Sites with a high number of daily deployments
Shifter stops WordPress to publish content and then staticizes the site. Because the system retrieves all target URLs and processes them sequentially during staticization, it tends to take time from the start of processing to its completion—and the actual publication—especially when there is a large volume of content.
Also, because WordPress cannot be started until a deployment has finished, Shifter is not well suited to sites that are updated very frequently—for example, sites that need to add posts every 30 minutes or every hour. For such sites, we recommend running WordPress without static generation, using a service such as Amimoto Managed Hosting.
Sites where multiple people post or edit articles
This works fine when Person A and Person B edit posts at the same time. However, if they start WordPress and deploy at different times, one person may have to wait while the other is running WordPress or deploying, which takes extra time, so we do not recommend this. It becomes even more complicated as the number of editors grows.
However, this complexity can be mitigated to some extent by setting fixed times for posting and editing articles, or by agreeing in advance on a common deployment schedule. If this remains difficult, it is better to use a dynamic WordPress setup.
Sites that use queries or dynamic processing
Shifter is a static site generator. In this environment, which lacks a web server, queries and dynamic content processing cannot be performed. We recommend using Amimoto Managed Hosting. Sites Using Contact Forms with WordPress Plugins
Sites that use contact forms built with WordPress plugins
Specifically, forms that require dynamic processing on the site—such as Contact Form 7, MW WP Form, and Gravity Forms—do not work on Shifter. We recommend using an external SaaS form instead, or, if a contact form plugin is essential, considering a service such as Amimoto Managed Hosting.
Sites requiring on-site search implemented via WordPress’s standard features or plugins
As with contact forms, we generally do not recommend running sites that require dynamic processing on Shifter.
It is possible to enable on-site search even on static sites using Algolia and its plugins.
How to Set Up Site Search with Shifter Algolia Search – Shifter (getshifter.io)
When there are many files included in a theme or plugin, especially photos, videos, and audio files
During the staticization process with Shifter, if there is a large amount of media in the theme folder, archiving and uploading the files can take a long time, raising concerns about processing timeouts.
Possible solutions include either storing media files directly referenced by the theme in the Media Library and using them with Media CDN enabled, or storing them in external storage in advance and modifying the theme to reference those files, thereby reducing the time required for Shifter’s static generation process.