Bits of .NET

⏰ WP-Cron Runs on Page Views — That’s Bad

WP-Cron triggers on visitor traffic. No visitors? Tasks never run. Replace with system cron for reliable scheduling.

🔧 Disable WP-Cron

# Add to wp-config.php
define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

📦 Set Up System Cron

# Every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * wget -q -O - https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

# Or using curl (more reliable)
*/5 * * * * curl -s https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

# Or using PHP CLI (fastest)
*/5 * * * * php /path/to/wp-cron.php >/dev/null 2>&1

✅ Creating Custom Cron Events

// Schedule daily backup
if (!wp_next_scheduled('my_daily_backup')) {
    wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'my_daily_backup');
}

add_action('my_daily_backup', 'run_backup');

function run_backup() {
    // Export database, backup uploads
}

// Custom intervals
add_filter('cron_schedules', 'add_custom_intervals');
function add_custom_intervals($schedules) {
    $schedules['every_30_minutes'] = array(
        'interval' => 1800,
        'display' => __('Every 30 Minutes')
    );
    return $schedules;
}

💡 Debug Cron

• Install WP Crontrol plugin to see all scheduled events
• Check if cron is running: wp cron event list (WP-CLI)
• Run cron manually: wp cron event run --due-now
• Log cron output to debug: > /var/log/wp-cron.log 2>&1