Troubleshooting

Symptoms, likely causes, and fixes for the most common problems, based on the plugin’s FAQ, changelog, and admin notices.

The plugin won’t run and shows a “Post Kinds” error

Symptom: An error notice says Post Kinds for IndieWeb in Block Themes cannot run while Post Kinds is active, and none of the plugin’s features appear.

Likely cause: The classic Post Kinds plugin (indieweb-post-kinds) is active — including network-activated on multisite. Both plugins use the same kind taxonomy, so this plugin deliberately refuses to initialize.

Fix:

1. Go to Plugins and deactivate Post Kinds (the classic one).
2. Reload wp-admin; the Reactions menu and blocks should appear.

What to check next: On multisite, check Network Admin → Plugins for a network activation.

Activation blocked by a PHP or WordPress version notice

Symptom: A notice says the plugin requires PHP 8.2 or WordPress 7.0 and names your current version.

Likely cause: Your environment is below the plugin’s minimums (WordPress 7.0+, PHP 8.2+ — both unusually recent).

Fix: Update WordPress and/or ask your host to move you to PHP 8.2+. There is no supported way to run the plugin below these versions.

Media search returns no results

Symptom: Card block or Media Lookup searches come back empty, or the Quick Post search finds nothing.

Likely causes (from the plugin FAQ):

• Missing or incorrect API keys for the service (TMDB, RAWG, Hardcover, and most others need keys; MusicBrainz and Open Library don’t).
• Your server can’t make outbound HTTPS requests (firewall or host restriction).
• The search term has no match in that service.

Fix:

1. Go to Reactions → API Connections, confirm the key for the relevant service, and run its connection test.
2. Ask your host whether outbound HTTPS is blocked.
3. Try broader search terms.

What to check next: The plugin FAQ points to a Debug view under the plugin’s settings for API errors. Also try Reactions → Settings → Tools → Clear API Cache if results seem stale.

A persistent notice recommends IndieBlocks

Symptom: An admin notice says the plugin “works best with IndieBlocks installed” (or “requires IndieBlocks… for full functionality”).

Likely cause: This is expected behavior when IndieBlocks isn’t active — a recommendation, not an error. IndieBlocks provides companion blocks for bookmarks, likes, replies, and reposts.

Fix: Install and activate IndieBlocks to make the notice go away, or ignore it — the plugin runs without IndieBlocks.

Cards look broken on the front end or in the editor

Symptom: Card contents scattered into a strange layout in the editor, or published cards missing padding and shadow.

Likely cause: Known regressions in earlier releases, all fixed since: pre-1.0.0 layout and styling bugs, and four editor crashes fixed in 1.5.2 — the Check-in Dashboard, the Play Card with a non-default status, and Event and RSVP cards given an unparseable date all crashed into the block editor’s gray error boundary.

Fix: Update to the latest version (1.5.2 or later). If cards still look off afterward, hard-refresh to clear cached CSS.

What to check next: Your theme’s design tokens — cards take color and typography from block-theme styles, so a theme without editor styles can look plainer than the screenshots.

The /firehose feed returns 404

Symptom: /firehose and /feed/firehose/ return 404, while ?feed=firehose works.

Likely cause: You updated from a version before 1.5.1. The feed’s rewrite rules were only registered on fresh activation, and WordPress doesn’t run activation on update — 1.5.1 fixed this so updating rebuilds them.

Fix: Update to 1.5.1 or later. If the 404 persists, visit Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes once to rebuild the rewrite rules.

Newer kind archives 404 for visitors

Symptom: Archives for kinds added in 1.5.0 (for example /kind/weather/) return 404, and kind pickers show 24 kinds instead of 36.

Likely cause: A pre-1.5.1 version only created the newer kind terms on a wp-admin visit, so a freshly updated site served the old set to visitors until someone logged in.

Fix: Update to 1.5.1 or later — the terms now appear on the next request of any kind. As with the feed, a Settings → Permalinks → Save Changes pass clears any lingering archive 404.

Posts from a Micropub app don’t arrive

Symptom: Publishing from a mobile/Micropub client fails or nothing shows up on the site.

Likely cause: Micropub is not something this plugin provides by itself — it requires the separate Micropub plugin (and IndieAuth for authentication). Post Kinds for IndieWeb in Block Themes only converts posts the Micropub plugin has already received.

Fix:

1. Install and activate the Micropub plugin and an IndieAuth setup.
2. Sign in to your Micropub app again and retry.

What to check next: Version 1.1.0 of this plugin fixed Micropub posts failing to appear (“phantom posts”), and 1.2.0 fixed fields being silently dropped — make sure you’re on a current version.

OAuth service shows “Not connected” after authorizing

Symptom: You complete the Trakt/Simkl/Foursquare/Last.fm authorization flow but the API Connections page still says not connected.

Likely cause: A bug fixed in the 1.4.x cycle — OAuth callback action names didn’t match the redirect URI, so tokens were never stored.

Fix: Update the plugin, then re-copy the redirect URI shown on the API Connections page into your provider app settings and authorize again.

Imports seem stuck or slow

Symptom: An import sits in Active Imports for a long time.

Likely cause: Large imports intentionally run in the background in batches via WP-Cron, throttled by the Rate Limit Delay setting. WP-Cron only fires when your site gets traffic.

Fix: Give it time and visits, or lower the Rate Limit Delay / raise the Import Batch Size on Reactions → Settings → Performance with care (aggressive values can hit provider rate limits).

The Integrations tab says ATmosphere is missing, inactive, or too old

Standard.site publishing runs through the optional ATmosphere companion plugin. Post Kinds works fully without it — the status line on Settings → Post Kinds → Integrations just tells you what would enable publishing: install ATmosphere (2.1.0 or later), activate it, or update it, then connect an account on its own settings screen.

A kind post isn’t publishing to Standard.site

In order of likelihood:

1. ATmosphere isn’t connected — check Settings → ATmosphere (its Site Health section reports connection problems too).
2. The kind is off by default — thin signal kinds (likes, reposts, favorites, follows) and privacy-sensitive kinds (check-ins, moods, wishes, and the health and travel logs) are opt-in. Check the kind under Settings → Post Kinds → Integrations, or flip the post’s own sharing toggle in the editor, which always wins.
3. The post isn’t public — drafts, private, and password-protected posts never publish.
4. The post predates the connection — routine edits don’t retro-publish old posts by design. Bring existing posts over deliberately with wp atmosphere backfill (--dry-run first).

The Standard.site column on the posts list shows each post’s state at a glance: Published (hover for the record address), Pending, or Off.

When to open an issue

If none of the above fixes your problem:

1. Check existing reports at the GitHub issues page.
2. Read SUPPORT.md — it lists the support channels (GitHub Issues and Discussions, plus IndieWeb Chat) and the details to include: WordPress, PHP, plugin, and IndieBlocks versions, and steps to reproduce.
3. Open a new issue with those details.