# Warm the WordPress cache with NanoClaw

> Warming the WordPress cache with NanoClaw means messaging your self-hosted agent with its trigger word to start the xSpeed preloader on a site, and letting a scheduled task post the crawl report to your chat each morning.

Page: https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/preload-cache/
Last updated: October 2026

The cache is cold after a purge, you are on your phone, and NanoClaw answers in Slack. You write: @Andy use xSpeed Hub to warm shop. The agent in that group's container calls start_preloader, the plugin queues the sitemap, and the reply in the thread gives the count of queued URLs. A few minutes later you ask how far it has got and the agent reads get_preloader_status: processed against total, the last URL and any recent errors.

NanoClaw is also a reasonable home for the report side of this job. ncl tasks create runs a prompt on a cron schedule in the agent group's own session, and because a task has no chat attached, the prompt says where to send the result. A morning task that reads get_preloader_status on each site and posts a line per site to Telegram means you see a stalled crawl without asking. The status is read one site at a time, since get_preloader_status does not take every site at once, so the prompt should name the sites or tell the agent to list them first.

Whether NanoClaw prompts before a tool call depends on your fork; its documentation describes approval for adding a server, not a per-call prompt. xSpeed Hub has no confirmation step of its own, and it treats the preloader as low-risk, asking the agent to confirm only when the site is unclear or the call covers every site. For a start on every site, that shows up as a question in the chat. Starting crawls needs a token with Read-only everywhere off, and that same token then lets the agent purge and change settings too.

## Set up NanoClaw once

### 1. Put 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.

### 2. Add xSpeed Hub to your agent group

Copy the connection token from Connect AI in the Hub (only the workspace owner sees it). Then run this on the machine that hosts NanoClaw, with your agent group's ID from ncl groups list. The header goes in as a JSON object, because NanoClaw refuses credentials inside the URL. NanoClaw may ask an admin to approve the change.

```bash
ncl groups config add-mcp-server --id <group-id> --name xspeedhub \
  --url https://app.xspeedcache.com/xspeed/mcp \
  --headers '{"Authorization":"Bearer <your connection token>"}'
```

### 3. Restart the group and ask

The new server takes effect after a restart. Then message your agent with its trigger word, @Andy by default, and ask something that names xSpeed Hub.

```bash
ncl groups restart --id <group-id>
```

Full setup: https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/

### 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. Whether NanoClaw asks you before an MCP tool runs depends on how your fork and its admins are set up; its documentation gates adding a server behind approval but describes no per-tool prompt for calls. xSpeed Hub has no confirmation step of its own, so a write runs as soon as the agent 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, which in NanoClaw shows up as a question in the chat. The firm stop is the token: with Read-only everywhere on, the Hub refuses every write tool. Keep it on for scheduled tasks.

## Prompts

- @Andy use xSpeed Hub to start the preloader on shop and tell me how many URLs it queued.
- @Andy using xSpeed Hub, how far through its crawl is blog? Show processed against total and any errors.
- @Andy with xSpeed Hub, stop the preloader on docs. The server is busy.

## Example session

```
You: @Andy use xSpeed Hub to warm shop. I purged it after the price change.
  → get_preloader_status(site: shop) [read-only]: idle, no run in progress
  → start_preloader(site: shop) [changes site]: Queued 298 URLs from the sitemap; pages are fetched in the background
Agent: Started on shop with 298 URLs queued. Ask me for progress whenever you like.
You: @Andy how far is it now?
  → get_preloader_status(site: shop) [read-only]: Running, 174 of 298 URLs processed, no errors
Agent: 174 of 298 pages on shop are warm, and nothing has failed so far.
```

## How it works

1. **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.
2. **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.
3. **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.
4. **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.
5. **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.
6. **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

- 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 NanoClaw

Keep starts out of the scheduled task. A task runs with no conversation, so nobody can answer the Hub's ask-once question, and the token on the group is the only limit. The preloader module has its own Schedule setting in WordPress, manual, hourly, daily or weekly, which warms sites without an agent; let it do that and keep the ncl task to reads. If the group's only xSpeed job is reporting, turn Read-only everywhere on: get_preloader_status keeps working and the Hub refuses start_preloader and stop_preloader. You can pause, resume or cancel a task with ncl tasks, and run it once by hand to check the report before the first scheduled run.

## 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

### Can NanoClaw send me a daily crawl report?

Yes. ncl tasks create runs a prompt on a cron schedule. Have it read get_preloader_status on each site and name the chat to post to, because a scheduled task has no conversation attached. Keep it read only.

