How Gemini CLI handles this
A site that should be fast keeps showing MISS. You are in the terminal with Gemini CLI and you ask: why are shop pages not cached? It lists your sites, then reads get_cache_status and get_health, and reports what it finds.
One health check people do not expect is the one for cookies. Page caching stores one copy for everyone, so a cookie that a plugin or a script sets on anonymous pages can make that shared copy wrong. xSpeed checks that anonymous pages are free of such cookies and reports a warning when they are not. Gemini CLI quotes the check, tells you to look for what sets a cookie for logged-out visitors, and re-reads get_health after you switch the likely culprit off.
Gemini CLI shows a confirmation for an MCP tool call unless the server entry sets trust to true or you started it with --approval-mode=yolo (or --yolo), which approves every tool call. You can proceed once, always allow that tool, always allow the whole server, or cancel. For a first diagnosis, leave it asking and approve the read calls as they come. If you want to see the X-XSpeed-Cache header yourself, ask it to request the page with a plain GET, not a HEAD request. Because Gemini CLI runs in your terminal, the answer stays next to your shell history. You can paste the failing check and its fix into a deploy note, then ask it to run get_health again when you are done. That second read is the proof that the warning cleared, and it costs nothing, since get_health only reads.
Set up Gemini CLI once
Already connected? Skip to the prompts. Alternatives and troubleshooting are on the Gemini CLI guide.
1Put your sites in xSpeed Hub
Sign in at app.xspeedcache.com with Google or email; the Hub is free and has no site cap. Then connect each WordPress site from its own dashboard: click Connect Hub in the xSpeed Cache top bar, then Connect via xSpeed Hub. Each site needs the free xSpeed Cache plugin.
2Add xSpeed Hub to Gemini CLI
Run this once. --scope user writes the server to ~/.gemini/settings.json so it works in every project; without it Gemini CLI saves to the project's .gemini/settings.json, which is the default.
gemini mcp add --scope user --transport http xspeedhub https://app.xspeedcache.com/xspeed/mcp
3Authenticate with /mcp auth
Start gemini and run /mcp auth xspeedhub. A browser page opens where you sign in to xSpeed Hub and approve access, and Gemini CLI receives the redirect on a local port. There is no token to paste, and the client keeps the credentials it receives. Run /mcp afterwards to check that xspeedhub shows as connected and lists its tools.
/mcp auth xspeedhub
Full Gemini CLI setup, sign-in options and FAQ
Before you send a prompt that changes something
Reads change nothing on your sites, though contact_support emails xSpeed support. Writes run once your connection allows them, so your client's approval prompt and a read-only connection (the token's Read-only everywhere switch, or a Viewer sign-in) are the gates that matter. Gemini CLI shows a confirmation for an MCP tool call unless the server entry sets trust to true or you start Gemini CLI with --approval-mode=yolo (or --yolo), which approves every tool call. You can proceed once, always allow that tool, always allow the whole xspeedhub server, or cancel; the last two choices stop later prompts for those tools. Policy rules in ~/.gemini/policies can allow, deny or ask for a named tool by server and tool name. The Hub has no confirmation step of its own, so a trusted server, YOLO mode or an allow rule lets a write run as soon as your connection allows writes.
What do I ask?
Three prompts written for Gemini CLI. More for this job are below.
Using xSpeed Hub, why do shop pages keep missing the cache? Read the health checks and name the one that explains it.
Use xSpeed Hub to check whether anything makes anonymous visitors on shop receive a cookie that would make a shared copy wrong.
With xSpeed Hub, run the benchmark on shop and compare the cached request with the uncached one.
What happens, step by step
When a WordPress page is not served from cache, the cause is usually one of a few things: caching is off, the cache drop-in or the WP_CACHE constant is missing, another caching plugin is in the way, or the pages carry something that makes them uncacheable. Through xSpeed Hub an agent can read the cache status, run the site's full health diagnostics, time a cached request against an uncached one, and check which Pro features would help, all without changing anything.
01
Start with the quick summary
get_cache_status returns whether page caching is on, the stats (cached pages, size, hit ratio, last purge) and the web server xSpeed detected. It is a glance. If caching is off, or the hit ratio is far below what you expect, the agent moves on to the diagnostic.
02
Run the diagnostic
get_health is the tool for troubleshooting. It returns the environment checks with pass or warn tones (the advanced-cache.php drop-in, the WP_CACHE constant, rewrite rules, PHP and WordPress versions, caching plugin conflicts), the cache stats, 24 hourly hit and miss buckets and a 30-day hit-ratio series. The Hub tells the agent to use it, not get_cache_status, when you are troubleshooting rather than glancing.
