WordPress troubleshooting

"Authentication failed" on test connection

Some hosts and security plugins (iThemes Security, Wordfence with strict mode) disable Application Passwords. Symptoms:

• Test connection answers Authentication failed. Check user + Application Password.
• The Application Passwords section is missing from the user's profile in wp-admin.

Fix: enable Application Passwords. In functions.php:

add_filter('wp_is_application_passwords_available', '__return_true');

Or ask your admin to whitelist them in the security plugin. Then generate a new Application Password and open the site page in Quibo, use Update credentials in the Credentials card, and the new values are verified against your CMS before they replace the old ones.

If Application Passwords are enabled and the test still fails, check that you pasted the login name (not the display name or the email) and the full 24-character password.

"401" or "403" on publish

The Application Password was revoked, the user it belongs to was removed or demoted, or a bot-protection layer blocks /wp-json/ calls from outside. The article lands in Failed with the WordPress response in its error message.

Fix: generate a fresh Application Password (see Connect WordPress) and save it with Update credentials on the site page, or whitelist /wp-json/wp/v2/* in your WAF. Then open the article and click Publish now again.

"rest_no_route" on publish

Your WordPress instance is on a very old version (before 5.6) that doesn't have Application Passwords, or the REST API is disabled by a plugin.

Fix: upgrade WordPress, or re-enable the REST API.

Posts publish but don't show on the front page

Check the status of the post in wp-admin, Posts. We POST with status: publish. If you see draft or pending, your theme or a plugin is intercepting and downgrading. Disable plugins one by one to find the culprit, or give the user the Editor or Administrator role.

Cover images appear without alt text

The alt text is sent in a second call right after the upload. A few hosts strip that call. Check wp-admin, Media, your image, Alt text. Edit if empty.

Yoast / Rank Math meta isn't updating

We set Yoast's _yoast_wpseo_title and _yoast_wpseo_metadesc post-meta keys. If you're on Rank Math, it ignores those and Quibo does not write Rank Math's keys yet. The meta description is still stored as the post excerpt.

Author is wrong

The Default author in your brand profile is matched against the users found at connection time. If none is saved, WordPress attributes the post to the user that owns the Application Password. Click Re-crawl brand on the site page to refresh the user list, then pick the author and click Save brand profile.

Still stuck?

Email support@quibo.cc with the organization ID shown in Settings, Account. Business plans get priority routing, with a typical response under 8 business hours.

If you'd rather start clean: connecting a fresh test site for 5 minutes is faster than debugging your prod site. Connect a new site