Daggerhart Lab - Autogenerate Images WP Registry grade A. No security issues foundWP RegistryNo security issues foundOpen the reportA

A WordPress plugin that prevents automatic generation of image sub-sizes during upload and instead generates them on-demand when first requested. This saves significant disk space by only creating thumbnails that are actually used.

Features

• On-demand thumbnail generation: Creates image sizes only when requested
• Disk space optimization: Eliminates unused thumbnails
• Dual compatibility: Works with both multisite and single site WordPress installations
• WP Smush integration: Automatically optimizes generated thumbnails
• Admin interface: Simple toggle to enable/disable functionality

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 8.0+

Installation

1. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/daglab-autogen-images/
2. Activate the plugin through the WordPress admin
3. Configure settings in Network Admin (multisite) or Settings (single site)

Configuration

Via Admin Interface

• Multisite: Go to Network Admin → Settings → Autogen Images
• Single Site: Go to Settings → Autogen Images

Via WP-CLI

Multisite installations:

# Enable
wp site option update daglab_autogenerate_images 1

# Disable
wp site option update daglab_autogenerate_images 0

Single site installations:

# Enable
wp option update daglab_autogenerate_images 1

# Disable
wp option update daglab_autogenerate_images 0

How It Works

1. Plugin prevents WordPress from generating thumbnails during upload
2. When a thumbnail is requested via URL, the plugin intercepts 404 responses
3. If the requested image corresponds to a registered WordPress image size, it's generated on-demand
4. The thumbnail is served immediately and cached for future requests
5. If WP Smush is active, newly generated thumbnails are automatically optimized

License

GPL v2 or later