Beast Mode Configuration

Advanced configuration guide for Beast Mode automatic caching.

Overview

Beast Mode requires careful tuning to balance caching aggressiveness with server resources and content freshness.

Threshold Tuning

Understanding Scores

Pages are scored based on:

score = (hits × 10) + (rate × 5) + (avg_time / 100)

Example calculation:

Page: /blog/popular-post
Hits: 142 (in 1 hour)
Rate: 2.3 requests/minute
Avg Time: 450ms

Score = (142 × 10) + (2.3 × 5) + (450 / 100)
      = 1420 + 11.5 + 4.5
      = 1436

Recommended Thresholds

Site Type	Threshold	Reasoning
Low Traffic	20-30	Cache earlier
Medium Traffic	40-60	Balanced
High Traffic	70-100	Cache only very popular
Enterprise	100+	Very selective

Dynamic Threshold

Adjust based on time of day:

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_threshold', function($threshold) {
    $hour = (int) date('H');
    
    // Business hours: lower threshold
    if ($hour >= 9 && $hour <= 17) {
        return $threshold * 0.7;
    }
    
    // Night: higher threshold
    if ($hour >= 22 || $hour <= 6) {
        return $threshold * 1.5;
    }
    
    return $threshold;
});

Whitelist Strategies

By Content Type

php

'beast_whitelist' => [
    // Homepage
    '/',
    
    // Blog content
    '/blog/*',
    '/category/*',
    '/tag/*',
    '/author/*',
    
    // Pages
    '/about',
    '/contact',
    '/services',
    
    // E-commerce
    '/shop/*',
    '/product/*',
    '/product-category/*',
]

By URL Pattern

php

'beast_whitelist' => [
    // All blog posts
    '/blog/????/??/??/*',  // Date-based URLs
    
    // All numeric IDs
    '/*-p[0-9]+',  // Posts with -p123 suffix
    
    // All category pages
    '/category/*/page/*',
]

Dynamic Whitelist

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_whitelist', function($whitelist) {
    // Add all published posts
    $posts = get_posts([
        'numberposts' => 100,
        'post_status' => 'publish',
    ]);
    
    foreach ($posts as $post) {
        $whitelist[] = parse_url(get_permalink($post), PHP_URL_PATH);
    }
    
    // Add popular categories
    $categories = get_categories([
        'orderby' => 'count',
        'order' => 'DESC',
        'number' => 10,
    ]);
    
    foreach ($categories as $cat) {
        $whitelist[] = parse_url(get_category_link($cat), PHP_URL_PATH);
    }
    
    return $whitelist;
});

Blacklist Strategies

E-Commerce Protection

php

'beast_blacklist' => [
    // Checkout flow
    '/checkout/*',
    '/cart/*',
    '/order-received/*',
    '/order-pay/*',
    
    // User account
    '/my-account/*',
    '/customer/*',
    '/account/*',
    
    // Payment
    '/payment/*',
    '/billing/*',
]

User-Specific Content

php

'beast_blacklist' => [
    // User profiles
    '/profile/*',
    '/user/*',
    '/dashboard/*',
    
    // Dynamic forms
    '/contact-form/*',
    '/form/*',
    
    // Search
    '/*?s=*',
    '/search/*',
    
    // Admin
    '/wp-admin/*',
    '/wp-login.php',
]

Conditional Blacklist

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_blacklist', function($blacklist) {
    // Don't cache if user is logged in
    if (is_user_logged_in()) {
        $blacklist[] = '/*';  // Blacklist everything
    }
    
    // Don't cache during sale
    if (is_sale_active()) {
        $blacklist[] = '/shop/*';
        $blacklist[] = '/product/*';
    }
    
    return $blacklist;
});

Time Window Configuration

Adaptive Window

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_time_window', function($window) {
    // Get current traffic rate
    $current_rate = \SpeedMate\Utils\Stats::get_current_rate();
    
    // High traffic: shorter window
    if ($current_rate > 100) {
        return 1800;  // 30 minutes
    }
    
    // Low traffic: longer window
    if ($current_rate < 10) {
        return 7200;  // 2 hours
    }
    
    return $window;  // Default 1 hour
});

Peak Hours Detection

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_time_window', function($window) {
    $hour = (int) date('H');
    
    // Peak hours: shorter window for faster adaptation
    if ($hour >= 9 && $hour <= 17) {
        return 1800;  // 30 minutes
    }
    
    // Off-peak: longer window
    return 3600;  // 1 hour
});

Cache TTL per Pattern

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_ttl', function($ttl, $url) {
    // Homepage: 30 minutes
    if ($url === '/') {
        return 1800;
    }
    
    // Blog posts: 1 hour
    if (preg_match('#^/blog/#', $url)) {
        return 3600;
    }
    
    // Product pages: 15 minutes
    if (preg_match('#^/product/#', $url)) {
        return 900;
    }
    
    // Static pages: 24 hours
    if (preg_match('#^/(about|contact|privacy)#', $url)) {
        return 86400;
    }
    
    return $ttl;  // Default
}, 10, 2);

