WordPress Breeze: Optimization and Hardening Guide

First Steps

After deploying a WordPress Breeze, your site is accessible at http://YOUR_IP. Complete the WordPress installation wizard to set up your admin account.

Essential Security Steps

1. Change the default admin username from "admin"
2. Install a security plugin (Wordfence or Sucuri)
3. Disable XML-RPC: add to .htaccess: <Files xmlrpc.php> deny from all </Files>
4. Limit login attempts
5. Enable SSL with Let's Encrypt

Performance Optimization

Caching

If using LEMP Breeze: install WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache. If using LAMP Breeze with LiteSpeed: use the LSCache plugin (pre-installed).

Database Optimization

# Clean up post revisions
wp post delete $(wp post list --post_type=revision --format=ids) --force

# Optimize database tables
wp db optimize

Image Optimization

• Install ShortPixel or Imagify plugin
• Use WebP format for images
• Enable lazy loading (built into WordPress)

Useful WP-CLI Commands

# Update WordPress
wp core update

# Update all plugins
wp plugin update --all

# Update all themes
wp theme update --all

# Search and replace (useful after domain change)
wp search-replace 'http://old-domain.com' 'https://new-domain.com'

Backup Strategy

• Install UpdraftPlus for automated backups
• Schedule daily database backups and weekly full backups
• Store backups offsite (S3, Google Drive, Dropbox)