WordPress: Prevent specific plugins from loading during /api/ requests

gga-api-helper.php

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name:  GGA API Helper
 * Description:  Prevents certain plugins from being loaded during API requests to reduce overhead.
 * Author:       Pete Nelson (@GunGeekATX)
 * Version:      1.0.0
 */

/*

drop this in your mu-plugins folder

Original code supplied by https://thomasgriffin.io/a-creative-approach-to-efficient-and-scalable-wordpress-api-endpoints/
*/

// Make sure we can target a valid URI endpoint.
if ( ! isset( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) ) {
    return;
}

// Make sure that the endpoint being requested matches a valid API endpoint.
if ( strpos( stripslashes( $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ), '/api/' ) === false ) {
    return;
}

// Define a constant that we can make use of in any API plugins we create.
define( 'GGA_API_REQUEST', true );

// Now that we know this is an API request, let's filter available plugins.
add_filter( 'option_active_plugins', 'gga_remove_plugins_for_api_request' );



function gga_remove_plugins_for_api_request( $plugins ) {

    $all_plugins = filter_input( INPUT_GET, 'all-plugins' );
    if ( empty( $all_plugins ) ) {
        $all_plugins = filter_input( INPUT_POST, 'all-plugins' );
    }

    // allow all plugins to load if the API requests them
    if ( ! empty( $all_plugins ) ) {
        return $plugins;
    }


    $disallowed_plugins = gga_disallowed_api_plugins();

    if ( ! empty( $plugins ) ) {

        $new_plugins = array();

        for ($i=0; $i < count($plugins); $i++) {
            if ( ! in_array($plugins[ $i ], $disallowed_plugins) ) {
                $new_plugins[] = $plugins[ $i ];
            }
        }

        $plugins = $new_plugins;

    }

    return $plugins;
}


if ( ! function_exists( 'gga_disallowed_api_plugins' ) ) {
    function gga_disallowed_api_plugins() {

        return array(
            /* 'woocommerce/woocommerce.php',  this needs to load to allow our API endpoints to work  */
            'woocommerce-exporter/exporter.php',
            'woocommerce-partial-orders/woocommerce-partial-orders.php',
            'woocommerce-store-credit/store-credit.php',
            'woothemes-updater/woothemes-updater.php',
            'gravityforms/gravityforms.php',
            'delete-expired-transients/delete-expired-transients.php',
            'disqus-comment-system/disqus.php',
            'duplicate-menu/duplicate-menu.php',
            'easy-table/easy-table.php',
            'query-monitor/query-monitor.php',
            'gift-cards-for-woocommerce/giftcards.php',
            'photo-gallery/photo-gallery.php',
            'simple-custom-post-order/simple-custom-post-order.php',
            'simple-page-ordering/simple-page-ordering.php',
            'simple-popup-plugin/simple_popup_plugin.php',
            'unattach/unattach.php',
            'woocommerce-gateway-stripe/woocommerce-gateway-stripe.php',
            'woocommerce-shipping-ups/shipping-ups.php',
            'woothemes-updater-version-1.5.1/woothemes-updater.php',
            'wordpress-popular-posts/wordpress-popular-posts.php',
            'wp-memcached-manager/wp-memcached-manager.php',
            'wp-missed-schedule/wp-missed-schedule.php',
            'alligator-popup/alligator-popup.php',
            'black-studio-tinymce-widget/black-studio-tinymce-widget.php',
            'debug-bar-cron/debug-bar-cron.php',
            'debug-bar/debug-bar.php',
            'duplicate-post/duplicate-post.php',
            'enable-media-replace/enable-media-replace.php',
            'flexible-posts-widget/flexible-posts-widget.php',
            'google-analytics-for-wordpress/googleanalytics.php',
            'imsanity/imsanity.php',
            'members/members.php',
            'regenerate-thumbnails/regenerate-thumbnails.php',
            'relevanssi/relevanssi.php',
            'rewrite-rules-inspector/rewrite-rules-inspector.php',
            'seo-image/seo-friendly-images.php',
            'tabby-responsive-tabs/tabby-responsive-tabs.php',
            'taxonomy-terms-order/taxonomy-terms-order.php',
            'tinymce-advanced/tinymce-advanced.php',
            'ubermenu/ubermenu.php',
            'user-switching/user-switching.php',
            'wordpress-importer/wordpress-importer.php',
            'wordpress-seo/wp-seo.php',
            'wp-columna/wp-columna.php',
            'wp-optimize/wp-optimize.php',
            'list-pages-shortcode/list-pages-shortcode.php',
            'menu-social-icons/plugin.php',
            'redirection/redirection.php',
            'restrict-widgets/restrict-widgets.php',
        );
    }
}