useful for quick changes, they can also pose both a security risk and a performance issue. If someone gains access to your WordPress dashboard, they can use the file editors to inject malicious code or delete important files. Moreover, if you make a mistake while editing the code, you can break your site or introduce vulnerabilities.

To disable the file editors, you need to add the following line in your wp-config. php file:

define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true );

This line will remove the theme editor and the plugin editor from the WordPress dashboard. If you want to edit your themes or plugins, you will need to use an FTP client or a file manager.

Blocking External HTTP Requests

Another way to improve the security and performance of your WordPress site is to block external HTTP requests. These are requests that WordPress makes to other domains or servers for various purposes, such as checking for updates, fetching feeds, or loading scripts.

While some of these requests are necessary and beneficial, some of them may be unwanted, unnecessary, or malicious. Blocking external HTTP requests can help prevent unauthorized access, reduce bandwidth usage, and speed up your site.

To block external HTTP requests, you need to add the following line to your config file:

define( 'WP_HTTP_BLOCK_EXTERNAL', true );

This line will block all external HTTP requests made by WordPress, except for localhost and your own domain. This will make your site more secure and faster.

However, blocking all external HTTP requests may also break some features or functions of your WordPress site that rely on them. For example, you may not be able to check for updates, install themes or plugins, or use third-party services.

To allow some external HTTP requests, you can use another constant called WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS. This constant allows you to specify a comma-separated list of domains or hosts that are allowed to make external HTTP requests. You can also use wildcards to allow subdomains. For example:

define( 'WP_ACCESSIBLE_HOSTS', 'api.wordpress.org,*.github.com' );

This line will allow external HTTP requests to api.wordpress.org and any subdomain of github.com. You can add or remove domains or hosts as per your needs.

Forcing SSL for Login Pages and the Dashboard

Although virtually all websites these days use HTTPS, some websites still might be serving content on HTTP for legacy reasons. You can improve the security and performance of your WordPress site by forcing SSL for login pages and the dashboard.

This prevents anyone from intercepting or tampering with your data, such as usernames, passwords, cookies, and other sensitive information. SSL also improves the performance of your site by enabling HTTP/2 – a faster and more efficient version of HTTP.

The following line of code will force SSL for login pages and the dashboard:

fine( 'FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true );

Note: You’ll need to obtain an SSL certificate for your domain name, install it, and activate the SSL certificate on your server before enabling this setting. You may need to contact your hosting provider for assistance with this step.

Optimize WordPress Performance via wp-config.php

Empty the trash more frequently

WordPress moves deleted posts, pages, comments, and other items to the trash, where they remain for 30 days by default. You can change this duration by defining the EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS constant in your wp-config.php file.

For example, to empty the trash every 7 days, you can add this line:

define( 'EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 7 ); // Empty trash every 7 days

Disable revisions

WordPress saves a copy of every post or page revision, which can increase the size of your database and slow down your site. You can disable revisions completely by defining the WP_POST_REVISIONS constant in your wp-config.php file. For example, to disable revisions, you can add either of these lines:

define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', false ); // Disable revisions
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 ); // Limit revisions to 5

Handling memory limitations

WordPress requires a certain amount of memory to run smoothly and efficiently. The default memory limit for WordPress is 40 MB for single sites, and 64 MB for Multisite installations. However, sometimes you may need more memory for your site, especially if you have a high number of plugins or themes installed, have complex functionality, or high traffic.

To increase the memory limit for WordPress, you can use the WP_MEMORY_LIMIT constant in your wp-config.php file. For example, to increase the memory limit to 128 MB, add the following line:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M' );

You can also use the WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT constant to set the maximum memory limit that WordPress can use for intensive tasks, such as image editing or cron jobs. For example, to set the maximum memory limit to 256 MB, add the following line:

define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

Note that these constants may not work if your server has a lower memory limit set by PHP or Apache. In that case, you may need to contact your hosting provider, or edit your php.ini or .htaccess files to increase the server memory limit.

Change the autosave interval

WordPress autosaves your posts and pages every 60 seconds by default, which can be annoying or helpful, depending on your preference. You can change the autosave interval by defining the AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL constant in your wp-config.php file.

For example, to change the autosave interval to 120 seconds, you can add this line:

define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 120 ); // Change autosave interval to 120 seconds

The WP Loading Process – When wp-config Loads (and What’s Already Loaded)

The wp-config.php file is one of the first files that WordPress loads when a page is requested. It’s loaded even before WordPress initializes its core functions, classes, and hooks.

The WP loading process is as follows:

  1. When a page is requested, WordPress looks for the .htaccess file in the root directory of your WordPress installation. This file contains rules that rewrite URLs and direct them to the index.php file.
  2. The index.php file requires another file called wp-blog-header.php.
  3. The wp-blog-header.php file requires another file called wp-load.php.
  4. The wp-load.php file is a bootstrap file that loads the WordPress environment and template. It looks for the wp-config.php file in two locations:
    • The root folder of your WordPress installation.
    • One directory above the root folder, if the file is not found in the root folder.
  5. If wp-config.php is missing, it starts a fresh installation.

To learn more about this topic, we recommend two articles –  WordPress loading sequence and How WordPress Core Loads. 

After Action Report – Managing wp-config.php

The wp-config.php file is a vital part of a WordPress website, and must be appropriately configured for the website to function correctly. It’s essential to understand how to locate and edit the file, and troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

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