WordPress

pageflare works with static exports of WordPress sites. Plugins like Simply Static and WP2Static generate a flat directory of HTML, CSS, JS, and image files — exactly what pageflare expects.

Workflow

WordPress site
      ↓
Static export plugin (Simply Static / WP2Static)
      ↓  exports to /var/www/static-export/
pageflare /var/www/static-export/ --in-place
      ↓
Deploy to CDN / S3 / Nginx / Cloudflare Pages

Why WordPress Exports Need Special Handling

WordPress injects a large number of tags into every HTML page that are irrelevant once the site is static:

• JSON-LD structured data bloat
• Emoji polyfill scripts and styles (loaded even when no emojis are present)
• oEmbed discovery links (unused in static exports)
• REST API (wp-json) link headers and meta tags
• Generator meta tags that expose the CMS and its version
• jQuery Migrate (a compatibility shim that is rarely needed)
• Shortlink tags
• WP global styles (often empty or contain only unused CSS variables)

pageflare’s remove_wp_bloat option strips all of these automatically.

Step 1 — Export Your WordPress Site

Install and configure your export plugin:

• Simply Static: Go to Simply Static > Settings, set the destination to a local folder, then click Generate Static Files.
• WP2Static: Configure the output directory and run a full site export.

The export produces a directory like /var/www/static-export/ containing index.html, wp-content/, and other assets.

Step 2 — Install pageflare

npm install -g @pageflare/cli

Or via curl:

curl -fsSL https://get.appz.dev/pageflare/install.sh | sh

Step 3 — Create pageflare.jsonc

Create a config file in your export directory or in the directory where you run pageflare:

pageflare.jsonc

{
  // Standard optimizations
  "minify_html": true,
  "minify_css": true,
  "minify_js": true,
  "js_defer": true,
  "lazy_images": true,
  "img_dimensions": true,
  "font_swap": true,

  // WordPress-specific cleanup
  "remove_wp_bloat": true
}

Step 4 — Run pageflare

pageflare /var/www/static-export/ --in-place

The --in-place flag writes the optimized files back to the same directory, overwriting the originals.

What remove_wp_bloat Removes

Item	Tag / element	Notes
Emoji detection script	<script> (wp-emoji-release.min.js)	Loads on every page even with no emoji
Emoji stylesheet	<style> / <link> (wp-emoji-styles)	Accompanies the emoji script
oEmbed discovery	<link rel="alternate" type="application/json+oembed">	Not needed for static exports
RSS / Atom feed links	<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml">	Feed URLs are dead on static exports
REST API link	<link rel="https://api.w.org/">	wp-json endpoint not present on static exports
RSD / EditURI	<link rel="EditURI">	XML-RPC discovery, irrelevant for static
wlwmanifest	<link rel="wlwmanifest">	Windows Live Writer manifest
Generator meta	<meta name="generator" content="WordPress ...">	Exposes CMS and version
Shortlink	<link rel="shortlink">	WordPress-generated short URLs
WP global styles	<style id="global-styles-inline-css">	Removed only when empty or containing only -- custom property stubs
jQuery Migrate	<script> (jquery-migrate.min.js)	Compatibility shim, rarely needed on static exports

Note

remove_wp_bloat is surgical — it removes only the listed elements and does not touch your theme’s CSS, JS, or any other <link> or <script> tags.

Automating Re-Exports

When your WordPress content changes, re-export and re-optimize. A simple shell script:

optimize-wp-export.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e

EXPORT_DIR="/var/www/static-export"

echo "Exporting..."
# Trigger Simply Static export via WP-CLI
wp simply-static run --allow-root

echo "Optimizing..."
pageflare "$EXPORT_DIR" --in-place --no-progress

echo "Deploying..."
# rsync to your server or upload to S3
rsync -avz --delete "$EXPORT_DIR/" user@server:/var/www/html/

Schedule with cron to run nightly:

0 2 * * * /path/to/optimize-wp-export.sh >> /var/log/pageflare.log 2>&1

WordPress Plugin

The PageFlare WordPress plugin integrates the CLI directly into WordPress. It downloads the native binary, hooks into Simply Static exports, and optimizes the output automatically — no manual CLI commands needed.

Setup

1. Download pageflare.zip from get.appz.dev/pageflare or from the GitHub release.
2. In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin and upload the zip.
3. Activate the plugin.
4. Go to Settings > PageFlare and click Download Now to install the CLI binary.
5. (Optional) Enter your Pro license key to unlock all features.

Auto-Optimize with Simply Static

When Simply Static is installed and configured with local directory delivery:

1. Simply Static exports your site to a local directory.
2. PageFlare automatically optimizes the exported files (HTML, CSS, JS, images, fonts).
3. The optimization result is shown in the PageFlare settings page.

Toggle Auto-optimize on the settings page to enable or disable this behavior.

Manual Optimize

Use the Manual Optimize section on the settings page to optimize any directory on demand. Enter the path and click Optimize Now.

WP-CLI Commands

The plugin also provides WP-CLI commands for automation and CI/CD:

# Optimize a directory (defaults to Simply Static output)
wp pageflare optimize

# Optimize a specific path
wp pageflare optimize /var/www/static-export

# Force reprocessing of all files
wp pageflare optimize --force

# Check CLI status
wp pageflare status

# Download or update the CLI binary
wp pageflare download

Configuration

All CLI optimization options are available in Settings > PageFlare, grouped into Free and Pro features. These include minification, lazy loading, font optimization, critical CSS, and more. See the Configuration reference for details on each option.

Deploying the Optimized Export

Once optimized, deploy the export directory to any static host:

• Cloudflare Pages: See the Cloudflare Pages guide
• Nginx: Point the root directive at the export directory
• Amazon S3 + CloudFront: Sync with aws s3 sync
• Vercel: See the Vercel guide

Configuration Reference

pageflare.jsonc

{
  // Remove WordPress-specific injected tags and scripts
  "remove_wp_bloat": true,

  // Standard HTML/CSS/JS optimizations
  "minify_html": true,
  "minify_css": true,
  "minify_js": true,
  "js_defer": true,

  // Image optimizations
  "lazy_images": true,
  "img_dimensions": true,

  // Font rendering
  "font_swap": true
}

See the Configuration reference for all available options.

Troubleshooting

pageflare processes files but page styling breaks remove_wp_bloat only removes the specific WordPress-injected elements listed above. If styles break, a theme stylesheet may have been accidentally minified in a way that conflicts. Check the --log debug output to identify which file changed.

jQuery Migrate removal breaks plugins Some older WordPress plugins depend on jQuery Migrate even in static exports (e.g., via inline scripts that reference deprecated jQuery APIs). If removing jQuery Migrate breaks functionality, add the script URL to the exclude_scripts list in pageflare.jsonc:

{
  "remove_wp_bloat": true,
  "exclude_scripts": ["jquery-migrate"]
}

oEmbed or feed links are needed If you are running a hybrid static/dynamic setup where RSS feeds or oEmbed endpoints are still active, disable the specific removal by setting remove_wp_bloat to false and enable only the sub-options you want (see the Configuration reference for individual flags).