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WooCommerce HPOS support

High-Performance Order Storage moves orders out of the WordPress posts tables into dedicated order tables. Most problems come from code that still reads orders the old way. We audit, migrate, verify and fix — without risking order data.

Typical problems

HPOS problems we solve

HPOS

Custom code reading wp_posts

get_post_meta(), WP_Query and direct SQL on orders return nothing after the switch.

/woocommerce/hpos/custom-code/
HPOS

Incompatible extensions

WooCommerce blocks enabling HPOS because active plugins have not declared compatibility.

/woocommerce/hpos/
Sync

Synchronisation that never finishes

Orders pending sync, sync running for days, or errors during the migration.

/woocommerce/hpos/
Data

Data that differs between tables

Orders, meta or addresses that disagree between the posts tables and the order tables.

/woocommerce/hpos/
Reports

Missing orders in exports and reports

Exports, dashboards and integrations still querying the old tables.

/woocommerce/orders/
Scale

Large stores

Migrating hundreds of thousands of orders without affecting a live store.

/woocommerce/hpos/

What an HPOS engagement covers

  • Audit of custom code, the theme and extensions for direct order access
  • Compatibility status of every active extension
  • Rewriting incompatible code to the WooCommerce CRUD API (wc_get_orders(), $order->get_meta())
  • A migration plan using compatibility mode and synchronisation
  • Verification of order data before and after switching
  • A rollback path while synchronisation is still enabled

What you receive

  • An audit report: what will break and why, with file and line references
  • Fixed, HPOS-compatible code
  • A migrated store with verified order data
  • Documentation of what changed for future developers

How a safe HPOS migration works

  1. Audit. Search the theme, custom plugins and snippets for direct order access: get_post_meta() or update_post_meta() on order ids, WP_Query or get_posts() with shop_order, and SQL against wp_posts or wp_postmeta for orders.
  2. Fix the code so it uses the WooCommerce CRUD API, and declare HPOS compatibility in custom plugins.
  3. Enable compatibility mode so both storages are kept in sync, and let synchronisation finish.
  4. Verify that order data matches between storages, on staging first.
  5. Switch the authoritative storage to HPOS, keeping synchronisation on as a safety net.
  6. Disable synchronisation only after the store has run correctly for a while.
PHPcustom-plugin.php
// Before: breaks once HPOS is authoritative
$po = get_post_meta( $order_id, '_po_number', true );

// After: works with both storages
$order = wc_get_order( $order_id );
$po    = $order ? $order->get_meta( '_po_number' ) : '';

Technical resources

HPOS guides

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is HPOS enabled by default?

For new stores, yes — it has been the default since WooCommerce 8.2. Existing stores keep the legacy posts storage until they migrate.

Can we switch back if something goes wrong?

While compatibility mode keeps both storages synchronised, switching the authoritative storage back is possible. That is why synchronisation stays on until the store has run correctly on HPOS for a while.

Our code uses get_post_meta() on orders. Will it break?

Once HPOS is the authoritative storage, yes — it reads the posts tables, which are no longer the source of truth. Use the order object instead: wc_get_order( $id )->get_meta( 'key' ).

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