Fix the plugin when it can’t reach Silotree
The plugin and Silotree talk both ways: your site calls silotree.io, and Silotree calls your site’s REST API at /wp-json/silotree/. Either direction can be blocked by a host, a firewall or a security plugin. Check connection tells you which.
Steps
Press Check connection on Settings → Silotree
In WordPress open Settings → Silotree and press Check connection. When all is well it says Silotree answered, and recognises this site.
Match the message to the fixes below
Each message below says which direction is blocked — your site calling Silotree, or Silotree calling your site — and what fixes it.
Allow /wp-json/silotree/ in your security plugin or firewall
Silotree calls your site’s REST API, signed with your site’s key, to check it and to write the links you approve. Security plugins, firewalls and some hosts block these calls. Add an exception for this path:
The path Silotree calls on your site /wp-json/silotree/If your REST API is switched off entirely, Silotree also tries
?rest_route=/silotree/, so allow that too. A site behind HTTP password protection (basic auth) can’t be reached.Connect again
Press Connect again on Settings → Silotree and confirm in Silotree — see pair and re-pair the plugin. Then press Check connection once more.
What you should see
Check connection says Silotree answered, and recognises this site. Approved links write again from the bar on Links to add.
If it doesn’t work
- “This site could not reach Silotree … Your host may block outgoing requests” or “Could not reach Silotree. Your site is fine; this panel is not.”
Your site can’t make outgoing HTTPS requests to
silotree.io. Ask your host to allow outgoing HTTPS tosilotree.ioon port 443. After a failure the plugin waits ten minutes before trying again by itself; Check connection tries at once.- “Silotree does not recognise this site any more” or “Silotree does not have this site's current key”
The key changed (someone pressed Regenerate key), the site moved to a new address, or a backup restored an old key. Press Connect again.
- “Silotree could not reach this site to confirm the connection” or “Something on the site … blocked Silotree before WordPress saw the request”
Silotree’s calls to your site are blocked. Allow
/wp-json/silotree/in your security plugin, firewall or CDN (step 3), then connect again.- “The Silotree plugin did not answer at that address”
The plugin isn’t active, or WordPress lives at a different address from the one Silotree has. Check Plugins, and the WordPress address in Silotree’s Settings → Connections.
- “Silotree reached the site, but it could not prove it holds the new key”
An old version of the plugin is answering. Update it — see install and update the plugin — and connect again.
- “That request is too old, or this server's clock is wrong”
Signed requests are valid for five minutes, so your server’s clock must be right. Ask your host to sync it (NTP).
- “The site took too long to answer” or “The site's security certificate was not accepted”
Your site was slow or its HTTPS certificate is expired or incomplete. Fix the certificate with your host, then connect again.
- “Open Settings, Silotree in this site's admin to choose which administrator Silotree acts as”
The administrator Silotree acted as was removed. Pick another under Who Silotree acts as on Settings → Silotree.
The editor sidebar keeps working while Silotree is unreachable: its suggestions are worked out on your own server. If the same firewall also stops scans, see the crawl was blocked.
Questions
Does the editor sidebar stop working when Silotree is unreachable?
No. The sidebar’s suggestions are worked out on your own server. Only what comes from your Silotree account pauses, and it tries again by itself after ten minutes.