Preloading allows you to read php files into memory at server startup which helps boost performance. The tradeoff for this is that you will need to restart your webserver when you make a change to one of the cached php files.

Official preloading php docs.

Please note that preloading is not supported on Windows.

Install the plugin:

composer require jaxwilko/wn-opcachepreload-plugin

Configure opcache settings in your php.ini:

[opcache]
opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.max_accelerated_files=20000
opcache.validate_timestamps=0 
opcache.revalidate_freq=0
opcache.preload=/path/to/winter/plugins/jaxwilko/opcachepreload/preload.php
opcache.preload_user=apache

Change /path/to/winter to whatever is right for your setup

Change apache in preload_user to whatever the right user is for you

Reboot your webserver (nginx / php-fpm / apache).

The preload script supports some options for testing.

OPTIONS
-h, --help      show this screen
-d, --dry       perform a dry run
-v, --verbose   output info
-e, --errors    output errors

This plugin works well for me in my production setups but that does not necessarily mean it will work for you, please test thoroughly before using in production.