WP Shifty Documentation

Activate WP Shifty

Activation doesn’t require a manual license key. Open the WP Shifty dashboard and click Activate license, select your subscription, then Connect.

What are scenarios?

Scenarios are collections of rules that apply when conditions are met. They can disable plugins, manage CSS/JS (disable, overwrite, lazy/async/defer), preload files, and inject HTML.

How to test rules (Live Preview)

Use Live Preview to test changes safely without affecting the live site. You can emulate devices, user roles, custom headers, cookies, or POST data. Auto-refresh can be disabled to batch changes.

Toolbar shortcuts

When you have permission to manage options, WP Shifty adds an admin toolbar menu with quick actions:

• Edit matched scenarios for the current request.
• Add rule to current page/post type/URL directly from the toolbar.

Manage plugins (Disable plugins)

Toggle plugins off per scenario. When conditions match, the plugin won’t execute at all (not just dequeued). Always verify functionality in Live Preview.

Disable resources

Disable any static resources, including inline CSS or JS. Reduces bloat by removing unneeded files. Be careful disabling JS that other scripts depend on; test interactions afterward.

Overwrite resources

Clone CSS/JS to a safe copy and edit it without touching the original. You can beautify minified sources and re-minify via WP Shifty API, and restore the original with one click.

Load behavior (async, defer, lazy)

• Lazyload (scripts and styles): load after first interaction (scroll, mousemove, touch, click, keypress).
• Async (scripts): download asynchronously and execute as soon as loaded.
• Defer (scripts): download asynchronously and execute after document parsing.

Preload resources

Preload critical assets like LCP images and above-the-fold CSS/JS to improve perceived performance.

Inject HTML

Inject snippets at precise hooks: head beginning/after styles/end and footer beginning/end. Useful for critical CSS, inline scripts, or vendor tags.

Page

Match specific page IDs.

Post type

Match the current post type.

Archive

Match archive contexts.

Author

Match author archives.

Search

Match search results pages.

404

Match 404 (not found) requests.

URL

Match by request path (no query) with exact, partial, or regex.

Admin pages

Match specific admin screens including query arguments.

AJAX

Match AJAX actions by exact/partial/regex.

Shop pages

Match WooCommerce core pages.

Frontpage

Match the site front page URL.

Frontend

Apply only on frontend requests.

Everywhere

Apply globally to all contexts.

Query string

Match GET keys/values by exact/partial/regex.

HTTP header

Match HTTP headers (keys normalized to HTTP_*).

Cookie

Match cookies by key/value with exact/partial/regex.

Post data

Match POST payload (supports regex), preserving plus signs.

User agent

Match UA by exact/partial/regex.

User

Target user roles (including Not logged in).

Device

Match desktop, phone, tablet, Android, iOS, or bots.

Cronjob

Apply for cron runs.

CLI

Apply for WP-CLI runs.

Can I test WP Shifty before I buy?

Yes. There’s a 14-day money-back guarantee—buy risk-free and refund within 14 days if it’s not a fit.

Is WP Shifty suitable for beginners?

It’s designed to be easy, but it’s a pro tool. Basic WordPress and performance knowledge is recommended.

How can I know which resources or plugins should be disabled?

Use Live Preview to test safely. Disable candidates and verify the page and interactive features.

Can I buy WP Shifty now?

Yes, purchase is available anytime; activation is a simple connect flow from the dashboard.

How is WP Shifty different from other optimization plugins?

Shifty focuses on conditional loading and selective disabling/rewiring of assets and plugins with a live, scenario-based editor.

Is WP Shifty a cache plugin?

No. It’s not a cache; it controls what loads and when. You can use it alongside caching plugins.

Actions

• wp_shifty_match — Fired when at least one scenario should run.
• wpshifty_collect_resource (type, src, node) — Collected each matching CSS/JS (file or inline).
• wpshifty_disable_resource (type, src) — A resource was removed.
• wpshifty_overwrite_resource (type, original, new) — A resource was replaced.
• wpshifty_lazyload_resource (type, src) — A resource was marked for lazy loading.
• wpshifty_plugin_disabled (plugin) — A plugin was disabled by a scenario.

Filters

• wp_shifty_dom (html) — Final HTML just before output buffering ends.

WP Shifty uses HTML comment placeholders to inject content or scripts at render time:

• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_HEAD_BEGINNING<![endif]-->
• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_HEAD_AFTER_STYLES<![endif]-->
• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_HEAD_END<![endif]-->
• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_FOOTER_BEGINING<![endif]-->
• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_FOOTER_END<![endif]-->
• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_PRELOAD<![endif]--> — replaced by generated <link rel="preload"> tags.
• <!--[if wpshifty]>WP_SHIFTY_LAZY<![endif]--> — replaced with the lazy helper script when needed.

For plugin deactivation to work reliably, WP Shifty installs an MU loader file wp-content/mu-plugins/__wps-loader.php. If it cannot be created, an exception is raised and disabling plugins will not work. Ensure the MU plugins directory is writable.

• Match modes: exact, partial, regex.
• Versioning: file URLs are normalized to include versions; matching respects ver args.
• Inline resources: matched by a stable content hash.
• Preload: disabled resources are skipped; if a source was overwritten, preload uses the overwritten URL.
• Skip processing: add data-skip-shifty attribute to a tag to exclude it from Shifty rules.

Examples:

// URL exact
/products/sale

// URL partial (matches /products/sale and /products/sale/summer)
/products/sale

// URL regex (matches any year under /archive/)
^/archive/20[0-9]{2}/$

// Inline resource matching
// Inline CSS/JS are matched by a content hash computed at runtime.

• Scenario order: active scenarios are loaded by priority DESC, id ASC.
• Preview: when editing, the preview scenario is applied in isolation and won’t be loaded with other actives; an empty preview shows a placeholder and a special CLI view is available via ?wpshifty-cli=1.
• Execution flow: when any scenario matches, output buffering is started early and HTML is post-processed to apply rules; scripts/styles are dequeued via wp_print_* / admin_print_* hooks.
• Toolbar context: matched scenario IDs are exposed for quick edit links.