WordPress Post Revisions: Limit, Disable, Clean Up (tweakswp.com)

01-count-revisions.sql

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'revision';

02-limit-revisions.php

// Keep only the 5 most recent revisions per post
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 );

03-disable-revisions.php

// Disable post revisions entirely
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', false );

// Or equivalently:
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 0 );

04-revisions-filter-basic.php

/**
 * Limit revisions to 3 for all post types.
 *
 * @param int     $num  Number of revisions to keep.
 * @param WP_Post $post The post object.
 * @return int
 */
add_filter( 'wp_revisions_to_keep', function( $num, $post ) {
    return 3;
}, 10, 2 );

05-revisions-per-post-type.php

add_filter( 'wp_revisions_to_keep', function( $num, $post ) {
    $limits = array(
        'post'    => 3,   // Blog posts: 3 revisions
        'page'    => 10,  // Pages: 10 revisions (more critical content)
        'product' => 5,   // WooCommerce products: 5 revisions
    );

    if ( isset( $limits[ $post->post_type ] ) ) {
        return $limits[ $post->post_type ];
    }

    return 3; // Default for all other post types
}, 10, 2 );

06-disable-for-post-type.php

add_filter( 'wp_revisions_to_keep', function( $num, $post ) {
    if ( 'event' === $post->post_type ) {
        return 0; // No revisions for events
    }
    return $num; // Keep default for everything else
}, 10, 2 );

07-backup-database.sh

# Using WP-CLI (recommended)
wp db export backup-before-revision-cleanup.sql

# Using mysqldump directly
mysqldump -u db_username -p db_name > backup-before-revision-cleanup.sql

08-check-revision-count.sh

# Count all revisions via WP-CLI
wp post list --post_type=revision --format=count

# Or via SQL
wp db query "SELECT COUNT(*) as revision_count FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'revision';"

09-wpcli-delete-revisions.sh

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

# Delete revisions older than 30 days only
wp post list --post_type=revision --format=ids --before="30 days ago" | xargs wp post delete --force

# Delete revisions in batches of 500
while ids=$(wp post list --post_type=revision --format=ids --posts_per_page=500); do
    if [ -z "$ids" ]; then
        break
    fi
    wp post delete $ids --force
    echo "Deleted batch. Remaining: $(wp post list --post_type=revision --format=count)"
    sleep 1
done

10-sql-delete-revisions.sql

-- Step 4a: Delete all revision posts
DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'revision';

-- Step 4b: Clean up orphaned postmeta (meta for deleted posts)
DELETE pm FROM wp_postmeta pm
LEFT JOIN wp_posts p ON p.ID = pm.post_id
WHERE p.ID IS NULL;

-- Step 4c: Clean up orphaned term relationships
DELETE tr FROM wp_term_relationships tr
LEFT JOIN wp_posts p ON p.ID = tr.object_id
WHERE p.ID IS NULL;

-- Delete in batches for very large databases
DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'revision' LIMIT 5000;

11-optimize-tables.sh

# Via WP-CLI
wp db optimize

# Via SQL
OPTIMIZE TABLE wp_posts, wp_postmeta, wp_term_relationships;

12-autosave-config.php

// Autosave every 3 minutes instead of every 60 seconds
define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 180 );

13-complete-config.php

/**
 * Database Optimization: Revisions & Autosaves
 */

// Limit post revisions to 5 per post
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 5 );

// Increase autosave interval to 3 minutes (180 seconds)
define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 180 );

14-cron-cleanup-plugin.php

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: TweaksWP Revision Cleanup
 * Description: Automatically cleans up old post revisions weekly.
 * Version: 1.0.0
 */

// Schedule the cleanup event on plugin activation
register_activation_hook( __FILE__, function() {
    if ( ! wp_next_scheduled( 'tweakswp_cleanup_revisions' ) ) {
        wp_schedule_event( time(), 'weekly', 'tweakswp_cleanup_revisions' );
    }
});

// Unschedule on deactivation
register_deactivation_hook( __FILE__, function() {
    wp_clear_scheduled_hook( 'tweakswp_cleanup_revisions' );
});

// The cleanup callback
add_action( 'tweakswp_cleanup_revisions', function() {
    global $wpdb;

    // Delete revisions older than 30 days, in batches of 1000
    $deleted = $wpdb->query(
        "DELETE FROM {$wpdb->posts}
         WHERE post_type = 'revision'
         AND post_date < DATE_SUB( NOW(), INTERVAL 30 DAY )
         LIMIT 1000"
    );

    // Clean up orphaned postmeta
    $wpdb->query(
        "DELETE pm FROM {$wpdb->postmeta} pm
         LEFT JOIN {$wpdb->posts} p ON p.ID = pm.post_id
         WHERE p.ID IS NULL
         LIMIT 1000"
    );

    if ( defined( 'WP_DEBUG' ) && WP_DEBUG ) {
        error_log( sprintf(
            'TweaksWP Revision Cleanup: Removed %d old revisions.',
            $deleted
        ));
    }
});

15-verify-cleanup.sh

# Total revision count
wp post list --post_type=revision --format=count

# Top 10 posts with the most revisions
wp db query "SELECT post_parent, COUNT(*) as rev_count
FROM wp_posts
WHERE post_type = 'revision'
GROUP BY post_parent
ORDER BY rev_count DESC
LIMIT 10;"

# Full database table sizes
wp db size --tables --human-readable

# Just the wp_posts table
wp db query "SELECT
    table_name,
    ROUND(data_length / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS data_mb,
    ROUND(index_length / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS index_mb
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = DATABASE()
AND table_name = 'wp_posts';"

16-troubleshoot-revisions.php

// Debug: check if something overrides your revision limit
add_action( 'init', function() {
    $post = get_post( 123 ); // Replace with a real post ID
    if ( $post ) {
        $keep = wp_revisions_to_keep( $post );
        error_log( 'Revisions to keep for post 123: ' . $keep );
    }
});

// The constant must appear BEFORE this line in wp-config.php:
/* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

17-sql-batch-delete.sh

# Bash loop for batched SQL deletion
while true; do
    result=$(wp db query "DELETE FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = 'revision' LIMIT 5000;" 2>&1)
    echo "$result"
    # Check if no rows were affected
    if echo "$result" | grep -q "0 rows"; then
        echo "Cleanup complete."
        break
    fi
    sleep 2
done