When the connection breaks
Why a linked store can still read "Not connected", how to tell which side is at fault, and how to relink without losing your design.
The chip in your Studio top bar is not a saved setting. Every time it renders, Uruvak calls your shop over the public internet and waits up to five seconds for a signed reply. Connected means that call just succeeded. Not connected means it did not — right now, this second.
That is why wp-admin can say Connected while Uruvak says Not connected at the same moment, and both are telling the truth: WordPress remembers the link, Uruvak cannot currently reach it.
What a broken connection stops#
Nothing about your design is lost, and your published app keeps serving shoppers exactly as it was last published. What stops is the link between the two:
- Publish Live fails, because Uruvak writes your design into your shop and cannot reach it.
- The preview shows sample data, because the catalog comes from your shop.
- Order-status notifications stop, because your shop reports them to Uruvak.
Your shoppers keep browsing and ordering on whatever you last published. Fixing the connection restores everything; nothing needs rebuilding.
Work out which side is at fault#
Open Uruvak Bridge in wp-admin and read the status card, then compare:
| wp-admin says | Uruvak says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Connected | Connected | Nothing is wrong. |
| Connected | Not connected | The link exists but Uruvak cannot reach your shop. Work through the list below. |
| Not connected | Not connected | The link itself is gone. Press Connect with Uruvak → again. |
| Connected, no signing key | Not connected | Special case — see the signing key. |
Why Uruvak cannot reach your shop#
In rough order of how often each one turns out to be the cause.
Your shop is not publicly reachable#
Uruvak's servers call your shop from the internet, like a shopper would. Anything that makes your shop private to the outside world breaks the check, even though it looks fine in your own browser:
- A coming-soon, maintenance-mode or "under construction" plugin.
- Password protection on the whole site, including a host's staging password.
- A site that only exists on localhost or a staging domain your host keeps private.
- A firewall, security plugin or bot protection blocking automated requests. Cloudflare challenge pages are a common culprit — they return a challenge, not your shop.
Test it the honest way: open your shop in a private browsing window on mobile data, signed out. If you cannot reach it that way, neither can Uruvak.
Your certificate expired#
An expired or mismatched HTTPS certificate makes the call fail before it reaches WordPress. Renew it and press Refresh.
Your server clock is wrong#
Uruvak signs its request with a timestamp, and your shop rejects anything more than five minutes off its own clock with The request signature has expired. If your server's time has drifted, ask your host to sync it.
Caching in front of the REST API#
Aggressive page or host caching can serve a stale reply to the check. Uruvak already asks every layer it knows about to skip the cache, but some setups override that. Clear your cache, and exclude /wp-json/ from caching if your plugin allows it.
Your host blocks outgoing calls#
The link is redeemed by your shop calling Uruvak, not the other way round. Some locked-down hosts block outgoing HTTPS. If connecting fails with Could not connect. followed by a technical message, ask your host to allow outbound HTTPS to api.uruvak.com.
The plugin was deactivated or removed#
An update, a migration, or a well-meaning cleanup can switch it off. Check Plugins and reactivate Uruvak Bridge.
The shop moved#
Uruvak treats http and https, www and bare, and a trailing slash as the same shop — but a genuinely different domain is a different shop. After a domain change, press Connect with Uruvak → again.
Someone linked the shop to a second Uruvak account#
A shop can be linked to one Uruvak app at a time. If it is connected from a second account, the plugin re-points to the newer one and the original account's store goes Not connected permanently. Reconnect from the account you actually want to use.
The signing key warning#
If the status card's Signing key (HMAC) row shows a warning instead of a tick, the store is linked but Uruvak has no shared secret to write with, so publishing to it is blocked.
Fix it by relinking from scratch: press Disconnect, then Connect with Uruvak →. That issues a fresh key.
Reconnect without losing anything#
Disconnect in wp-admin
Open Uruvak Bridge and press Disconnect. This only clears WordPress's own record — it sends nothing to Uruvak, and your store stays in your dashboard.
Connect again
Press Connect with Uruvak → and approve the card as you did the first time. Do it in one sitting — the code expires after five minutes.
Check the chip
Back in the Studio, press Refresh next to the status chip. It should read Connected.
Errors during the handshake itself#
These appear in WordPress immediately after you approve the link.
| Message | What happened | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid or expired connect code | More than five minutes passed between approving and returning. | Press Connect with Uruvak → and go straight through. |
| Connection state mismatch — please try again. | You pressed Back, reloaded the return page, or opened it twice. The security value is single-use. | Start again from Connect with Uruvak →. |
| Could not connect. (followed by a technical message) | Your shop could not call Uruvak. | See Your host blocks outgoing calls. |
| Forbidden | You are not a WordPress administrator. | Sign in to wp-admin as an administrator. |
Error messages, decoded lists every message the product can show you, not just these.
A store that appears but never connects#
If you approved the link but the return step failed, the store is already in your dashboard — it is created at the moment you approve — and it counts toward your plan's store limit while reading Not connected. Do not make a second one. Run Connect with Uruvak → again and it will reuse the store you already have.
If none of this gets you a green chip, email support@uruvak.com with your shop's address and what the wp-admin status card shows. That pair of facts is usually enough to answer in one reply.