# How to add cache rules and bypasses > Override cache behaviour per URL, post type, category, tag or author — and stop your maintenance screen being cached and served after the site goes live. - Category: Cache - Canonical: https://xspeedcache.com/docs/rules-and-bypass/ --- [Page Cache](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/page-cache/) gives you one lifetime and a list of exclusions, which covers most sites. This tab handles the cases it can't: content that needs different treatment based on what it *is* rather than where it lives, and the specific hazard of caching a maintenance screen. > **Where to find it** > > 1. In your WordPress admin, click **xSpeed Cache** in the left menu. > 2. In the xSpeed Cache sidebar, open the **Cache** group. > 3. Click the **Advanced Cache** card, then the **Rules & bypass** tab. > > *Shortcut: open `wp-admin/admin.php?page=xspeed#/cache/cache-coverage/rules` directly.* > > ⭐ The features on this tab are part of **xSpeed Pro**. ![The cache rules list](https://xspeedcache.com/_astro/custom-cache-rules-settings.BmtYw99_.png) 1. **Cache rules** — **Add rule** to create one, **Save** to persist. --- ## Settings at a glance | Setting | Default | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | **Cache rules** | None | Bypass or override expiry per URL, post type, category, tag, or author. | | **Enable maintenance-aware caching** | Off | Skip caching during maintenance, purge when the site goes live. | --- ## How it works Both features change *whether* and *how long* a page is cached, rather than caching a new request type. Cache rules do it by condition — what the content is. Maintenance-aware caching does it by site state — whether you're currently in maintenance mode. --- ## Cache rules Each rule has a **condition** and an **action**. When a page is about to be cached, xSpeed walks your rules and applies the first that matches. **Conditions** can target: | Match by | Example use | | --- | --- | | **URL** | A specific path or pattern | | **Post type** | Every `product`, or a custom type | | **Category** | Everything in *News* | | **Tag** | Everything tagged *live* | | **Author** | One writer's posts | **Actions** are either **bypass the cache entirely** for matching pages, or **override the expiry** with a different lifetime. ### Precedence: what wins Three things can decide a page's caching, and they resolve in a strict order. This is where surprises come from: 1. **Per-post overrides win.** xSpeed Free adds a meta box to individual posts. If a post carries its own setting, it beats every rule here — the rules engine checks for it first and defers. 2. **Then the first matching rule.** Rules are evaluated top to bottom; later rules aren't consulted. 3. **Then the [Page Cache](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/page-cache/) default.** Two consequences. **Order rules specific-first** — a broad rule at the top shadows every narrower rule beneath it. And if a rule seems ignored on one particular post, check that post's own meta box before debugging the rule. > 💡 **Rules complement Free's per-post controls, they don't replace them.** Per-post settings stay authoritative for the posts that use them; rules cover everything else in bulk. ### When to reach for a rule - **A page that must always be fresh** — a status page, live scoreboard, dashboard: bypass the cache for its URL. - **A post type that shouldn't be cached** — anything personalised or transactional. - **Evergreen content** — documentation that could cache far longer than your site default. - **A time-sensitive section** — a *breaking news* category on a much shorter expiry. For anything that must *never* be cached site-wide, the exclusion lists in [Page Cache](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/page-cache/) are simpler and checked earlier. Reach for rules when you need conditions those lists can't express — post type, taxonomy, author. --- ## Maintenance-aware caching ![The maintenance-aware caching status and toggle](https://xspeedcache.com/_astro/maintenance-caching-settings.BO8iLsXF.png) 1. **Status** — whether the site is currently in maintenance, with **Re-check**. 2. **Enable maintenance-aware caching** — the master switch. There's a specific, nasty failure this prevents. You put the site into maintenance mode, the page cache dutifully saves the "we'll be back soon" screen, you finish your work and go live — and visitors keep seeing the maintenance notice, because it's cached. A page cache doesn't know *why* a page looks the way it does. During maintenance your site returns a holding screen, and as far as the cache is concerned that's simply what your homepage is now. Then you go live, the site works perfectly, but the cached copy is still the maintenance screen — and with the default 7-day [Page Cache](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/page-cache/) lifetime it could stay that way a long time. Worse, **you won't see it yourself**: you're logged in, so you're served a fresh page and everything looks fine. It's your logged-out visitors who are stuck. ### What it does Two protections, covering both ends of the maintenance window: 1. **While maintenance is on, nothing is written to the cache.** The maintenance screen is never saved, so it can't be served later. 2. **When maintenance switches off, the cache is purged once.** Anything cached before or during the window is cleared, so the first real render after going live is fresh. The purge fires on the *transition* — the module tracks whether maintenance was previously active specifically so it can detect the switch back and purge exactly once, rather than repeatedly. The status card shows whether the site is currently in maintenance or coming-soon mode, with **Re-check** to re-run detection. > ⚠️ **Turn this on before you need it.** It protects a moment you can't easily undo — once the maintenance screen is cached and you've gone live, you're relying on noticing and purging manually. Enabling it in advance costs nothing while the site is live. --- ## Related - [How to cache 404s, search and feeds](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/advanced-cache/) - [How to enable Page Cache](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/page-cache/) - [How to cache 404s and searches](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/what-to-cache/) - [How to cache feeds and the REST API](https://xspeedcache.com/docs/feeds-and-api/)