OpenLiteSpeed Caching Guide

Caching on OpenLiteSpeed

OpenLiteSpeed has a built-in page caching engine called LSCache. Combined with the LiteSpeed Cache WordPress plugin, it delivers performance comparable to Varnish without the complexity. BlitzPress uses LSCache as its primary caching layer.

How LSCache Works

LSCache stores fully rendered HTML pages in OLS’s shared memory. When a visitor requests a page, OLS serves the cached copy directly without executing any PHP. This is a server-level cache — far faster than PHP-based caching plugins like WP Super Cache.

Cache Types

Cache Type	What It Caches	Configuration
Public Cache	Pages visible to all visitors	Default for non-logged-in users
Private Cache	Per-user content (e.g., WooCommerce cart)	Enabled via ESI or Vary cookie
Browser Cache	Static assets (CSS, JS, images)	Cache-Control headers
OPcache	Compiled PHP bytecode	PHP extension
Redis Object Cache	Database query results	wp-config.php + plugin

Cache TTL Configuration

In the LiteSpeed Cache plugin, go to Cache > TTL:

• Default Public Cache TTL: 604800 (7 days) — pages rarely change
• Default Front Page TTL: 604800
• Feed TTL: 0 (do not cache RSS feeds)
• 404 TTL: 3600 (1 hour)

Edge Side Includes (ESI)

ESI lets you cache a page publicly but exclude dynamic fragments (like a shopping cart widget). The cached page has an ESI tag that OLS replaces with fresh content per-request. Enable ESI in LiteSpeed Cache > ESI.

Purging the Cache

LSCache auto-purges on content changes (post publish, comment, etc.). To manually purge:

• From WordPress: LiteSpeed Cache toolbar > Purge All
• Via CLI: sudo wp litespeed-purge all --path=/home/DOMAIN/public_html --allow-root
• From shell: sudo rm -rf /tmp/lscache/DOMAIN/

Verifying Cache Hits

curl -I https://YOUR_DOMAIN/ 2>/dev/null | grep -i x-litespeed
# X-LiteSpeed-Cache: hit    (cached)
# X-LiteSpeed-Cache: miss   (not cached)