How to Generate a Static WordPress Site with Simply Static and Host on CDN

Dynamic content management systems like WordPress offer unmatched flexibility, but running PHP runtimes and relational databases in production introduces perpetual maintenance requirements. Security vulnerabilities, theme exploits, plugin compatibility crashes, and server resource exhaustion are constant concerns for webmasters managing high-traffic websites.

For corporate landing pages, documentation sites, agency portfolios, and content blogs that do not require dynamic user accounts or real-time commenting, static site generation offers the ultimate hosting paradigm. By crawling your WordPress site locally or on a private Linux VPS and compiling all pages into pure, static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files using Simply Static, you can deploy an unhackable website directly to a global Edge CDN (such as Cloudflare Pages, AWS S3, or GitHub Pages) that loads in under 50 milliseconds worldwide.

1. The Static WordPress Architecture Workflow

Generating a static WordPress site decouples content authoring from content delivery:

1. Private Development Origin: WordPress runs inside an isolated, password-protected environment (e.g., on a local Docker container or a private VPS behind HTTP Basic Auth).
2. Static Compilation: The Simply Static plugin crawls every post, page, category archive, RSS feed, and media asset, converting database queries into flat static HTML files and re-writing asset paths.
3. Edge CDN Deployment: The compiled static files are uploaded automatically to a global Content Delivery Network (Cloudflare Pages, BunnyCDN, or AWS S3).
4. Public Traffic: Visitors request flat HTML directly from edge nodes with zero PHP execution, zero database connections, and 100% resistance to SQL injection or brute-force attacks.

2. Installing and Configuring Simply Static

Install the Simply Static plugin via WP-CLI or the WordPress plugin directory:

wp plugin install simply-static --activate

Navigate to Simply Static > Settings > General to configure core export rules:

• Delivery Method: Choose Local Directory (to export files to a server folder like /var/www/static-export) or GitHub / Cloudflare Pages for automated Git-driven deployments.
• URL Replacement: Enter your live public production URL (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/) so Simply Static rewrites all internal http://dev.yourdomain.com links seamlessly.
• Include / Exclude Rules: Under the Include / Exclude tab, add critical non-linked paths such as /sitemap.xml, /robots.txt, and your /wp-content/uploads/ media directory.

3. Automating Static Exports via WP-CLI and Bash

In production environments, manual export buttons inside the WordPress dashboard are inconvenient. Automate static compilation and CDN syncing using the WP-CLI integration:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

WP_PATH="/var/www/wordpress"
STATIC_OUTPUT="/var/www/static-build"
S3_BUCKET="s3://my-static-production-site"

echo "[$(date)] Triggering Simply Static site generation..."

# Run static crawler via WP-CLI
cd "${WP_PATH}"
wp simply-static run --allow-root

# Sync static build output to AWS S3 or Cloudflare R2
echo "Syncing compiled static files to Edge CDN..."
aws s3 sync "${STATIC_OUTPUT}" "${S3_BUCKET}" --delete --cache-control "max-age=31536000,public" --exclude "*.html"
aws s3 sync "${STATIC_OUTPUT}" "${S3_BUCKET}" --delete --cache-control "max-age=0,must-revalidate,public" --include "*.html"

echo "Static deployment successfully published to CDN edge!"

Notice the smart Cache-Control headers: static media, CSS, and JS bundles receive 1-year immutable caching (max-age=31536000), while HTML files receive revalidation headers (max-age=0,must-revalidate) to ensure content edits propagate to visitors immediately.

4. Handling Dynamic Forms and Search on Static Sites

The primary concern when migrating to static WordPress is retaining dynamic functionality like contact forms and search:

Replacing WordPress Forms

Static sites cannot execute PHP form handlers. Replace native WordPress forms with external serverless endpoints:

• Formspree / Basin: Simple HTML form endpoints that process submissions and email notifications without backend code.
• Cloudflare Workers: A lightweight serverless worker script that captures form POST requests and forwards payloads to Telegram, Discord, or an email API.

Replacing WordPress Search

Replace database-driven searches with client-side indexing tools:

• Pagefind: An ultra-lightweight, fully static search engine designed specifically for Jamstack and static websites. Pagefind indexes your static HTML files during the build step and runs instant searches directly in visitor browsers with sub-10ms response times.
• Algolia / Meilisearch: Cloud-hosted or self-hosted external search APIs integrated via lightweight JavaScript widgets.

Advanced Static WordPress Edge Deployment & Cache Invalidation

Deploying static HTML builds to edge CDN networks introduces unique synchronization requirements. Follow these production engineering practices:

• Configuring Cloudflare Pages Direct Upload via Wrangler CLI: Rather than relying on third-party GitHub webhooks that can fail or throttle, deploy static builds directly to Cloudflare Pages using the official Wrangler CLI tool:

  npx wrangler pages deploy /var/www/static-build --project-name=production-static-site

  Wrangler streams only modified file hashes, completing edge cache synchronization across 300+ global data centers in less than 15 seconds.

• Handling Dynamic Contact Forms with Cloudflare Turnstile & Workers: Prevent bot spam and forward inquiries without backend PHP by pairing Cloudflare Turnstile with a serverless worker:

  addEventListener('fetch', event => {
    event.respondWith(handleRequest(event.request));
  });
  
  async function handleRequest(request) {
    if (request.method !== 'POST') return new Response('Method Not Allowed', { status: 405 });
    const formData = await request.formData();
    // Forward sanitized payload to Telegram Bot API or Resend email service
    return new Response(JSON.stringify({ success: true }), { status: 200 });
  }

• Automated 404 Error Page Fallbacks: Ensure your static web server (Nginx, Netlify, or Cloudflare) is configured to route unmatched URI requests to your static 404.html file with a true HTTP 404 response header.