Site not syncing — what to check

If your site shows "Last sync: >24 hours ago" or "Connection lost" in the dashboard, work through this checklist.

1. Check the plugin is active

WP admin → Plugins → confirm PowerSEC is Active.

If it's been deactivated, reactivate it. Sync resumes within ~5 minutes.

2. Check the plugin can reach Central

WP admin → PowerSEC → Status.

Should show:

• ✅ Connection: Healthy
• ✅ API key: Valid
• ✅ Last sync: <5 min ago

If any show ❌, click the Test connection button. It will show a specific error.

Common errors:

"Cannot resolve api.powersec.io"

DNS issue. Run from your server:

host api.powersec.io

Should return an IP. If it errors, your server's DNS is broken — fix /etc/resolv.conf or contact your host.

"Connection timed out"

Outbound HTTPS blocked by firewall. Test:

curl -v https://api.powersec.io/health

Should return 200. If it times out, ask your host to allow outbound HTTPS to *.powersec.io.

"401 Unauthorized — Invalid API key"

Plugin's API key was revoked or rotated on Central. Fix:

1. PowerSEC Central → Sites → your site → Re-pair
2. Follow the pairing flow (takes 30 seconds)

"403 Forbidden — Site suspended"

Your account has issues (billing, abuse). Check:

• Dashboard → Billing for payment status
• Contact support if no obvious cause

3. Check WP-Cron is running

PowerSEC uses WP-Cron for sync schedules. If WP-Cron is broken, sync stops.

Test:

curl https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php

Should return blank (200).

If WP-Cron is disabled (define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true) in wp-config.php), set up a real cron job:

*/5 * * * * curl -s https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php > /dev/null

4. Check PHP error log

tail -100 /path/to/wp-content/debug.log

Look for lines containing "powersec" or "PowerSEC". Common errors and fixes:

• "cURL error 60: SSL certificate problem" — outdated CA bundle. Update OS ca-certificates package.
• "Allowed memory size exhausted" — increase WP_MEMORY_LIMIT in wp-config.php.
• "Failed to write to wp-content/powersec/cache" — file permissions. Run chmod -R 755 wp-content/powersec.

5. Force a manual sync

Dashboard → Sites → your site → Settings → Force sync.

This triggers an immediate full sync (instead of waiting for the schedule). If it succeeds, regular schedule should resume.

6. Re-pair the site

If nothing else works:

1. PowerSEC Central → Sites → your site → Settings → Re-pair
2. Confirm — generates new API keys
3. WP admin → PowerSEC → Connect → enter new keys (or use one-click pair)

This is harmless — your data is preserved, only the API keys rotate.

Still stuck?

Open a ticket with:

• Site URL
• Plugin version (PowerSEC → Status)
• Last sync time
• Errors from PowerSEC → Status
• Last 50 lines of debug.log mentioning powersec