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wp transient delete

Overview

Remove a specific transient by key — immediately invalidating the cached value and forcing the next request to regenerate it from the source. Use this for targeted cache invalidation without flushing the entire transient store.

Syntax​

wp transient delete <key> [--network] [--all]

Options​

FlagDescription
KEYTransient name to delete
--networkDelete a network transient
--allDelete all transients (regular and expired)

Basic Usage​

Delete a single transient​

wp transient delete my_api_cache

Output:

Success: Transient deleted.

Delete a transient that doesn't exist​

wp transient delete nonexistent_key

Output:

Warning: Transient "nonexistent_key" not found (perhaps it expired?).

Delete all transients​

wp transient delete --all

Output:

Success: 42 transients deleted from the database.

Real-World Scenarios​

Force-refresh a plugin's API data​

# Clear the cached exchange rate so it re-fetches from the API
wp transient delete plugin_exchange_rate
echo "Exchange rate transient cleared. Will refresh on next page load."

Clear all transients after a content migration​

wp transient delete --all
wp cache flush
echo "All transients and object cache cleared."

Clear a network transient after multisite settings change​

wp transient delete update_core --network

delete vs delete-expired​

CommandWhat It Removes
wp transient delete KEYOne specific transient
wp transient delete --allEvery transient
wp transient delete-expiredOnly expired transients

Quick Reference​

wp transient delete <key>                 # Delete one
wp transient delete --all                 # Delete all
wp transient delete <key> --network       # Network transient

Next Steps​