### Why does NanoClaw say it cannot start the preloader?

Either the preloader module is off on that site, which is the default on a new install, or the connection token has Read-only everywhere on and the Hub refuses every write tool. The reply names which one, so turn the module on or the switch off accordingly.

### Why does start_preloader say the preloader is disabled?

The preloader module is off by default on a new install, and the site refuses to start a crawl until it is on. The agent can switch it on with update_settings on the preloader module, or you can turn it on in the xSpeed Cache panel in wp-admin. Page caching also has to be on, because the crawl exists to fill that cache.

### What does the preloader actually warm?

It reads the site's sitemap, which is the WordPress one at /wp-sitemap.xml unless you set a different sitemap URL, follows nested sitemap indexes and skips any URL your cache exclusion rules leave out. If the sitemap cannot be read, the site falls back to a list built from its own content and says so. If nothing at all is queued, the call reports an error with the reason.

### Can I warm every site with one prompt?

Yes. The agent passes site: "all" to start_preloader and the Hub starts the crawl on every site in the workspace one after another, returning a result per site. The Hub tells the agent to confirm that with you once first. The call only starts the crawls, so progress is read afterwards with get_preloader_status, one site at a time.

### Will warming slow my site down?

A crawl fetches your own pages, a few per run, so it adds load while it runs. The Pages per run setting controls how many, from 1 to 50 with a default of 5. If a site struggles, stop_preloader ends the crawl and the pages already warmed stay cached.

### Why do some pages fail with HTTP 403 or 406?

Those codes are what bad-bot firewall rules usually answer with, and they mean the warmer was judged by its user-agent, not that the page is missing. The warmer identifies itself as xSpeed-Warmer/1.0. Allow that user-agent in the server rule, or change it with the xspeed_preloader_user_agent filter, and run the crawl again.

### Can the agent keep my cache warm on a schedule?

The preloader has its own Schedule setting in WordPress: manual, hourly, daily or weekly. An agent can change it with update_settings. The Hub itself has no scheduler for agent prompts, so a prompt only runs when you send it or when your AI client runs it on a timer.

## Warm the cache with other agents

[Claude Code](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/claude-code/preload-cache/) · [Claude](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/claude/preload-cache/) · [Claude Cowork](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/claude-cowork/preload-cache/) · [ChatGPT](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/chatgpt/preload-cache/) · [Codex](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/codex/preload-cache/) · [Cursor](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/cursor/preload-cache/) · [GitHub Copilot in VS Code](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/github-copilot/preload-cache/) · [Windsurf](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/windsurf/preload-cache/) · [Gemini CLI](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/gemini-cli/preload-cache/) · [Antigravity](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/antigravity/preload-cache/) · [Zed](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/zed/preload-cache/) · [Kiro](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/kiro/preload-cache/) · [OpenCode](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/opencode/preload-cache/) · [OpenClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/openclaw/preload-cache/) · [Hermes Agent](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/hermes-agent/preload-cache/) · [Grok Build](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/grok-build/preload-cache/) · [ChatGPT dots](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/chatgpt-dots/preload-cache/) · [Grok](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/grok/preload-cache/) · [Grok Bot](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/grok-bot/preload-cache/) · [Muse](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/muse/preload-cache/) · [Manus](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/manus/preload-cache/) · [Kimi Code](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/kimi/preload-cache/) · [Paperclip](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/paperclip/preload-cache/)

## More with NanoClaw

- [Purge the WordPress cache with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/purge-cache/)
- [Find out why WordPress pages are not cached with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/troubleshoot-cache/)
- [Scan a website for speed problems with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/speed-scan/)
- [Run and track PageSpeed tests with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/pagespeed-tests/)
- [Raise a WordPress site's PageSpeed score with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/optimize-site/)
- [Tune WordPress cache settings with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/cache-settings/)
- [Set up the Redis object cache with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/object-cache/)
- [Manage Cloudflare caching with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/cloudflare/)
- [Manage every WordPress site at once with NanoClaw](https://xspeedcache.com/agent/nanoclaw/fleet/)

## Documentation

- How to warm your cache ahead of visitors: https://xspeedcache.com/docs/preloader/
- How to crawl your sitemap: https://xspeedcache.com/docs/crawl-now/
- How to enable Page Cache: https://xspeedcache.com/docs/page-cache/
- Managing your fleet with xSpeed Hub: https://xspeedcache.com/docs/managing-your-fleet-with-xspeed-hub/