Version 1.2.0: filter cache warmup

Major update adding a cache warmup system so catalog pages load instantly on first visit.

Problem

MySQL 8 can be slow on large catalogs. First load of a filtered page took 15–60 seconds for catalogs over 10 000 products. Bottlenecks:

• Loading category product IDs (ElementRunner::getIds())
• Computing available filter values (Filter::getFilters())
• Computing facet counters (Filter::getSuggestionsForIds())

Solution

The warmup system precomputes and stores all three heavy steps in the database. Warmup runs in the background via Scheduler or manually from the manager. After warmup, catalog pages open in fractions of a second.

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New features

Warmup subsystem

An administrator creates a warmup configuration in the new manager tab, specifying the snippet and catalog pages. During warmup the system iterates bound pages and caches:

1. baseIds — product IDs in the category
2. filter values — values for the filter form
3. suggestions — product count per filter value

Auto-created configurations

On first visit to any catalog page, a warmup configuration is created automatically. You do not need to configure every page manually — crawl the catalog once or wait for user traffic.

Snippet call parser

The “Snippet call” field in the configuration editor accepts template code and extracts parameters. Three formats are supported:

{'!mFilter'|snippet:['element' => 'msProducts', 'parents' => $_modx->resource.id]}

[[!mFilter? &element=`msProducts` &parents=`5`]]

{"element": "msProducts", "parents": 5}

Scheduler task

New task mfl_warmup runs warmup on cron in the background. By default it is recurring — every 50 minutes, refreshing cache before TTL expires.

The manager includes Via Scheduler to queue warmup in the background.

“Cache warmup” tab

New tab in mFilter:

• Configuration table with last warmup info
• Editor with call parsing, parameter table, and resource tree
• Warm all, Via Scheduler, per-configuration warmup
• + counters checkbox (on by default)

More about the UI →

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New database models

Table	Description
mfl_warmup_configs	Warmup configs (element, params, cache_key_hash, stats)
mfl_warmup_config_resources	Config to catalog page bindings (many-to-many)

Tables are created automatically on install or upgrade.

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API

10 new endpoints for configuration management:

Method	Route	Description
GET	/warmup-configs	List configurations
GET	/warmup-configs/{id}	Get configuration
POST	/warmup-configs	Create
PUT	/warmup-configs/{id}	Update
DELETE	/warmup-configs/{id}	Delete
POST	/warmup-configs/{id}/warmup	Warm one configuration
POST	/warmup-configs/warmup-all	Warm all
POST	/warmup-configs/schedule	Schedule via Scheduler
POST	/warmup-configs/parse-snippet	Parse snippet call
GET	/warmup-configs/resource-tree	Resource tree

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Improvements

Caching getSuggestionsForIds

Filter::getSuggestionsForIds() now stores results in mfl_cache. Repeated calls with the same parameters read from cache.

UTC cache timestamps

All cache timestamps (expires_at, created_at, updated_at) are stored in UTC via gmdate(). Fixes premature cache expiry when cron runs in UTC and web processes use a local timezone.

TvIndexer

TvIndexer::indexResource() now indexes only TVs used in filter configuration instead of all resource TVs. Reduces indexing load.

Legacy warm_suggestions removed

Removed legacy HTTP-based suggestion warmup (file_get_contents with SSL verification disabled). Replaced with direct execution via mfl_warmup.

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Project tuning

Warmup interval and TTL

Catalog size	TTL	Warmup interval	Description
Up to 1 000 products	3600	3000	Default
1 000 — 10 000	7200	6000	Every 100 min
10 000 — 100 000	14400	10800	Every 3 hours
100 000+	86400	43200	Twice per day

• TTL — system setting mfilter.cache_lifetime
• Interval — interval field on Scheduler task mfl_warmup

Внимание

Interval must be less than TTL. Account for warmup duration — for ~200 000 products warmup can take ~30 minutes.

When the product catalog changes

Scenario	Action
Regular price/stock import	Automatic — recurring task refreshes cache
Bulk new product import	Run warmup manually from the manager
Filter structure changed	Clear cache + run warmup

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Upgrade

Before upgrading

1. Back up the database

After upgrading

1. Clear MODX cache
2. Open the Cache warmup tab
3. Create a configuration or wait for auto-creation when the catalog is visited
4. Run warmup Via Scheduler
5. Ensure cron is configured for Scheduler

New tables

mfl_warmup_configs and mfl_warmup_config_resources are created automatically when the package is installed.

New Scheduler task

Task mfl_warmup is registered automatically. Without Scheduler, warmup is only available from the manager (Warm all).

Results

After warmup on a catalog of 200 000 products and 100 categories:

Metric	Without warmup	With warmup
First page load	15–60 sec	< 1 sec
Full catalog warmup	—	~8–30 min (background)