03
Time cached against uncached
run_benchmark requests the home page once with the cache bypassed and once normally, after a warm-up request, and returns the timings. If the second request still is not a cache hit, the page cache is not serving the home page, and the result says so. It measures xSpeed's own response time. It does not return a Lighthouse score.
04
Read what the checks mean
A warn is a lead, not always a fault. A static-file rewrite warning, for example, can mean the nginx snippet is not in your server config yet, or that xSpeed could not verify it, which is not evidence the config is wrong. The agent reads the detail line and tells you which one it is.
05
Fix it or hand it over
If caching is simply off, toggle_cache turns it on. If another caching plugin owns the drop-in, the site refuses to enable xSpeed and says why; removing the other plugin is yours to do. If nothing explains it, contact_support emails xSpeed support with the agent's summary, after the agent has confirmed the message with you.
Reference
| Quick check | get_cache_status (read): cache on or off, stats, detected web server |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic | get_health (read): environment checks, 24 hourly buckets, 30-day hit-ratio series, recent activity |
| One site per call | get_health does not accept site: "all"; call it for each site you care about |
| Benchmark | run_benchmark (read): home page only, cache bypassed against cache served, timings in milliseconds |
| Benchmark on every site | run_benchmark accepts site: "all" or a list of handles, one result per site |
| Benchmark history | get_benchmark_history reads past runs and the settings changes on the same timeline |
| Pro suggestions | get_pro_audit (read): which Pro features would help this site, from its settings and stats |
| Hit ratio scope | Counts requests that reach your server; pages answered by a CDN or Cloudflare edge are not counted |
| Support | contact_support emails xSpeed support with your account email and site list attached; classed read |
| Turning caching on | toggle_cache (write); refused by the site when another plugin owns the cache drop-in |
Rules worth keeping
- Diagnose with the read tools first. get_cache_status, get_health, run_benchmark and get_pro_audit change nothing on the site, so a read-only connection can run all of them. For clients that send the connection token, that means Read-only everywhere on; an OAuth sign-in gets the scopes the client asks for, unless the member is a Viewer.
- Do not answer a PageSpeed question with run_benchmark. It measures cached against uncached response time and returns no Lighthouse score; for a score, use the speed test or scan jobs.
- toggle_cache is a write. It runs as soon as your connection allows writes, and the Hub tells the agent to confirm the target site first. That is guidance to the agent, so your client's approval prompt is the gate that matters.
- contact_support sends a real email. The Hub tells the agent to confirm the message with you before sending, but the tool is classed read, so even a read-only connection can send one.
- The agent cannot edit your server configuration or another plugin's settings. When a check needs an nginx snippet or a conflicting plugin removed, it tells you what to do and you do it.
Good to know with Gemini CLI
Marking the xspeedhub server as trusted in Gemini CLI skips the prompt for every tool on it, not only the reads, and starting it with --approval-mode=yolo (or --yolo) approves every tool call on every server. That includes toggle_cache, purge_cache and contact_support, and choosing always allow for the whole server does the same for later calls. The Hub has no confirmation step of its own, and its request that the agent confirm first is guidance, not a lock. If you want a trusted server, use the connection token with Read-only everywhere on, or a Viewer sign-in: either refuses every write tool. It still allows contact_support, because the Hub counts that as a read.
More prompts for this job
They work in any client connected to xSpeed Hub.
Using xSpeed Hub, why is the cache hit ratio so low on shop? Run the full health check and tell me the most likely cause.
Using xSpeed Hub, is page caching actually working on blog? Benchmark cached against uncached and tell me if the second request was a hit.
xSpeed Hub's get_health on docs shows a warning about the static-file rewrite. What does it mean and do I need to act?
Use xSpeed Hub to check whether another caching plugin is conflicting with xSpeed on shop.
Caching looks off on the staging site. Use xSpeed Hub to turn it on and tell me if the site refuses.
Using xSpeed Hub, which Pro features would help the shop site, based on how it is set up now?
With xSpeed Hub, compare the last few benchmark runs on blog and tell me whether my settings changes helped.
Frequently asked questions
Keep going
Find out why pages are not cached with other agents
More with Gemini CLI
Documentation
- How to read your cache diagnostics
- Understanding cache hits and misses
- How to check your site health
- Common problems and troubleshooting
- How to enable Page Cache
- How to write prompts for xSpeed Hub
- Gemini CLI + xSpeed
- Every AI agent that works with xSpeed
From the blog