How to disable WordPress Cron Job

Disabling the WordPress cron job can be useful in certain situations, especially if you want to manage cron tasks externally or if you find that the default WordPress cron system is causing performance issues. Here’s how you can disable the WordPress cron job:

1. Edit the wp-config.php file:
You can disable the WordPress cron job by editing the `wp-config.php` file of your WordPress installation. You can access this file through FTP or a file manager in your web hosting control panel. Here’s what you need to do:

a. Locate your `wp-config.php` file in the root directory of your WordPress installation.

b. Add the following code to the `wp-config.php` file just before the line that says `/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */`:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

Save the file after making this change.

2. Set up an external cron job:
After disabling the WordPress cron, you’ll need to set up an external cron job to trigger the necessary WordPress tasks at specific intervals. You can do this through your web hosting control panel or by using a tool like cPanel or a command-line tool like `cron` on a server.

The external cron job should run the following command at the frequency you desire. Replace `your-website-url` with your actual website URL:

wget -q -O - https://your-website-url/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

For example, to run the cron job every hour, you can set up the following cron job:

0 * * * * wget -q -O - https://your-website-url/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

3. Testing:
After making these changes, you should test your external cron job to ensure that it’s working as expected. You can check the cron logs or use a tool like Cron View in WordPress to verify that your scheduled tasks are running correctly.

By following these steps, you can effectively disable the built-in WordPress cron job and set up an external cron job to manage scheduled tasks. This can help improve the performance of your WordPress site and provide more control over when tasks are executed.