Scoring Customization

Custom Scoring Algorithm

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_score', function($score, $url, $data) {
    // Boost score for specific patterns
    if (preg_match('#^/important/#', $url)) {
        $score *= 2;
    }
    
    // Reduce score for long pages
    if ($data['avg_time'] > 1000) {  // > 1 second
        $score *= 0.8;
    }
    
    // Boost for high engagement
    if ($data['avg_scroll_depth'] > 80) {
        $score *= 1.2;
    }
    
    return $score;
}, 10, 3);

Resource-Based Scoring

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_score', function($score, $url, $data) {
    // Penalize resource-heavy pages
    $queries = $data['db_queries'] ?? 0;
    $memory = $data['memory_usage'] ?? 0;
    
    if ($queries > 50) {
        $score *= 0.7;  // Reduce score
    }
    
    if ($memory > 50 * 1024 * 1024) {  // > 50MB
        $score *= 0.8;
    }
    
    return $score;
}, 10, 3);

Monitoring Configuration

Enable Detailed Logging

php

update_option('speedmate_settings', [
    'logging_enabled' => true,
    'log_level' => 'debug',
    'log_beast_decisions' => true,
]);

Custom Logging

php

add_action('speedmate_beast_decision', function($decision, $url, $score) {
    if ($decision === 'cache') {
        error_log(sprintf(
            '[Beast] Auto-cached: %s (score: %d)',
            $url,
            $score
        ));
    }
}, 10, 3);

Metrics Collection

php

add_action('speedmate_beast_score_calculated', function($url, $score, $data) {
    // Send to analytics
    if (function_exists('send_to_analytics')) {
        send_to_analytics('beast_score', [
            'url' => $url,
            'score' => $score,
            'hits' => $data['hits'],
            'rate' => $data['rate'],
        ]);
    }
}, 10, 3);

Performance Optimization

Resource Limits

php

update_option('speedmate_settings', [
    'beast_max_cached_pages' => 1000,  // Max pages to cache
    'beast_max_memory' => 100 * 1024 * 1024,  // 100MB
    'beast_max_cache_size' => 500 * 1024 * 1024,  // 500MB
]);

Cleanup Strategy

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_cleanup', function($should_cleanup, $stats) {
    // Cleanup if cache size > 400MB
    if ($stats['cache_size'] > 400 * 1024 * 1024) {
        return true;
    }
    
    // Cleanup if hit rate < 70%
    if ($stats['hit_rate'] < 70) {
        return true;
    }
    
    return $should_cleanup;
}, 10, 2);

A/B Testing

Test Different Thresholds

php

add_filter('speedmate_beast_threshold', function($threshold) {
    // 50% users get threshold 40, 50% get threshold 60
    $group = isset($_COOKIE['ab_group']) ? $_COOKIE['ab_group'] : rand(0, 1);
    
    if ($group === 0) {
        return 40;  // Group A: more aggressive
    } else {
        return 60;  // Group B: more conservative
    }
});

Track Results

php

add_action('speedmate_page_served', function($url, $cached) {
    $group = isset($_COOKIE['ab_group']) ? $_COOKIE['ab_group'] : 'unknown';
    
    // Log performance per group
    error_log(sprintf(
        '[Beast A/B] Group: %s, URL: %s, Cached: %s',
        $group,
        $url,
        $cached ? 'yes' : 'no'
    ));
});

Troubleshooting

Too Aggressive

Symptoms: Stale content, high cache invalidation

Solution:

php

// Increase threshold
'beast_threshold' => 80,  // Was 50

// Shorten TTL
'cache_ttl' => 1800,  // Was 3600

// Add to blacklist
'beast_blacklist' => [
    '/news/*',  // Frequently updated
]

Not Aggressive Enough

Symptoms: Low cache hit rate, many cache misses

Solution:

php

// Decrease threshold
'beast_threshold' => 30,  // Was 50

// Add to whitelist
'beast_whitelist' => [
    '/blog/*',
    '/category/*',
]

// Increase time window
'beast_time_window' => 7200,  // Was 3600

Beast Mode Configuration ​

Overview ​

Threshold Tuning ​

Understanding Scores ​

Recommended Thresholds ​

Dynamic Threshold ​

Whitelist Strategies ​

By Content Type ​

By URL Pattern ​

Dynamic Whitelist ​

Blacklist Strategies ​

E-Commerce Protection ​

User-Specific Content ​

Conditional Blacklist ​

Time Window Configuration ​

Adaptive Window ​

Peak Hours Detection ​

Cache TTL per Pattern ​

Scoring Customization ​

Custom Scoring Algorithm ​

Resource-Based Scoring ​

Monitoring Configuration ​

Enable Detailed Logging ​

Custom Logging ​

Metrics Collection ​

Performance Optimization ​

Resource Limits ​

Cleanup Strategy ​

A/B Testing ​

Test Different Thresholds ​

Track Results ​

Troubleshooting ​

Too Aggressive ​

Not Aggressive Enough ​

Next Steps ​