Connection Error in Wordpress

[mislitzer]

Hi, like a discussion before, I also can't connect to wordpress. The wordpress api can be accessed normally under /wp-json.
Also in debug mode I get a code 200.
What could be the problem here?

[nikosdion]

Make sure the Panopticon Connector for WordPress plugin is installed and enabled.

Check that the API token you are using is correct and does not have any whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) at the beginning or end of it when you copy it into Panopticon.

[mislitzer]

Hi, thanks for your response.
I've checked that several times and can confirm that everything is correct.

[nikosdion]

Then it must be something else breaking the response – a plugin, a CDN, or your host. As you can see in your screenshot, we got an empty response ([] is the JSON notation for an empty array). This is not what the WordPress API is supposed to return.

If you are using any security plugins on your site, please check that you have NOT used them to disable access to the WordPress JSON API. This kind of option is usually enabled by default and, indeed, it either returns an empty response (as we see here), or an error response.

Moreover, some WordPress-specific hosts offer similar features to what I just described. Also check with your host that they don't actually mess up with the API like that.

Furthermore, caching plugins may get in the way if they are unaware that the /wp-json URI must never be cached. I've seen problems like that with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin in the past.

Further to that, there are third party CDNs / services which can be configured to sit in front of your site which might be doing the same.

Finally, you may have another third party plugin which tries to register its own route with the WordPress JSON API but fails to do so correctly and ends up responding with an empty response all the time.

[nikosdion]

Also, please see the reply here #866 (reply in thread) There are two important things described there.

I think that many of you must have installed the wrong ZIP file for version 1.0.2 of the connector because GitHub was ordering it the wrong way around, showing it after the sources. The sources do not contain the vendor folder. While the plugin installs, and appears to be somewhat operational, it cannot return the data necessary for Panopticon to “see” your WordPress and PHP version. I have re-uploaded the plugin and now it thankfully displays in the correct order (first) under Assets. I have no idea why that happened. It's supposed to not be possible, to the best of my understanding. Oh, well...

Moreover, there is a known issue in Panopticon where if you have Akeeba Backup Professional installed but have either not enabled its remote JSON API, or have an empty secret key for it, the connection to Panopticon will fail.

[mislitzer]

Ok thank you! Now everything is working as expected.

Thank you for the great support!

[mislitzer]

I have now again had a similar case with the second site and there the problem was that there was no published wordpress post and the response was empty and the initial setup therefore did not work. Is that a known issue?

[nikosdion]

Ah, that also makes sense. If there are no posts the sanity test which tries to check if the JSON API works will fail. Unfortunately, there's no other safe way I can see for WordPress to return any kind of useful information as a test.

[nikosdion]

I have worked on a solution. You will need to have at least on published plugin, a condition which is by definition fulfilled by having installed and enabled the requisite Panopticon Connector plugin.