How Manus handles this
Manus works through a task to the end, and warming is a natural last step of a launch. You give it the launch checklist: confirm the new pages are in each site's sitemap, start the preloader everywhere, and tell me which sites refused. It calls start_preloader with every site in one call, and the Hub starts them one after another with a one-second pause and returns a result per site. Name xSpeed Hub in the task so Manus uses the custom server you added.
That one call only starts the crawls. Progress is read site by site with get_preloader_status, because that tool does not take every site at once, so Manus reads each and folds the counts into its report. A site that refuses usually has the preloader module off, the default on a fresh install, and Manus can read it with get_settings and propose update_settings to switch it on. A crawl that queues no URLs comes back as an error with the reason, not as a success, which keeps the report honest.
Manus describes no per-tool approval setting for a custom MCP server, and xSpeed Hub has no confirmation step of its own, so a start runs once Manus calls it and the token allows writes. The Hub tells Manus to confirm once before a call that covers every site, which is guidance to the model rather than a lock, and the better gate is the task text: write ask me before you start anything and Manus brings its plan back first. The connection token has to allow writes for this, so Read-only everywhere must be off.
Set up Manus once
Already connected? Skip to the prompts. Alternatives and troubleshooting are on the Manus 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.
2Copy the connection token from xSpeed Hub
Sign in at app.xspeedcache.com as the workspace owner, open Connect AI and copy the connection token. If Manus will only report, turn on Read-only everywhere so the Hub refuses every write tool on that token.
xSpeed Hub > Connect AI > connection token
3Add xSpeed Hub as a custom MCP server
In Manus, open Settings, then Integrations, then Custom MCP Servers, and click Add Server. Name it xSpeed Hub, enter this as the server URL, and enter the connection token as the Bearer token in the authentication field.
https://app.xspeedcache.com/xspeed/mcp
4Let Manus test it, then name it in a task
Manus checks that it can reach the server and read its list of tools. Then start a task that names xSpeed Hub, so Manus uses this server.
Use xSpeed Hub to list my sites and tell me which ones have page caching turned off.
Full Manus 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. Manus's custom MCP documentation describes no per-tool approval setting for a custom server, and its scheduled tasks offer a skip confirmations option that lets Manus act without asking each time. xSpeed Hub has no confirmation step of its own, so a write runs as soon as Manus calls it and your connection allows writes. The Hub tells the agent to confirm the target site and to ask once before a write that touches every site, but that is an instruction. The firm stop is the token: with Read-only everywhere on, the Hub refuses every write tool. Keep it on for scheduled work, and leave skip confirmations off for any task that may write.
What do I ask?
Three prompts written for Manus. More for this job are below.
Use xSpeed Hub to start the preloader on every site as the last step of this launch, then tell me which ones refused. Ask me once before you start.
With xSpeed Hub, read the preloader status on each site and write me one line per site: running, finished or idle.
Ask xSpeed Hub why the preloader on docs is refused, and propose the fix without applying it.
What happens, step by step
The first visitor to an uncached page pays for building it. The preloader fixes that by visiting your pages first. Through xSpeed Hub an agent can start the crawl on one site or on every site in a workspace, watch how far it has got, and stop it. The crawl runs inside WordPress in the background; the agent only starts it, reads its progress and stops it.
01
Check the cache and the preloader
get_cache_status tells the agent whether page caching is on, because there is nothing to fill when it is off. get_preloader_status shows whether a crawl is already running, so the agent does not start a second one.
02
Make sure the preloader is switched on
The preloader module is off on a fresh install, and the site refuses start_preloader until it is on. The agent can read the module with get_settings and, if you agree, switch it on with update_settings on the preloader module. The Hub tells the agent to briefly confirm intent before an update_settings call, but that is guidance to the agent, not a lock.
03
Start the crawl
start_preloader makes the site read its sitemap, follow any nested sitemap indexes, drop URLs that your cache exclusion rules skip, and queue the rest. The call returns once the queue is built; the pages are then fetched in the background, a few per run. For every site at once the agent passes site: "all", and the Hub starts the sites one after another with a one-second pause.
