---
title: "Slugs Manager Developer Reference: Cron, Hooks, and API"
description: "Developer reference for Slugs Manager: the meta key it uses, the core API, scheduled events and cron intervals."
url: "https://wpfactory.com/docs/slugs-manager-developer-reference/"
updated: "2026-09-25"
category: Developers
---

# Slugs Manager Developer Reference: Cron, Hooks, and API

## Slugs Manager developer reference

This reference documents the programmatic surface of [Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database](https://wpfactory.com/item/slugs-manager-wordpress-plugin/) for developers: the meta key it operates on, its scheduled event, the custom cron intervals it registers, its load action, and the core methods you can call in your own code. Names below are taken from the plugin source (version 2.8.2).

### The meta key

Slugs Manager works entirely on the WordPress core post meta key `_wp_old_slug`. WordPress writes a row with this key whenever a published post's slug changes, and uses it to 301-redirect the old URL to the current one. The plugin reads and deletes these rows; it does not touch term slugs (`_wp_old_term_slug`).

### Core API

The main instance is returned by `alg_slugs_manager()`, and its core object exposes two public methods:

| Method | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `alg_slugs_manager()->core->get_old_slugs()` | Returns all `_wp_old_slug` rows from the `postmeta` table, ordered by post ID. |
| `alg_slugs_manager()->core->delete_old_slugs( $post_ids = false )` | Deletes `_wp_old_slug` rows. Pass an array of post IDs to scope the deletion, or omit the argument to delete all old slugs. |

```
// Delete all old slugs programmatically.
if ( function_exists( 'alg_slugs_manager' ) ) {
    alg_slugs_manager()->core->delete_old_slugs();
}

// Delete old slugs for specific posts only.
alg_slugs_manager()->core->delete_old_slugs( array( 123, 456 ) );
```

### Scheduled event

When Scheduled Clean Ups is enabled (Pro), the plugin schedules the WP-Cron action `alg_remove_old_slugs_cron` at the chosen interval. Its callback calls `delete_old_slugs()` to remove all old slugs. You can hook the same event to run your own logic before or after a scheduled clean up:

```
add_action( 'alg_remove_old_slugs_cron', function () {
    // Runs on each scheduled clean up.
} );
```

### Custom cron intervals

The plugin registers two custom schedules through the WordPress `cron_schedules` filter, in addition to the core intervals:

| Schedule key | Interval |
| --- | --- |
| `minutely` | 60 seconds |
| `weekly` | 604800 seconds (7 days) |

### Load action

After the plugin loads, it fires the action `alg_slugs_manager_plugin_loaded`, passing the plugin's main file path. Use it to run code once Slugs Manager is available:

```
add_action( 'alg_slugs_manager_plugin_loaded', function ( $plugin_file ) {
    // Slugs Manager is loaded and $plugin_file is its main file path.
} );
```

### Notes

- Deleting an old slug removes the WordPress redirect it provided. If you clear old slugs in code, handle redirects for any URLs that still receive traffic.
- Automatic Clean Ups and Regenerate Slugs are gated to the Pro version. The core methods above are available whenever the plugin (free or Pro) is active.

Need a hand? Our team answers every ticket on the [Slugs Manager support forum](https://wpfactory.com/support/item/slugs-manager-wordpress-plugin/).

Related articles

- [Slugs Manager Settings and Options Reference](https://wpfactory.com/docs/slugs-manager-settings-reference/)
- [What Slugs Manager Does (Scope and Limits)](https://wpfactory.com/docs/slugs-manager-scope-and-limits/)
- [Does Slugs Manager Handle Taxonomy Slugs?](https://wpfactory.com/docs/taxonomy-slugs-handling/)
- [Handling Multilingual Old Slugs with Slugs Manager and WPML](https://wpfactory.com/docs/multilingual-old-slugs/)
- [Slugs Manager Shows “No Slugs Found” – How to Fix](https://wpfactory.com/docs/fix-no-slugs-found/)