Troubleshooting

This page lists common problems, what usually causes them and how to fix them. Work through the checks for your symptom in order; the first ones are the most common.

Start with the event logs#

Most problems leave a trace in Event Logs. Set Feed (or Integration) to the one you're having trouble with, and Filter by Status to Failed. Click the time on a failed event to see why it failed, with a hint about what to do. See Event logs.

If there are no events at all for something you expected, that's a clue too: it usually means Feed Control didn't try, because something is switched off or a plan limit applies. The sections below cover both.

A feed isn't updating#

The feed is inactive. On the feed's Source tab, Active shows as off. Inactive feeds aren't checked for updates and don't send alerts. Click Edit, tick Active, then click Update Feed. See Source settings.

You have more feeds than your plan allows. The feed's page shows Feed disabled. and the feed is highlighted in red in the Feeds list. The feeds you added first keep updating, up to your plan's limit. Delete feeds you no longer need, or upgrade. See Plans and limits.

Your plan or trial has ended. No feeds are updated on an expired account. See Billing and plan changes.

The feed needs a feature your plan doesn't include. On the Basic plan, the feed's page shows Updates paused — Google News feeds require a Plus or Business plan or Updates paused — headless browser fetching requires a Plus or Business plan. For the headless browser, turn off Use headless browser on the Full text tab to resume updates; otherwise upgrade. See Plans and limits.

It isn't due yet. A feed is checked as often as its Checked every setting on the Source tab says, but never more often than your plan allows: every hour on Basic, every 30 minutes on Plus and every 15 minutes on Business. Last fetched, under Meta on the Source tab, shows when it was last checked.

The source has nothing new, or can't be read. In Event Logs, filter by the feed and Feed Fetches. If recent fetches show Success with 0 items added, Feed Control checked the feed but found no new items. Either the source hasn't published anything new, or Feed Control couldn't read it. Open the feed's URL in your browser to check it still works and has recent items. If the source has moved, click Edit on the Source tab and update Feed URL.

The fetch failed. A Failed fetch with Something went wrong on our side while updating this feed. is a problem on Feed Control's side. Fetches aren't retried, but the feed is checked again at its next scheduled time. If it keeps happening, contact support.

To check a feed straight away, open it and choose Actions > Fetch Feed Items. Fetches you start this way don't appear in Event Logs.

Items are missing#

They were filtered out. Filtered items stay in the Feed Items tab but aren't published to your generated RSS or JSON, widgets or integrations. On the Feed Items tab, set Filter by visibility to Filtered to see them. Change the feed's filters, or select an item and choose Change visibility > Keep visible - ignore feed filters. After changing filters, choose Actions > Re-filter Feed Items to apply them to existing items. See Filters and curation.

The feed is in curation mode. Only the items you pick appear in its generated RSS and JSON, and integrations don't send anything for a feed in curation mode. See Filters and curation.

They're still being processed, or extraction failed. Items whose Status on the Feed Items tab is processing or failed aren't published yet. See Full text is missing or wrong.

The source published more than 15 items between checks. Each check looks at the first 15 items in the source feed, which are usually the newest. If the source publishes faster than that, check it more often with Checked every, if your plan allows.

Feed Control has already seen the item. An item is only added if the feed doesn't already have one with the same GUID (or, if the source gives no GUID, the same link, or the same title if there's no link). Items aren't dropped just because they share a link with another item, but a source that reuses GUIDs for new articles will have those articles skipped.

Your generated feed has an item limit. Generated RSS and JSON include 10 items by default. Raise Number of items to include on the Generate RSS/JSON tab, up to your plan's maximum. See Generating RSS or JSON.

They're older items. Feed Control keeps the 100 most recent items for each feed, and the full content of the 50 most recent. See Managing feed items.

You deleted an item and it came back. A deleted item is added again if it's still in the source feed at the next check. To keep an item out, hide it instead: select it and choose Change visibility > Hidden - ignore feed filters.

Full text is missing or wrong#

Full-text extraction is off. Turn on Fetch full text on the feed's Full text tab. See Full-text extraction.

Extraction failed. In Event Logs, filter by the feed and Extractions. A failed extraction shows Couldn't extract the full text of this article., and the item's Status on the Feed Items tab shows failed. Extractions are retried automatically; to try again now, click Retry Event on the event, or select the items on the Feed Items tab and choose Actions > Re-fetch content.

The page needs JavaScript to show its content. Turn on Use headless browser on the Full text tab.

Plus and Business plans: the headless browser and new site configs aren't available on Basic.

The wrong part of the page is extracted. Use Site config (advanced) on the Full text tab to say which part of the page holds the article, or what to strip. See Full-text extraction.

