WordPress

Connecting WordPress lets you send posts from Generate Blog straight to your site, as a draft to review or as a live post. Ranqo signs in through the WordPress REST API with an application password, a separate password WordPress issues for one app. Your main WordPress password is never used or stored.

What you need#

• WordPress 5.6 or later, self-hosted, or a WordPress.com plan that supports application passwords. WordPress.com sites on plans without them cannot connect: see WordPress.com sites.
• The REST API reachable from the internet at your site's address. If a security plugin turns off the REST API or application passwords, the connection cannot work.
• A WordPress account that can publish posts. The connection test checks that Ranqo can sign in, not what the account is allowed to do, so an account that cannot publish passes the test and fails later, when you publish.
• Owner access in Ranqo. Only the account owner can connect, update or disconnect WordPress. Team members can publish through the connection once it exists. See Team.

Create an application password#

1. Open your profile in wp-admin

   Sign in to WordPress as the account Ranqo will publish as, and go to Users, then Profile.

2. Add a new application password

   Scroll to Application Passwords. Enter a name you will recognise later, such as Ranqo, and add it.

3. Copy it now

   WordPress shows the password once, as six groups of four characters. Copy it. You can paste it with or without the spaces.

Connect the site in Ranqo#

1. Open the WordPress card

   In Integrations, press Connect on the WordPress card. The Connect WordPress panel opens.

2. Fill in the three fields

   Site URL is your site's address (see the rules below). Username is the WordPress username the application password belongs to. Application password is the password you just copied.

3. Test and connect

   Press Test & connect. Ranqo signs in to your site with those details before saving anything. If it works, you see WordPress connected and the card shows your site's name. If it fails, the panel shows why and nothing is saved.

Each brand connects one WordPress site. To publish, follow Publishing to WordPress.

Site URL rules#

• Use your site's public address. localhost, .local names, names without a dot and private or loopback IP addresses are refused, because Ranqo's servers cannot reach them.
• The scheme is optional. An address without one is treated as https://. An http:// address is accepted as typed.
• Include the folder if WordPress lives in one, for example https://example.com/blog.
• Pasting a longer address is fine. A trailing /wp-admin, /wp-json or /wp-login.php is removed before Ranqo saves the address.
• Enter the final address. Ranqo follows a redirect on the same host, such as http to https, but not to another host. If example.com redirects to www.example.com, enter www.example.com.

What the test does#

Ranqo asks your site's REST API who is signed in, using the username and application password, and reads the site's name for the card. It creates, changes and publishes nothing. The same check runs when you press Test connection later, and whenever you save a new application password.

How your credentials are stored#

The application password is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before it is saved, and it is never sent back to your browser: the dashboard shows the site, the username and the connection's status, never the password. Ranqo decrypts it only to call your site's REST API when testing the connection or publishing.

Manage the connection#

On the WordPress card, press Manage. The panel shows the site, the username, the status and the date of the last publish, plus three actions:

• Test connection signs in again and reports Connection is working. or the reason it failed. A failure marks the connection as having an error and the card reads Needs attention, with the reason shown in the panel. A failed publish does the same. A later successful test or publish clears it.
• Update application password replaces the saved password. Use it to rotate the password, or after you revoked the old one in WordPress. Ranqo tests the new password before saving it (Save password), and a password that works clears any error.
• Disconnect removes the connection after you confirm. Posts already published stay on your site, and Ranqo keeps its record of where each post was published.

Disconnecting does not revoke the application password in WordPress. Delete it yourself in wp-admin under Users, Profile, Application Passwords. Deleting it there first, without disconnecting in Ranqo, makes the next test or publish fail.

To change the site address or the username, disconnect and connect again.

Plan limits#

WordPress connections are counted across all your brands: 1 on Starter, 3 on Pro, Unlimited on Agency Growth and Unlimited on Agency Scale. Disconnecting frees the slot. Publishing does not count toward any monthly limit. See Plans and limits.

When the connection fails#

The panel shows WordPress's answer in plain words. The common ones:

More causes are in WordPress connection fails.

WordPress.com sites#

Sites hosted on WordPress.com support application passwords only on the Business and eCommerce plans. Simple, Personal and Premium sites cannot connect. When you type a wordpress.com address, the panel warns you before you test; if the test then fails, it names this as the reason. Connect a self-hosted WordPress site instead.

Related#