WPAdmin
CloudFront CDN

1 How the Plugin Works

WPAdmin CloudFront CDN integrates Amazon CloudFront with your WordPress site by rewriting the URLs of static assets — images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, and documents — so they are served from CloudFront's global edge network instead of your origin server.

URL Rewriting in Action

When a visitor loads a page, the plugin intercepts the final HTML and replaces your site domain with your CloudFront domain:

What Gets Rewritten

Three independently togglable categories:

Media files — Images (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF, SVG), videos, audio, fonts, PDFs, and documents found in img tags, srcset, CSS url(), and post content.

CSS files — Stylesheets enqueued via wp_enqueue_style() and <link> tags in the HTML output.

JavaScript files — Scripts enqueued via wp_enqueue_script() and <script> tags in the HTML output.

Two-Layer Rewriting Pipeline

Layer 1 — WordPress Filters: Hooks into style_loader_src, script_loader_src, wp_get_attachment_url, wp_calculate_image_srcset, and the_content to rewrite URLs as WordPress generates them.

Layer 2 — Output Buffer: Captures the entire HTML page and applies regex-based replacement to catch URLs added by page builders, custom themes, or hardcoded templates that bypass standard hooks.

2 Getting Started

3 AWS Credentials Setup

4 Creating a Distribution

Option A: Plugin-Created Distribution

Go to the Distribution tab and click "Create CloudFront Distribution". The plugin creates a distribution using your current CDN settings, with your WordPress site as the origin. If a custom domain and SSL certificate are configured, they are attached automatically.

Option B: Existing Distribution

Enter the Distribution ID (e.g., E1A2B3C4D5E6F7) and the CloudFront domain (e.g., d1234abc.cloudfront.net) in the Distribution tab. Ensure the distribution origin matches your WordPress domain.

5 Custom Domain & SSL

Use a branded domain like cdn.yoursite.com instead of the default *.cloudfront.net domain.

6 CDN Settings Explained

Cache Policy

Controls how CloudFront caches objects. "Caching Optimized" is the recommended default with sensible TTLs and query string handling. "Caching Disabled" passes all requests through without caching — use only for testing.

TLS Version

The minimum TLS protocol viewers must use. TLSv1.2 2021 is recommended for the strongest security. Older versions exist for legacy browser compatibility.

Price Class

All Edge Locations — Best performance globally, highest cost. Price Class 200 — US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa. Price Class 100 — US, Canada, Europe only, lowest cost.

Object Compression

When enabled, CloudFront automatically compresses text-based files (CSS, JS, HTML, XML, JSON) using gzip or Brotli, reducing transfer sizes by 60–80%. Highly recommended.

7 Excluding Pages & Assets

Page Exclusions

Assets on excluded pages are served from your origin. Enter one path per line with optional wildcards:

CSS / JS Keyword Exclusions

If a CSS or JS URL contains any listed keyword (case-insensitive), it won't be rewritten:

8 Sub-folder & Sub-domain Sites

Sub-folder Installs

If WordPress is at https://example.com/blog/, the plugin preserves the path:

When creating a distribution via the plugin, the Origin Path is set automatically. For existing distributions, configure the origin path in the AWS Console.

Sub-domain Sites

Sub-domain installs (e.g., https://blog.example.com/) work without special configuration. The plugin uses the full sub-domain as the origin.

9 Cache Invalidation

Use the Tools tab to force CloudFront to fetch fresh files. Common patterns:

? Frequently Asked Questions