Getting started

Install and activate. That is the setup. The plugin installs its own fast path, switches caching on, and starts storing pages as people visit them.

Two things have to be in place for a cached page to be served the fast way, and the plugin puts both there itself:

1. wp-content/advanced-cache.php — the file WordPress loads before anything else.
2. define( 'WP_CACHE', true ); in wp-config.php — the line that tells WordPress to load it.

The Dashboard says whether both are in place, one line each, in words that say what is true: "WP_CACHE is not switched on in wp-config.php" when it is not. If your wp-config.php is not writable — which is a perfectly good way to run a site — it shows you the one line to add and where.

Until caching is running, a notice on the Plugins screen and the WordPress Dashboard says so and names the reason, with Set up caching when that button can fix it. You can dismiss it; it comes back only if the reason changes. If another caching plugin still owns advanced-cache.php, deactivate it: the next admin page you open puts NimbleCache's fast path in its place. A host that refused the write is asked again at most once an hour.