WordPress Development Recipe: Implementing a secure lock mechanism for multi-worker Cron tasks with Metadata API (add_post_meta)
The Problem: Concurrent Cron Execution in Multi-Worker Environments When running WordPress on a distributed or multi-worker architecture (e.g., multiple web servers behind a load balancer, or a dedicated cron server with multiple PHP-FPM pools), standard WordPress cron (`wp-cron.php`) can lead to race conditions. If a scheduled task is designed to perform a critical operation – […]