wp_options

Last updated: March 4, 2026

Key-value store for site settings, plugin options, and transient data.

Schema

Column	Type	Null	Default	Description
`option_id`	bigint(20) unsigned	NO	auto_increment	Unique identifier
`option_name`	varchar(191)	NO	”	Option key (unique)
`option_value`	longtext	NO	NULL	Option value (can be serialized)
`autoload`	varchar(20)	NO	‘yes’	Whether to load on every page

Indexes

Key Name	Columns	Unique	Purpose
`PRIMARY`	option_id	Yes	Primary key
`option_name`	option_name	Yes	Unique constraint + lookup
`autoload`	autoload	No	Filter autoloaded options

Foreign Key Relationships

None—standalone configuration table.

Autoload Behavior

Options with autoload = 'yes' are loaded into memory on every WordPress request via:

php

wp_load_alloptions()

This is cached in object cache. Setting autoload = 'no' for rarely-used options improves performance.

Core Option Categories

Site Settings

Option	Description
`siteurl`	WordPress installation URL
`home`	Site homepage URL
`blogname`	Site title
`blogdescription`	Site tagline
`admin_email`	Admin email address
`timezone_string`	Timezone setting
`date_format`	Date display format
`time_format`	Time display format

Reading/Writing

Option	Description
`posts_per_page`	Posts per archive page
`posts_per_rss`	Posts per RSS feed
`show_on_front`	‘posts’ or ‘page’
`page_on_front`	Static front page ID
`page_for_posts`	Blog page ID
`default_category`	Default post category
`default_comment_status`	Default comment status

Permalinks

Option	Description
`permalink_structure`	Permalink pattern
`category_base`	Category URL prefix
`tag_base`	Tag URL prefix
`rewrite_rules`	Serialized rewrite rules

Theme/Appearance

Option	Description
`template`	Active theme directory
`stylesheet`	Active child theme directory
`current_theme`	Theme display name
`sidebars_widgets`	Widget assignments
`theme_mods_{theme}`	Theme customization
`nav_menu_options`	Navigation menu settings

Cron & Transients

Pattern	Description
`cron`	Scheduled tasks
`_transient_{name}`	Cached data
`_transient_timeout_{name}`	Transient expiration
`_site_transient_{name}`	Network transient

Plugin Settings

Plugins typically use patterns like:

{plugin_slug}_settings
{plugin_slug}_options
{plugin_slug}_version

Common Queries

Get option value

sql

SELECT option_value 
FROM wp_options 
WHERE option_name = 'siteurl';

Get all autoloaded options

sql

SELECT option_name, option_value 
FROM wp_options 
WHERE autoload = 'yes';

Calculate autoload size

sql

SELECT 
  SUM(LENGTH(option_value)) as total_bytes,
  COUNT(*) as option_count
FROM wp_options 
WHERE autoload = 'yes';

Find large options

sql

SELECT option_name, LENGTH(option_value) as size_bytes
FROM wp_options 
ORDER BY size_bytes DESC 
LIMIT 20;

Find expired transients

sql

SELECT o.option_name, o.option_value
FROM wp_options o
JOIN wp_options t ON t.option_name = CONCAT('_transient_timeout_', 
  SUBSTRING(o.option_name, 12))
WHERE o.option_name LIKE '_transient_%'
  AND o.option_name NOT LIKE '_transient_timeout_%'
  AND t.option_value < UNIX_TIMESTAMP();

Delete expired transients

sql

DELETE a, b FROM wp_options a
LEFT JOIN wp_options b ON b.option_name = CONCAT('_transient_timeout_', 
  SUBSTRING(a.option_name, 12))
WHERE a.option_name LIKE '_transient_%'
  AND a.option_name NOT LIKE '_transient_timeout_%'
  AND b.option_value IS NOT NULL
  AND b.option_value < UNIX_TIMESTAMP();

Optimize autoload

sql

-- Find options that shouldn't autoload
SELECT option_name, LENGTH(option_value) as size
FROM wp_options 
WHERE autoload = 'yes' 
  AND LENGTH(option_value) > 10000
ORDER BY size DESC;

-- Disable autoload for specific option
UPDATE wp_options 
SET autoload = 'no' 
WHERE option_name = 'large_serialized_option';

WordPress API Functions

get_option( $option, $default ) – Get option value
add_option( $option, $value, $deprecated, $autoload ) – Add option
update_option( $option, $value, $autoload ) – Update/add option
delete_option( $option ) – Delete option
set_transient( $name, $value, $expiration ) – Set transient
get_transient( $name ) – Get transient
delete_transient( $name ) – Delete transient

Performance Notes

Autoload Optimization

Large sites should audit autoloaded options:

sql

SELECT SUM(LENGTH(option_value))/1024 as kb FROM wp_options WHERE autoload='yes';

Target: Keep autoload under 1MB total.

Transient Cleanup

Transients without expiration never auto-delete. Periodically clean:

php

delete_transient( 'my_cached_data' );
// or
wp_cache_flush(); // if using object cache

Option Name Limit

The 191-character limit on option_name accommodates UTF-8 in InnoDB with utf8mb4. Longer names will be truncated.

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