How to Use MainWP Cache Control with RunCloud Hub

When used in combination with RunCloud Hub, The MainWP Cache Control add-on allows you to automatically purge your cache after performing an update of the WordPress core, theme, or any plugins directly in the MainWP dashboard.

What is MainWP’s Cache Control Extension?

MainWP Cache Control is a paid add-on for MainWP that automatically clears the cache of all MainWP child sites after any updates to WordPress core, themes, or plugins are performed through the MainWP Dashboard. 

How To Install MainWP Cache Control Plugin

Prerequisites: Before you can start using MainWP to manage caching on WordPress websites, you will need to create a new WordPress website (if you haven’t already) to set up the MainWP dashboard, and subsequently connect all your existing sites to your MainWP dashboard via the MainWP child plugin.

► Read the step-by-step instructions for setting up MainWP to learn more.

Note: The MainWP’s Cache Control extension does not provide caching functionality. It simply makes it possible to automatically clear the cache of your sites after performing updates.

Step 1 – Ensure RunCloud Hub Is Active On Your Child Sites

In order to use the MainWP Cache Control extension, you need to make sure you’ve enabled RunCloud Hub for your sites. This is controlled in your RunCloud dashboard, as shown below, and is how RunCloud allows you to enable and configure either Redis full-page caching or FastCGI page caching in just a few clicks. 

To use RunCloud Hub on your Wordpress websites, head over to your RunCloud dashboard and navigate to the specific web application you wish to enable it on.

Once there, simply click “Let’s Get Started” as shown above.

From there, you’ll be guided through the setup process. 

Note: If you have multiple child sites connected to your MainWP Dashboard, you’ll need to install RunCloud Hub on each one of them separately.

Step 2: Install Cache Control on MainWP Dashboard

Now that you’ve installed RunCloud Hub on your sites, you’ll be able to manage caching on your websites directly from your WordPress dashboard. 

However, if you use MainWP to manage updates for plugins, themes, and even the WordPress core in bulk – you’d likely want to do this directly from your MainWP dashboard. 

To do so, you’ll need to install the Cache Control MainWP addon on your MainWP dashboard site. You can do this easily by going into the extensions tab on your MainWP dashboard and clicking on the “Install Extensions” button. This will open up a popup window where you can look up all of the MainWP extensions.

Alternatively, if you have the zip file of the MainWP Cache Control extension, then you can directly upload it to your WordPress site and activate it.

Note: You only need to install the Cache Control extension on your MainWP dashboard site. It is not needed on MainWP child sites.

Step 3: Activate Cache Control License

Once you have installed the extension, it will be automatically detected by the MainWP dashboard. However, you might receive an error message saying that your extension is not activated. 

To activate your extension, you will need to open the API Key section on the MainWP website and obtain an API key for your plugin. Once you have successfully generated an API key, you can come back to the MainWP dashboard site and click on the “License” button next to the Cache Control extension – this will prompt you to enter your API key.

Step 4: Configure Caching Settings

Once you have successfully added your API key and activated the plugin, you can start using the Cache Control extension to purge the cache from your WordPress sites. To open the Cache Control settings, simply click on the “Cache Control” button in the left menu.

On the next screen, you will be able to configure the settings for automatically purging the cache for the site. After modifying the settings, click “Save Settings” to make sure that the changes are saved.

After modifying the settings, you can go to the Logs tab to see which sites will be affected by this change. On this screen, you will see a list of all the child sites connected to your MainWP Dashboard, and the Caching solution each child site uses. If a caching solution is not detected, then the MainWP site will not be able to clear the cache for this site.

Step 5: Override Individual Site Settings

When you have multiple sites connected to the same MainWP Dashboard, it is sometimes not optimal to have the same Cache Control settings across the board. If you want to override the global Cache Control settings for an individual site, then you can do so by going to the “Cache Control” tab on the site settings page in your MainWP dashboard.