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COURSES chevron_right WORDPRESS DEV chevron_right 02. THEME ARCHITECTURE chevron_right 04. WP_QUERY MASTERCLASS: CUSTOM SLUGS & METADATA FILTERING
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ClientReady Academy • ID: CR-8839 • Aoun Muhammad
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14:32 / 24:15
02. THEME ARCHITECTURE • LESSON 04

04. WP_Query Masterclass: Custom Slugs & Metadata Filtering

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Why Direct SQL Queries Hurt WordPress Performance

When scaling client applications to handle 100,000+ custom post types, leveraging WP_Query correctly ensures transient caching and sanitization layers are respected. In this lesson, we break down complex nested relational queries via meta_query and tax_query without crashing database throughput.

inc/queries/client-portfolio-query.php
<?php
// Construct production-ready WP_Query for multi-tax filter
$query_args = [
    'post_type'      => 'client_case_study',
    'posts_per_page' => 12,
    'post_status'    => 'publish',
    'meta_query'     => [
        'relation' => 'AND',
        [
            'key'     => '_project_budget_tier',
            'value'   => 'enterprise',
            'compare' => '=',
        ],
    ],
    'no_found_rows'  => true, // Skip SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS for 4x faster execution
];

$portfolio_query = new WP_Query($query_args);
if ($portfolio_query->have_posts()) :
    while ($portfolio_query->have_posts()) : $portfolio_query->the_post();
        get_template_part('template-parts/content', 'portfolio-card');
    endwhile;
    wp_reset_postdata();
endif;
?>