Storage, data format and constants

File storage #

Snippets are files, not database rows:

wp-content/snipfire/
  index.php              compiled index: every snippet's settings (no code)
  index.token            freshness check for the index
  snippets/
    12-3f9a1c.php        PHP and HTML snippets, with an ABSPATH guard on line 1
    15-b27e04.css        CSS source (SCSS/LESS source for Pro stylesheets)
    18-9c1d55.js         JavaScript source
  revisions/12/…         history, one guarded file per version
  activity/2026-09.php   activity log (Pro), one file per month
wp-content/uploads/snipfire/
  15.css, 18.js          compiled, public CSS/JS for snippets

• Loading snippets costs no database queries. Each request includes index.php once, which OPcache serves from memory, and hooks in the active snippets.
• Cache-safe. Code files get a new name whenever their content changes, and the index is checked against index.token (read without OPcache). Edits from WP-CLI, another server, or hosts with opcache.validate_timestamps=0 take effect on the next request.
• Written safely. The index is written to a temporary file and renamed, under a lock.
• Protected. Every folder has an index.php, an .htaccess (Require all denied) and a web.config. PHP files start with defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || exit;, placed on line 1 together with your first line so error line numbers match the editor.
• Multisite. Each site after the first uses wp-content/snipfire/site-{id}/.

Don't edit these files by hand: use the editor, WP-CLI, the REST API or Git sync.

Snippet fields #

As used by the REST API, WP-CLI (get --format=json) and exports:

Location keys #

The hook value for each location in the editor:

Defaults: PHP root, HTML wp_footer, CSS frontend, JS frontend_footer.

The HTML locations the_content:paragraph_before, the_content:paragraph_after, archive:before_post and archive:after_post use the snippet's position field for the paragraph or post number.

Conditions as JSON #

A list of groups; each group is a list of rules. The snippet runs when any group matches, and a group matches when all its rules do. An empty list means "always".

[
  [
    { "type": "user_logged_in", "op": "is_not", "value": null },
    { "type": "page_type", "op": "is", "value": ["wc_shop"] }
  ],
  [
    { "type": "query_param", "op": "equals", "value": { "key": "utm_source", "value": "facebook" } }
  ]
]

wp snipfire update 12 --conditions='[[{"type":"environment","op":"is","value":["production"]}]]'

Values that don't fit a rule are cleaned to the expected shape when the snippet is saved. Rule types that aren't registered (for example Pro rules while Snipfire Pro is inactive) are kept as they are and never match. GET /schema returns the list of available types with labels and options.

Export format #

{
  "format": "snipfire",
  "version": 1,
  "generator": "Snipfire 0.15.0",
  "exported": "2026-09-24T10:00:00+00:00",
  "snippets": [
    { "uid": "…", "title": "…", "type": "php", "code": "…", "hook": "root", "status": "active", "…": "…" }
  ]
}

Each snippet has the snippet fields except hash, error and author. On import, IDs, compiled data and errors are ignored, and every snippet is created as new (switched off unless you ask to keep the status). Files without "format": "snipfire" are refused.

Constants #

Add these to wp-config.php, above That's all, stop editing!.

If you set SNIPFIRE_STORAGE_DIR on a site that already has snippets, move the contents of the old folder there first.