I’ve created a flexible content field type which inside has just 4 layouts, and each layout only contains a handful of other fields too. I’ve used this same setup on other sites without issue, however for no reason it’s now taking 23 seconds minimum to load.

As a test I am not even displaying the content but instead doing a var_dump of the get_field data and that is still taking 23 seconds. All other pages are working fine and load in normal timeframes (2-3 seconds).

I’m doing my debug on plain empty page, no other content other than header/footer, I’ve also tried in multiple other page templates too.

Query Monitor: I’ve already got this installed and it shows no clear indicators of issues, no slow query reports etc, see screenshot. My question is, how best to debug this slow issue?

Plugin: Advanced Custom Fields PRO
Version 5.8.9

My debug code:

$content_blocks = get_field('content_blocks');
var_dump($content_blocks);

The var_dump output:

array (size=4)
  0 => 
    array (size=2)
      'acf_fc_layout' => string 'double_banner' (length=13)
      'panel' => 
        array (size=2)
          0 => 
            array (size=5)
              ...
          1 => 
            array (size=5)
              ...
  1 => 
    array (size=7)
      'acf_fc_layout' => string 'top_picks' (length=9)
      'heading' => string 'Top Picks' (length=9)
      'cta_text' => string 'View All Products' (length=17)
      'cta_link' => string 'https://dev.testdomain.co.uk/shop/' (length=38)
      'product_ids' => 
        array (size=5)
          0 => int 806
          1 => int 854
          2 => int 850
          3 => int 846
          4 => int 890
      'posts_per_page_mobile' => string '' (length=0)
      'posts_per_page_desktop' => string '' (length=0)
  2 => 
    array (size=7)
      'acf_fc_layout' => string 'platforms_list' (length=14)
      'heading' => string 'Find products by Marketplace' (length=28)
      'cta_text' => string 'View All Products' (length=17)
      'cta_link' => string 'https://dev.testdomain.co.uk/shop/' (length=38)
      'platform_list' => 
        array (size=5)
          0 => 
            array (size=4)
              ...
          1 => 
            array (size=4)
              ...
          2 => 
            array (size=4)
              ...
          3 => 
            array (size=4)
              ...
          4 => 
            array (size=4)
              ...
      'posts_per_page_mobile' => string '' (length=0)
      'posts_per_page_desktop' => string '' (length=0)
  3 => 
    array (size=7)
      'acf_fc_layout' => string 'custom_blocks' (length=13)
      'heading' => string 'Categories' (length=10)
      'cta_text' => string 'View All Products' (length=17)
      'cta_link' => string '/shop' (length=5)
      'blocks' => 
        array (size=6)
          0 => 
            array (size=3)
              ...
          1 => 
            array (size=3)
              ...
          2 => 
            array (size=3)
              ...
          3 => 
            array (size=3)
              ...
          4 => 
            array (size=3)
              ...
          5 => 
            array (size=3)
              ...
      'posts_per_page_mobile' => string '' (length=0)
      'posts_per_page_desktop' => string '' (length=0)

I have no idea how to debug this further.