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Debugging WordPress REST API requests with Query Monitor ​

Query Monitor includes a feature which allows you to see comprehensive performance information about a REST API request on your site.

Authentication ​

Just like requests to the front end or the admin area of your site, in order to see debugging information for the REST API you need to perform a request which is authenticated as a user who has permission to view Query Monitor’s output, for example an Administrator.

  • This usually means including a valid _wpnonce parameter in the URL, the value of which you can get by visiting wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=rest-nonce
  • Alternatively you can pass an Application Password if you’re using WordPress 5.6 or later

Overview and PHP error information ​

The following additional HTTP headers will be included in the response:

  • x-qm-overview-time_taken – Response generation time in seconds
  • x-qm-overview-time_usage – Response generation time as a percentage of PHP’s max execution time limit
  • x-qm-overview-memory – Memory usage in kB
  • x-qm-overview-memory_usage – Memory usage as a percentage of PHP’s memory limit
  • x-qm-php_errors-error-count – Number of PHP errors that occurred (0 or more)
  • x-qm-php_errors-error-{n} – Details about each individual PHP error

Full performance and debugging information ​

When a REST API request is performed which requests an enveloped response via the ?_envelope parameter, an additional qm property will be present in the JSON response with information about:

  • qm.db_queries.dbs – All database queries
  • qm.db_queries.dupes – Duplicate database queries
  • qm.db_queries.errors – Database queries with errors
  • qm.cache – Object cache stats for hits and misses
  • qm.http – HTTP API requests and response details
  • qm.logger – Logged messages and variables
  • qm.transients – Updated transients

The information is somewhat trimmed down from the information that you would see in the main Query Monitor panel for a regular HTML request, but it contains the key information that you need to investigate performance issues.

The qm.db_queries property contains overview information as well as full details for each individual SQL query, including timing, stack traces, and returned rows, and the qm.http property includes details about the each requested URL, response code, timing, and stack traces.

Example data ​

Given a GET request to a default endpoint such as example.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/?_envelope&_wpnonce=<nonce>, you would not typically expect to see server-side HTTP API requests or transients being updated on every request, but QM will now expose this information so you can investigate!

Here’s an example of the qm property in a response:

json
{
  "db_queries": {
    "dbs": {
      "$wpdb": {
        "total": 15,
        "time": 0.0108,
        "queries": [
          {
            "sql": "SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE autoload = 'yes'",
            "time": 0.0011,
            "stack": [
              "wp_load_alloptions()",
              "is_blog_installed()",
              "wp_not_installed()"
            ],
            "result": 317
          },
          {
            "sql": "SELECT * FROM wp_users WHERE ID = '1' LIMIT 1",
            "time": 0.0003,
            "stack": [
              "WP_User::get_data_by()",
              "WP_User->__construct()",
              "wp_set_current_user()",
              "_wp_get_current_user()",
              "wp_get_current_user()",
              "get_current_user_id()",
              "get_user_option()",
              "Classic_Editor::get_settings()",
              "Classic_Editor::init_actions()",
              "do_action('plugins_loaded')"
            ],
            "result": 1
          },
          {
            "sql": "SELECT wp_posts.ID FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1  AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = 'publish')) ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 5",
            "time": 0.0003,
            "stack": [
              "WP_Query->get_posts()",
              "WP_Query->query()",
              "get_posts()",
              "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
              "do_action('init')"
            ],
            "result": 5
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "errors": {
      "total": 1,
      "errors": [
        {
          "caller": "do_action('init')",
          "caller_name": "do_action('init')",
          "sql": "SELECT * FROM table_that_does_not_exist",
          "ltime": 0,
          "result": {
            "errors": {
              "1146": [
                "Table 'wp.table_that_does_not_exist' doesn't exist"
              ]
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    "dupes": {
      "total": 1,
      "queries": {
        "SELECT wp_posts.ID FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = 'publish')) ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 5": [
          3,
          14,
          35
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "cache": {
    "hit_percentage": 67.8,
    "hits": 931,
    "misses": 442
  },
  "http": {
    "total": 1,
    "time": 0.6586,
    "requests": [
      {
        "url": "https://example.org",
        "method": "GET",
        "response": {
          "code": 200,
          "message": "OK"
        },
        "time": 0.6586,
        "stack": [
          "WP_Http->request()",
          "WP_Http->get()",
          "wp_remote_get()",
          "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
          "do_action('init')"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "logger": {
    "warning": [
      {
        "message": "Preloading was not found, generating fresh",
        "stack": [
          "DoubleUnderscore\\dispatcher()",
          "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
          "do_action('init')"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "debug": [
      {
        "message": "Language: en_US",
        "stack": [
          "DoubleUnderscore\\do_logs()",
          "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
          "do_action('init')"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
{
  "db_queries": {
    "dbs": {
      "$wpdb": {
        "total": 15,
        "time": 0.0108,
        "queries": [
          {
            "sql": "SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE autoload = 'yes'",
            "time": 0.0011,
            "stack": [
              "wp_load_alloptions()",
              "is_blog_installed()",
              "wp_not_installed()"
            ],
            "result": 317
          },
          {
            "sql": "SELECT * FROM wp_users WHERE ID = '1' LIMIT 1",
            "time": 0.0003,
            "stack": [
              "WP_User::get_data_by()",
              "WP_User->__construct()",
              "wp_set_current_user()",
              "_wp_get_current_user()",
              "wp_get_current_user()",
              "get_current_user_id()",
              "get_user_option()",
              "Classic_Editor::get_settings()",
              "Classic_Editor::init_actions()",
              "do_action('plugins_loaded')"
            ],
            "result": 1
          },
          {
            "sql": "SELECT wp_posts.ID FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1  AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = 'publish')) ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 5",
            "time": 0.0003,
            "stack": [
              "WP_Query->get_posts()",
              "WP_Query->query()",
              "get_posts()",
              "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
              "do_action('init')"
            ],
            "result": 5
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "errors": {
      "total": 1,
      "errors": [
        {
          "caller": "do_action('init')",
          "caller_name": "do_action('init')",
          "sql": "SELECT * FROM table_that_does_not_exist",
          "ltime": 0,
          "result": {
            "errors": {
              "1146": [
                "Table 'wp.table_that_does_not_exist' doesn't exist"
              ]
            }
          }
        }
      ]
    },
    "dupes": {
      "total": 1,
      "queries": {
        "SELECT wp_posts.ID FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = 'publish')) ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 5": [
          3,
          14,
          35
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "cache": {
    "hit_percentage": 67.8,
    "hits": 931,
    "misses": 442
  },
  "http": {
    "total": 1,
    "time": 0.6586,
    "requests": [
      {
        "url": "https://example.org",
        "method": "GET",
        "response": {
          "code": 200,
          "message": "OK"
        },
        "time": 0.6586,
        "stack": [
          "WP_Http->request()",
          "WP_Http->get()",
          "wp_remote_get()",
          "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
          "do_action('init')"
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "logger": {
    "warning": [
      {
        "message": "Preloading was not found, generating fresh",
        "stack": [
          "DoubleUnderscore\\dispatcher()",
          "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
          "do_action('init')"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "debug": [
      {
        "message": "Language: en_US",
        "stack": [
          "DoubleUnderscore\\do_logs()",
          "DoubleUnderscore\\entrypoint()",
          "do_action('init')"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

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