Axle Category & Tag Trash guide

How a restore works

The term is captured on pre_delete_term, before WordPress touches posts or child terms, and saved on delete_term once the delete has really happened.

Restoring:

• inserts the term row with its original term_id and term_taxonomy_id when they are still free, and otherwise gives it new ones and says so
• re-adds the meta, moves children back only if nobody moved them since, and recreates the menu items in their old position
• re-attaches objects with their term_order in batches, skipping objects deleted in the meantime, and fires added_term_relationship and set_object_terms for each one so search indexes such as ElasticPress and VIP Enterprise Search pick them up
• takes the default term (Uncategorized) back from objects that only got it because of the delete, if nobody changed their terms since

Large sites

A term on a million posts is fine:

• Delete: relationships are read 1,000 at a time and kept as packed id:order strings, one meta row per 1,000. The snapshot itself stays a few KB. The work grows with the number of posts, the same way WordPress’s own delete does.
• Restore: the first 5,000 objects come back in the request. The rest are re-attached through WP-Cron, 5,000 per run, with a lock so two runs never overlap. The trash screen says so, and the item leaves the list while it runs. wp axle-category-tag-trash restore <id> finishes it in one go.
• Empty trash: deletes 200 items in the request and the rest through WP-Cron.