FrostyCache was created to solve the performance gap in REST API delivery for Headless WordPress applications. When every millisecond matters to your frontend, you need API responses that skip the bottleneck entirely.
WordPress REST API responses are slow because every single request goes through the same expensive pipeline: boot WordPress, connect to the database, run queries, serialize output, and send the response. Even for publicly cacheable data that hasn’t changed in days.
Full-Page Caching Doesn’t Help
Traditional full-page caching plugins are designed for HTML pages. They don’t understand JSON endpoints, query parameters, or content-type headers that REST API consumers depend on.
Database Caching Is Still Slow
Plugins that cache REST responses in the database still require WordPress to fully bootstrap, connect to MySQL, and query the cache table. You save query time but not boot time — still 200ms+ per request.
No Smart Invalidation
Most caching solutions either flush everything on any change or require manual cache management. Neither approach works for production headless applications with frequent content updates.
Headless Is an Afterthought
The WordPress caching ecosystem was built for traditional themes. Headless architectures with decoupled frontends consuming JSON APIs are treated as edge cases rather than first-class citizens.
FrostyCache intercepts REST API requests at the earliest possible stage and serves cached JSON responses from disk before the database even connects. The result: ~14ms response times vs ~200ms+ with database-based caching.
Pre-Database Interception
Cached responses are served as static JSON files before WordPress connects to MySQL. Zero database overhead on cache hits means response times drop from hundreds of milliseconds to ~14ms.
ETag & 304 Not Modified
Every cached response includes an MD5-based ETag. Clients sending If-None-Match get a 304 with no body, saving bandwidth for mobile apps and SPAs that poll endpoints.
Precise Cache Invalidation
Post meta tracks which cache files contain which posts. When content is updated, only the affected cache files are purged — not a broad flush of the entire cache directory.
CoCart Headless, LLC is the company behind CoCart (the Headless WooCommerce API) and FrostyCache. We are focused on making Headless WordPress fast and developer-friendly — building the tools that bridge the gap between WordPress as a backend and modern frontend frameworks.
Developer-First
Configuration through code, not UI. FrostyCache is built for developers who manage their WordPress sites with version control, deployment pipelines, and PHP filters — not admin panels.
Performance Obsessed
Pre-database serving, ETag support, and file-based caching are not nice-to-haves — they are the core architecture. Every design decision optimizes for the fastest possible response time.
Open Source Core
FrostyCache is GPL-2.0+ licensed and community-driven. The caching engine is open source, extensible through 18+ hooks and filters, and built for full transparency.