Introduction

DebugHawk is a performance monitoring tool designed specifically for WordPress sites. Understanding your WordPress site's performance shouldn't require complex setup, multiple tools, or deep technical knowledge. With DebugHawk, you'll gain instant visibility into what's slowing down your WordPress site, from database queries to outgoing HTTP requests, all in one unified dashboard.

Getting Started

Getting DebugHawk running on your WordPress site takes just a few minutes. We'll walk you through creating an account, installing the plugin, and configuring monitoring.

First, create your DebugHawk account at eu.debughawk.com. Your dashboard will provide you with a unique endpoint URL and secret key. These credentials securely connect your WordPress site to your monitoring dashboard.

Next, install the DebugHawk plugin. You can find it in the WordPress plugin repository or upload it manually to your site. Once activated, you'll need to add your configuration to wp-config.php:

define( 'DEBUGHAWK_CONFIG', [
    'enabled'  => true,
    'endpoint' => 'https://ingest.debughawk.com/your-endpoint',
    'secret'   => 'your-secret-key',
] );

Your endpoint URL and secret key are available in your DebugHawk team dashboard. Add this configuration to your wp-config.php file, placing it anywhere above the line that says /* That's all, stop editing! */.

How DebugHawk Works

Once installed, DebugHawk begins tracking performance automatically. As visitors browse your site, DebugHawk captures detailed timing data for every request. You don't need to configure individual pages or routes; they'll appear in your dashboard as soon as they're visited.

DebugHawk monitors your site from two perspectives:

Frontend Performance: We track Core Web Vitals like LCP, INP, and CLS, along with traditional browser timing metrics. This data shows you exactly how users experience your site.

Backend Performance: We measure server response times, database query performance, and outgoing HTTP requests. All sensitive data is encrypted before transmission using your secret key.

Performance Sampling for High-Traffic Sites

By default, DebugHawk monitors every request to your site. For high-traffic WordPress sites, you might want to sample a percentage of requests to reduce overhead. You can easily configure sampling by adding a single line to your configuration:

define( 'DEBUGHAWK_CONFIG', [
    'enabled'     => true,
    'endpoint'    => 'https://ingest.debughawk.com/your-endpoint',
    'secret'      => 'your-secret-key',
    'sample_rate' => 0.1, // Monitor 10% of requests
] );

Even with sampling enabled, DebugHawk still provides statistically accurate performance data across your entire site.

What's Next?

Your WordPress site is now sending performance data to DebugHawk. Here are some resources to help you get the most from your monitoring:

• Configuration: Fine-tune monitoring with slow query thresholds, and other advanced options
• Troubleshooting: Common performance monitoring issues and their solutions