What is Tivlo SSG
The kitchen, the photocopies, and the to-do list — in everyday WordPress terms.
In one breath
Tivlo SSG (plugin Tivlo Static Site) exports your published WordPress content as HTML files and can serve those files to people who are not logged in. You keep the WordPress admin you already know. Visitors can get a file from disk instead of waiting for PHP to rebuild the page on every click.
If “static HTML” sounds like a developer club, ignore the club. It just means: a page saved as a file, like a PDF of a post, except it is still a web page.
Requirements
WordPress 6.0+, pretty permalinks, and a folder WordPress is allowed to write to.
Installation
Activate the plugin. Confirm Settings → Tivlo Static Site is in the menu.
First export
First Full Rebuild in about ten minutes, then a private-window check.
Three jobs that like to be confused
Most “it didn’t update” reports mix these up. Keep them separate and life gets easier.
| Concept | Everyday meaning | Where you touch it |
|---|---|---|
| Export | Take a snapshot of a public URL and save it as index.html under wp-content/tivlo-static/ | Plugin Settings (what to include) + Build Console (Full Rebuild) |
| Queue | The to-do list of URLs waiting for a snapshot | Process Queue Now, or WP-Cron roughly every minute |
| Serve | Hand that file to a logged-out visitor instead of cooking PHP | Serve static HTML directly |
Save is not rebuild (we know, it feels like it should be)
Changing settings does not rewrite HTML already on disk. Save is you telling Tivlo the new rules. Full Rebuild is you asking it to actually reprint the pages. After you save, hop to the Build Console and run a rebuild.
What happens when someone visits /about/
A visitor (not logged in) opens /about/ in their browser.
If generation and serving are on, Tivlo looks for
wp-content/tivlo-static/about/index.html.
If that file exists and is readable, Tivlo sends it with
X-Tivlo-Static: hit and WordPress can stop there. That header is
your “yes, the photocopy was used” sticker. Visitors never see it;
you can in the browser’s Network panel.
If there is no file, you are logged in, or the request is admin / REST / AJAX / a form POST, WordPress renders the page the old fashioned way. Nothing is broken — Tivlo simply declined to serve a snapshot.
What is not frozen in a file
Only the HTML document is static. Everything else still lives in WordPress:
- Theme and plugin CSS and JavaScript
- Images in the Media Library (
wp-content/uploads) - The admin, login, REST API, AJAX, and feeds
- Form submissions (the form looks static; sending it is live)
- Logged-in sessions (by default)
- WooCommerce cart, checkout, and account pages — those are never exported, on purpose. A cart is personal. A photocopy of “your cart is empty” would be a mean joke.
How is this guide?