Improve Post Stats cache handling for invalid or error data #46211

dognose24 · 2025-12-05T20:44:10Z

This PR fixes an issue where the post stats cache could get stuck on invalid data or a WP_Error and never refresh. When corrupted or malformed cache entries exist in post meta, subsequent calls to fetch_post_stats() would always return that bad data instead of refetching from WPCOM.

With this change, invalid or error cache entries trigger a fresh remote fetch and a self-healing cache update, while still honoring the existing cache expiration mechanism for valid data.

Proposed changes:

Introduce the refresh_post_stats_cache() helper to handle the fetch from WPCOM + update post meta flow
Detect and recover from invalid cache entries in fetch_post_stats()

Other information:

Have you written new tests for your changes, if applicable?
Have you checked the E2E test CI results, and verified that your changes do not break them?
Have you tested your changes on WordPress.com, if applicable (if so, you'll see a generated comment below with a script to run)?

Jetpack product discussion

Does this pull request change what data or activity we track or use?

No.

Testing instructions:

Test on the case in the issue from the support ticket
Ensure the This individual post views count of Blog Stats in any post is correctly aligned with /stats/post/{post-id}/{site-slug}.

github-actions · 2025-12-05T20:45:08Z

Are you an Automattician? Please test your changes on all WordPress.com environments to help mitigate accidental explosions.

To test on WoA, go to the Plugins menu on a WoA dev site. Click on the "Upload" button and follow the upgrade flow to be able to upload, install, and activate the Jetpack Beta plugin. Once the plugin is active, go to Jetpack > Jetpack Beta, select your plugin (Jetpack or WordPress.com Site Helper), and enable the update/blog_stats_debug branch.
To test on Simple, run the following command on your sandbox:

bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack update/blog_stats_debug

bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack-mu-wpcom-plugin update/blog_stats_debug

Interested in more tips and information?

In your local development environment, use the jetpack rsync command to sync your changes to a WoA dev blog.
Read more about our development workflow here: PCYsg-eg0-p2
Figure out when your changes will be shipped to customers here: PCYsg-eg5-p2

github-actions · 2025-12-05T20:45:22Z

Thank you for your PR!

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jp-launch-control · 2025-12-05T20:58:21Z

Code Coverage Summary

Coverage changed in 1 file.

File	Coverage	Δ%	Δ Uncovered
projects/packages/stats/src/class-wpcom-stats.php	85/130 (65.38%)	-1.02%	2 ❤️‍🩹

Full summary · PHP report · JS report

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR improves post stats cache handling by refactoring the cache refresh logic into a dedicated method and preventing invalid data from being cached. The changes address an issue where errors or empty results would be stored in the cache, potentially causing repeated problems on subsequent requests.

Key Changes

Extracted cache refresh logic into a new refresh_post_stats_cache() method for better code organization and reusability
Added conditional caching that skips storing WP_Error objects and empty results in post meta
Updated all cache refresh points in fetch_post_stats() to use the new method consistently

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
`projects/packages/stats/src/class-wpcom-stats.php`	Refactored cache refresh logic into `refresh_post_stats_cache()` method and added guards to prevent caching errors or empty results
`projects/packages/stats/changelog/update-blog_stats_debug`	Added changelog entry for the changes

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Copilot · 2025-12-05T22:21:47Z

projects/packages/stats/src/class-wpcom-stats.php

+	protected function refresh_post_stats_cache( $endpoint, $args, $post_id, $meta_name ) {
 		$wpcom_stats = $this->fetch_remote_stats( $endpoint, $args );
-		update_post_meta( $post_id, $meta_name, array( time() => $wpcom_stats ) );
+
+		// Don't write error or empty results to cache.
+		if ( ! is_wp_error( $wpcom_stats ) && ! empty( $wpcom_stats ) ) {
+			update_post_meta( $post_id, $meta_name, array( time() => $wpcom_stats ) );
+		}

 		return $wpcom_stats;
 	}


The new refresh_post_stats_cache method and the updated cache handling logic (preventing caching of errors and empty results) lack test coverage. The existing test file tests/php/WPCOM_Stats_Test.php has comprehensive tests for other methods, but fetch_post_stats and the cache_in_meta parameter of get_post_views are not tested.

Consider adding tests to verify:

Errors are not cached when fetch_remote_stats returns a WP_Error

Empty results are not cached when fetch_remote_stats returns an empty array

Valid results are properly cached with the correct timestamp structure

The method correctly falls back to refreshing when cached data is malformed

Copilot · 2025-12-05T22:21:47Z

projects/packages/stats/src/class-wpcom-stats.php

+		// Don't write error or empty results to cache.
+		if ( ! is_wp_error( $wpcom_stats ) && ! empty( $wpcom_stats ) ) {
+			update_post_meta( $post_id, $meta_name, array( time() => $wpcom_stats ) );
+		}


This creates an inconsistency with the fetch_stats method (lines 445-484), which caches both errors and successful responses (see line 466 and 481). The fetch_stats method caches WP_Error objects with the comment "WP_Error or string (JSON encoded object)" on line 454.

Consider aligning the caching behavior between both methods. If errors and empty results should not be cached, the same logic should apply to fetch_stats. Otherwise, if caching errors is intentional (e.g., to prevent repeated failed API calls), both methods should follow the same pattern.

projects/packages/stats/changelog/update-blog_stats_debug

dognose24 added 2 commits December 6, 2025 04:33

Remove post stats cache

e0ceb39

changelog

8877038

dognose24 self-assigned this Dec 5, 2025

dognose24 added [Status] In Progress [Block] Blog Stats labels Dec 5, 2025

github-actions bot added the [Package] Stats Data label Dec 5, 2025

dognose24 added the [Type] Bug When a feature is broken and / or not performing as intended label Dec 5, 2025

Improve post stats cache handling for invalid or error data

a736465

dognose24 changed the title ~~Debug missing Blog Stats post views~~ Improve Post Stats cache handling for invalid or error data Dec 5, 2025

dognose24 requested a review from Copilot December 5, 2025 22:18

dognose24 added [Status] Needs Review This PR is ready for review. and removed [Status] In Progress labels Dec 5, 2025

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of dognose24 December 5, 2025 22:18 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Dec 5, 2025

View reviewed changes

Update changelog

ffe8c0c

dognose24 requested review from a team, jeherve and kangzj December 5, 2025 22:50

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Improve Post Stats cache handling for invalid or error data #46211

Improve Post Stats cache handling for invalid or error data #46211

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