Troubleshooting and FAQ
A first-stop reference for the most common issues, plus quick answers to frequently asked questions. For feature-specific troubleshooting, the Ultra Ajax and LLM Auto-Reply guides have their own dedicated sections.
Troubleshooting
The chat bubble doesn’t appear
- Check it’s enabled. Go to Super Speedy Chat > General and confirm “Enable Chat” is ticked.
- You’re viewing wp-admin. The bubble only loads on the front end of your site, never inside wp-admin. Open your actual site (ideally in an incognito window so you’re not logged in).
- Caching. If you use a page cache or CDN, purge it. A cached page may not include the chat assets or may carry a stale config.
- Theme support. The widget is injected via standard WordPress hooks. A theme that doesn’t call
wp_footer()won’t render it – rare, but possible with heavily customised themes. - JavaScript errors. Open your browser console; a conflicting plugin/theme script that throws early can stop the widget initialising.
Messages won’t send
- Rate limited (HTTP 429). Sending too fast trips the per-IP limit (15 sends/minute). Wait a moment.
- REST API blocked. Some security plugins or host rules block
/wp-json/. Confirmyoursite.com/wp-json/ssc/v1/is reachable. - Cookies blocked. The chat needs the
ssc_visitor_hashcookie to maintain a session. If the browser blocks it, sends fail with “No active session.”
Open yoursite.com/wp-json/ssc/v1/poll directly in a browser. A JSON response (even an error about a missing session) proves the route is reachable. A 403, a security-plugin block page, or an HTML 404 means something upstream is blocking /wp-json/.
A reply I sent doesn’t show up for the visitor
- The visitor’s widget polls on an interval; give it a second or two.
- If a page/edge cache is caching the
/pollresponse, exclude/wp-json/ssc/from caching. - Confirm Ultra Ajax is healthy (see below) – a broken mu-plugin falls back to the slower path but shouldn’t stop delivery.
Email notifications aren’t arriving
- WordPress email is unreliable on many hosts. Install an SMTP plugin (e.g. WP Mail SMTP) to route mail through a real mail service.
- Check spam folders and confirm the From Name / admin email on the Email tab are sensible.
- Verify the relevant toggle (admin or visitor notifications) is enabled.
“I see a brand-new conversation every time I test”
You’re testing in the same browser where you’re logged in as admin, or with cookies cleared between attempts. Each distinct browser/cookie is a distinct visitor. Test the visitor side in a single incognito window and keep it open.
Ultra Ajax shows as “Not installed”
- Open Super Speedy Chat > Status to confirm.
- The mu-plugin is written to
wp-content/mu-plugins/. If your host blocks writes there, it can’t install. Ensure the directory exists and is writable by the PHP user. - Deactivating and reactivating the plugin forces a fresh install.
LLM auto-reply never fires
- On the Behaviour tab, set Timeout Action to one of the LLM options.
- On the LLM Auto-Reply tab, confirm the provider and API key are set.
- You need canned responses saved for the classifier to choose from.
- A site-wide daily cap protects against runaway cost; if you’ve hit it, auto-reply pauses until the next day (the cap is adjustable via the
ssc_llm_daily_capfilter).
Discord isn’t working
- Double-check the bot token and channel ID, and that the bot has been added to your server with the right permissions.
- Visitor → Discord push is automatic once configured. Discord → WordPress replies require the companion Node bot to be running (see the Discord companion-bot guide).
- Click Test Connection on the Discord tab. It checks every part of both directions and names what fails; see Testing the connection.
A _load_textdomain_just_in_time notice in my logs
This is a harmless WordPress 6.7+ notice about translations loading early. It doesn’t affect functionality.
Chat is increasing server load
Lengthen the polling intervals on the Behaviour tab, and make sure Ultra Ajax is active (it makes each request far cheaper). See the Behaviour and Ultra Ajax guides.
The single biggest lever here is Ultra Ajax. With it active, each poll skips the theme and every other plugin and completes in single-digit milliseconds, so even short polling intervals cost very little. If load is a worry, confirm Ultra Ajax first, then tune the intervals.
FAQ
Do visitors have to log in to chat? No. Chat is anonymous by default. You can require login on the Behaviour tab if you prefer – logged-out visitors then see a log in / create account invitation instead of the message box.
Does it need a third-party service? No. Core chat runs entirely on your server. OpenAI/Anthropic and Discord are optional add-on integrations.
Will it slow down my site? The widget is lightweight and loads in the footer. With Ultra Ajax enabled, chat requests bypass the full WordPress load and complete in single-digit milliseconds.
Does it work on mobile? Yes – the widget is responsive and adjusts to the on-screen keyboard.
How much does the LLM auto-reply cost? Fractions of a cent per classification using the default budget models. See the LLM Auto-Reply guide for details, and note the built-in daily spend cap.
Is my data sent anywhere? Not unless you enable LLM Auto-Reply or Discord. See the Privacy and Data Handling guide.
Does it work on WordPress Multisite? The plugin runs per-site. The Ultra Ajax mu-plugin is shared across the network (mu-plugins are network-wide), but it only acts on requests for sites where chat is enabled.
What happens to my data if I uninstall? A full uninstall drops all chat tables, deletes options, and removes the mu-plugin. Deactivation keeps your data.
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