80 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
80 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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project: cloudflare-cache-warmer
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type: project-plan
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status: active
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path: Tech/Projects
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tags:
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- pbs
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- website
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- n8n
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- cloudflare
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created: 2026-04-20
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updated: 2026-04-20
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---
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# Cloudflare Cache Warmer — n8n Workflow
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## Problem
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Recipe pages fall out of Cloudflare's edge cache between human visits. When
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Googlebot crawls a cold page, it hits WordPress directly — full PHP/plugin
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execution, slow response. Google deprioritizes slow pages and marks them
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"Crawled - currently not indexed."
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## Solution
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Scheduled n8n workflow that fetches the sitemap daily and hits every recipe
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URL to keep Cloudflare's cache warm. Googlebot always gets a fast cached
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response.
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## Architecture
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1. **Schedule Trigger** — runs once daily (off-peak, e.g. 4:00 AM ET)
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2. **HTTP Request** — fetch `
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https://plantbasedsoutherner.com/sitemap_index.xml`
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3. **XML Parse** — extract child sitemap URLs from the index
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4. **Loop** — for each child sitemap:
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- **HTTP Request** — fetch the child sitemap XML
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- **XML Parse** — extract all `` URLs
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5. **Loop** — for each URL:
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- **HTTP Request (GET)** — hit the URL (this warms the cache)
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- **Wait** — small delay (1-2 seconds) between requests to avoid
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hammering the server on cold hits
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6. **Google Chat Notification** — post summary to `webadmin` space: total
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URLs warmed, any errors
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## Design Notes
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- Use the n8n Loop node (not Split In Batches) to serialize requests and
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avoid overloading Apache workers
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- The HTTP Request to warm cache only needs a GET — no need to process the
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response body
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- Consider a 1-2 second delay between requests so cold misses don't stack
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up concurrent PHP workers
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- Edge TTL is currently set to 8 days, so daily warming keeps everything
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well within window
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- As recipes grow, workflow scales automatically since it reads from the
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sitemap
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## Validation
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- After first run, spot-check 3-4 recipe URLs in browser DevTools → Network
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→ `cf-cache-status` should be `HIT`
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- Monitor Google Search Console "Crawled - currently not indexed" count
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over the following 2-4 weeks — should decrease
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## Open Questions
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- [ ] Confirm best time of day for the schedule (4 AM ET?)
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- [ ] Decide whether to warm ALL sitemap URLs or filter to just recipe/post
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URLs
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- [ ] Should errors (timeouts, 5xx) trigger a separate alert or just log in
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the summary?
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## Future Enhancements
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- Add a check: if `cf-cache-status` is already `HIT`, skip the URL (reduces
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unnecessary requests as traffic grows)
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- Track cache hit/miss ratio over time via a simple counter in pbs-hub
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...sent from Jenny & Travis |