How to debug an issue

How to debug a WordPress site using Staq

If you receive a 503 server error, then, visit our 503 error knowledge base article.

If you’re receiving any of these types of error messages:

• 500 server error
• critical error
• website not loading,

then, this knowledge base article is for you.

500 Server Error

More likely, when you receive a 500 server error, this relates to a lack of memory issue. See our 500 server error knowledge base guide.

How to enable Staq Debug tool

This applies if you see:

• critical error
• website not loading,

Irrespective of what issue you see, the Staq Debug tool will assist you to diagnose the issue.

To diagnose a WordPress issue, go to the Staq Panel of the website in question. Under Advanced, click Debug:

Click Enable Debug on the top right:

Within moments, click Refresh and go through the entire logs between the following tabs:

• Nginx Error
• WordPress
• PHP-FPM Error:

When assessing the log files, most probably, the issue is relating to:

• a plugin/s; or
• the theme.

In the screenshot below, in the example below, the issue related to the plugin, elementor-pro:

If the issue relates to a plugin, consider the following:

• is the plugin i.e. elementor-pro plugin out of date? Go ahead and update to the latest version
• are there related plugins that work with the main plugin i.e. WooCommerce main plugin, Elementor and etc, are those secondary plugins out of date? If so, go ahead and update to the latest version of all secondary plugins.

If the issue relates to a theme, consider the following:

• update the theme
• rectify the child-theme or theme if an error is produced in a particular file and code line.

Query and Database Monitor

When enabled, this internal Staq tool can assist you debug SQL queries, object cache, hooks and remote requests to understand why something is slow or not working.

To enable, go into the WordPress site and click Staq Hosting plugin.

Then, click Advanced > Monitor and click:

• Enable monitor
• Monitor gooks

and then click save:

Then, go to the exact page or process where you’re having difficulty by loading or refreshing the page.

Then, go back to Staq Hosting > Advanced > Monitor (or refresh the page if you’re still there) and view the debug file:

Inside the debug file, you can view:

• how long hooks took to load
• the execution time of writing to the database
• how long a database query took to write to the database

This information will assist you diagnose the exact point where the issue resides.

The error message does not appear in Staq Debug

In some cases, the error message may not appear in Staq Debug.

If that is the case, you’ll need to disable all WordPress plugins and enable one-by-one until you find which plugin is causing the issue.

PHP Compatibility

It is possible that you’ve installed a plugin that isn’t PHP8 compatible. To test if a Plugin is PHP8 compatible, follow this PHP8 compatibility WordPress plugin tester at Step 2.

I cannot access the backend of WordPress

If you cannot access the backend of WordPress, follow this knowledge base guide to reclaim access to the backend of WordPress.