04
Watch the progress
get_preloader_status reports whether a crawl is running, how many URLs it has processed out of the total, the last URL it visited and the most recent errors. It works on one site at a time, so for several sites the agent calls it once per site.
05
Read what failed
A page that answers 403 or 406 usually means a server firewall is blocking the warmer by its user-agent, not that the page is broken. The status message names the user-agent to allow. A crawl that queues no URLs is reported as an error with the reason, not as a success.
06
Stop it if the server struggles
stop_preloader ends a running crawl. It is safe mid-run: pages already warmed stay cached. The agent can stop one site or every site in the workspace.
Reference
| Start and stop | start_preloader and stop_preloader (write) |
|---|---|
| Progress | get_preloader_status (read): running or not, processed out of total, last URL, recent errors |
| What gets crawled | The sitemap (the WordPress one at /wp-sitemap.xml unless you set another), nested indexes followed, excluded URLs skipped |
| Needs | The preloader module switched on (it is off by default) and page caching on |
| Pages per run | 5 by default, 1 to 50, set in the preloader module |
| Schedule setting | manual, hourly, daily or weekly, set in the preloader module |
| Every site at once | start_preloader and stop_preloader accept site: "all"; get_preloader_status does not |
| Fan-out pacing | Sites start one after another with a 1 second pause, one result per site |
| Warmer user-agent | xSpeed-Warmer/1.0, the string a firewall rule would need to allow |
| Stopping | Safe mid-run; warmed pages stay cached |
| Read-only access | A Viewer member's sign-in, or the connection token with Read-only everywhere on: start_preloader and stop_preloader are refused; get_preloader_status works. An OAuth sign-in by anyone else gets the scopes the client asks for. |
| Confirmation | None on the Hub; your client's prompt is the gate |
Rules worth keeping
- Warm after a purge, not instead of one. The Hub tells the agent that starting the preloader after a purge saves the next visitor from paying for the rebuild.
- A crawl requests every page in the sitemap, so it adds load to the origin. Start with one site, and on a small host keep Pages per run low or stop the crawl if the site slows.
- start_preloader and stop_preloader are write tools. The Hub calls the preloader low-risk and only asks the agent to confirm when the target site is unclear or the call covers every site, so your client's approval prompt and read-only access (a Viewer sign-in, or the connection token with Read-only everywhere on) are the gates that matter.
- A fan-out only starts the crawls. Check each site with get_preloader_status afterwards, and treat some sites failing to start as a partial result, not a failure of the whole call.
Good to know with Manus
Scheduled tasks in Manus run unattended and can skip confirmations, which makes a scheduled start_preloader on a write-capable token a crawl nobody reviews. The preloader module already has a Schedule setting in WordPress, manual, hourly, daily or weekly, so use that for routine warming and give Manus's scheduled tasks a report-only prompt that reads get_preloader_status on each site. If a scheduled run must be safe whatever it decides, the token with Read-only everywhere on is the firm stop, though that switch covers the whole token and every client that sends it. A crawl also adds load to each origin, so on a small host keep Pages per run low in the module.
More prompts for this job
They work in any client connected to xSpeed Hub.
Use xSpeed Hub to start the preloader on shop and tell me how many URLs it queued.
Using xSpeed Hub, how far through its crawl is blog? Show processed against total and any errors.
With xSpeed Hub, purge the cache on docs, then warm it again.
Use xSpeed Hub to start the preloader on every site in my workspace and tell me which ones refused.
Use xSpeed Hub to stop the preloader on shop. It is slowing the server down.
The preloader on shop says it is disabled. Use xSpeed Hub to turn the module on, then start the crawl.
Using xSpeed Hub, which of my sites has no running crawl and a low hit ratio?
Frequently asked questions
Keep going
Warm the cache with other agents
More with Manus
Documentation
- How to warm your cache ahead of visitors
- How to crawl your sitemap
- How to enable Page Cache
- Managing your fleet with xSpeed Hub
- How to write prompts for xSpeed Hub
- Manus + xSpeed
- Every AI agent that works with xSpeed
From the blog