The WASP project has successfully deployed a fully on-chain version of WordPress on the Internet Computer (ICP), eliminating the need for external databases, off-chain caches, or proxy servers, according to dfinity.org.
The deployment integrates PHP 8.5 and WASQL to run the entire platform—including both the frontend and the wp-admin interface—using only canisters.
Developers previously faced significant hurdles due to ICP’s per-message instruction limit. A single WordPress admin page often exceeded the instruction budget, resulting in 503 errors.
To resolve this, the team restructured the application architecture rather than increasing the protocol's limits. The new system utilizes three distinct canisters to manage traffic and processing.
A three-canister architecture
The first component is a Router canister that acts as a lightweight entry point with a built-in page cache. This allows anonymous visitors to access cached pages via query calls, which the developers noted is "basically free and instant."
The second component is the Worker canister, where PHP 8.5 executes. This wasm64 canister features 8 GB of memory and can pause a request when it reaches its instruction budget and resume it during the next call.
The third component is WASQL, a dedicated database canister utilizing stable memory. WordPress communicates with this database through a standard mysqli driver, ensuring that existing plugins remain compatible without modification.
According to dfinity.org, the results show that the public-facing site is responsive due to high cache hit rates, while the wp-admin interface remains functional.
Regarding the transition for existing users, the project lead stated, "Migrating will be very easy, I have a beta Wordpress plugin that will move a site from your hosting to a canister automatically."
The developer estimated that a 10-page website could operate for under $15 per month, assuming an 80% cache hit rate and approximately 2,000 monthly visits.
While the core WordPress functionality is stable, the developer noted that a version running WooCommerce is currently "very slow and consuming" and requires further optimization.
