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Nitro broke my site

Symptom​

After installing or changing Divi Nitro, the front end looks wrong: missing styles, broken menus, blank areas, images that never load, videos that fail, filters or forms that stop working, or pages that feel “stuck” on old content.

Applies To​

  • Divi Nitro 5.0 and newer (also useful on earlier versions for minify / defer conflicts)
  • Divi 4 and Divi 5
  • Sites that also run another cache or optimization plugin

Likely Causes​

  1. A high-impact script or CSS option — Delay JavaScript, minify/combine, or Asynchronous CSS can break theme or plugin scripts.
  2. Stacked page caches — Nitro Page Cache plus LiteSpeed, WP Rocket, WP-Optimize, or similar.
  3. Aggressive image or render options — Smart Image Loading, Lazy Rendering, or background deferral.
  4. Stale caches — Old minify files, Page Cache entries, or Divi’s CSS cache still serving broken output.
  5. WordPress Cleanup toggles — Removing jQuery Migrate, query strings, or WooCommerce scripts that another plugin still needs.

Fix​

Step 1: Temporarily disable all Nitro performance features​

  1. Open Divi Engine → Nitro Settings.
  2. Open Debug Tools.
  3. Turn on the option that temporarily disables all Nitro performance features (without deactivating the plugin).
  4. View the front end in a private/incognito window (logged out).

If the site recovers, Nitro is involved. Keep debug disable on while you clear caches, then turn features back on carefully.

tip

See Debug Tools for the exact toggles and Page Cache debug logging.

  1. In Nitro, clear Minify cache and Page Cache (if enabled).
  2. Use the Divi Nitro admin bar (or Nitro Settings) to clear Divi’s CSS cache.
  3. Clear any host or plugin cache (LiteSpeed, WP Rocket, WP-Optimize, Cloudflare, etc.).
  4. Hard-refresh the front end logged out.

Step 3: Disable high-risk features first​

Turn Debug disable off only after caches are clear, then disable these one group at a time (or leave Safe preset on — see Step 6). Test the front end after each change.

OrderTurn off firstWhy it often breaks sites
1Delay JavaScriptDefers scripts until interaction; menus, filters, and sliders may fail
2Asset Minification (JS, then CSS)Combine/minify can break order or protected Divi Engine scripts
3Asynchronous CSSFOUC or missing styles if critical CSS is delayed
4HTML MinificationInline script/style minification can break markup
5Smart Image LoadingLazy/defer edge cases on galleries and backgrounds
6Lazy RenderingFar-below-fold sections stay unpainted until scroll
7Page CacheStale HTML or conflict with another page cache
8Speculative LoadingPrefetch/prerender oddities on dynamic pages
9Fonts & Resource HintsRare font or preconnect issues
10WordPress Cleanup togglesjQuery Migrate, query strings, Woo cleaner, emoji/heartbeat

When the site looks correct again, the last feature you disabled is the likely cause. Leave that one off (or reconfigure it) and re-enable the others.

Step 4: Isolate minify queues​

If only minify breaks the site, follow Minify troubleshooting — remove or split one script/style at a time using the Frontend Asset Helper.

Step 5: Check competing performance plugins​

If you also run LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket, WP-Optimize, or similar, read Working with other performance plugins. Use one HTML page cache only, and avoid overlapping minify / delay / lazy features.

Step 6: Recover with a preset​

  1. Apply the Safe Performance Preset.
  2. Clear caches again.
  3. Confirm the site works.
  4. Move to Balanced only if Safe is stable, or re-enable individual features one at a time.

Verify​

  • Key pages load correctly logged out: homepage, shop/cart/checkout (if used), filter pages, forms, membership or locked pages.
  • Browser console (F12) shows no new JavaScript errors on those pages.
  • Performance Insights no longer shows competing-cache warnings you have not addressed.

Collect for Support​

If you still need help, collect:

  • Divi Nitro version and Divi version (4 or 5)
  • Other cache/optimization plugins and whether their page cache is on
  • Which Nitro toggle fixed the issue when disabled
  • Screenshot of Performance Insights
  • Browser console errors (if any)
  • Whether Debug “disable all” restored the site

What's Next​