The site blocks Feed Control or shows a consent page. Try Use proxy on the Source tab, or a site config http_header line to send a different user-agent or a cookie.

You changed settings, but existing items haven't changed. Extraction settings apply to new items. To process existing items again, select them on the Feed Items tab and choose Actions > Re-fetch content.

RSS or JSON output isn't updating#

Output isn't turned on. The Generate RSS/JSON tab says No RSS or JSON generation has been enabled. Click Edit to enable output formats. Click Edit, tick RSS or JSON under Publish, then click Update Feed. See Generating RSS or JSON.

Nothing has triggered a rebuild. Your generated files are rebuilt when the feed gets new items, when you change Publish or RSS Template, and when you choose Actions > Rebuild Feed. Other changes, such as Number of items to include, Feed Title, picking or hiding items, or re-filtering, show up the next time the feed gets new items. To publish them straight away, choose Actions > Rebuild Feed.

Your RSS template isn't included in your plan. The RSS file stops updating if the feed's RSS Template isn't available on your current plan, for example after moving to a smaller plan. Choose a template your plan includes. See Plans and limits.

The upload failed. In Event Logs, filter by the feed and CDN Uploads. A failed upload shows Something went wrong on our side while uploading this feed to the CDN. Uploads are retried automatically; to try again now, click Retry Event.

The items you expect aren't published. Filtered items, unpicked items in curation mode, and items that are still processing or failed extraction are left out. See Items are missing.

Your feed reader hasn't caught up. Click RSS or JSON in the Links row of the Generate RSS/JSON tab to see a preview built from the feed's current items, and compare it with what your reader shows. After a rebuild, allow a minute for the published file to update. Feed readers check feeds on their own schedule.

Webhook deliveries are failing#

Open a failed delivery in Event Logs and read Why it failed and Response. A delivery succeeds when your endpoint answers with any 2xx status code within 30 seconds.

Reason	Fix
Timed out	Respond with a 2xx as soon as the request arrives, and do any slow processing afterwards.
Redirected	Webhooks don't follow redirects. Change the Webhook URL to the final address; the hint shows where your endpoint redirected to.
Not authorised	Your endpoint refused the request (401 or 403). If it needs a token or secret, include it in the webhook URL.
Not found	Nothing answers at that URL (404 or 410). Check the path.
Too large	Items with full article content can be large. Raise your server's request size limit.
Rejected	Your endpoint refused the request. The response body usually says why.
Server error	Your server hit an error (5xx). Check its logs from around the time of the event.
Host not found	Check the URL for typos and that the domain's DNS is set up.
Connection failed	Check the server is running and reachable from the internet on that port, including any firewall or IP allowlist.
TLS/SSL error	Check the certificate is valid, hasn't expired, matches the hostname and includes the full chain.
Blocked address or Invalid URL	Webhooks can only go to http:// or https:// URLs on the public internet. These aren't retried.
Switched off	The integration or its connection is off. See below.

After fixing your endpoint, click Send test webhook on the integration's page to check it works. Retrying an older event sends it to the URL it originally went to, so if you changed the Webhook URL, use a test instead. See Testing and delivery history.

Nothing is being sent at all. If there are no webhook events for new items, check:

• The integration's Active setting is on. On the integration's page, click Edit, tick Active, then click Save.
• The integration is connected to the feed or bundle, and the connection is on: see the Active column in the feed's Alerts/Integrations tab or the bundle's Integrations tab.
• The feed is active and getting new items. Only new items are sent; items already in the feed aren't.
• The items aren't filtered out, and the feed isn't in curation mode.
• If the connection is off and won't switch back on, your plan has no room for another active connection. On Basic you can have one active webhook connection. See Plans and limits.

See Setting up a webhook for the full setup.

Slack or Discord posts aren't arriving#

Plus and Business plans: Slack and Discord integrations aren't available on Basic.

Filter Event Logs by Slack or Discord and open a failed event.

Reason	Fix
App not in channel (Slack)	Invite the Feed Control app to the channel, or pick another channel.
Not authorised (Slack)	Slack no longer accepts Feed Control's access to the workspace. Connect Slack again. See Slack.
Not found (Slack)	The channel has been deleted or archived. Pick another channel.
Not authorised (Discord)	The Feed Control bot can't post in the channel. Check it's still in your server and allowed to send messages there. If the hint says the bot isn't authorised, contact support. See Discord.
Not found (Discord)	The channel no longer exists. Pick another channel.
Rate limited	Slack or Discord is limiting requests. The delivery is retried automatically.
Missing setting	The integration is missing a setting, such as a token or channel. Connect it again, or edit the integration.

If there are no events at all, go through the checks under Nothing is being sent at all: they apply to Slack and Discord too.

A widget isn't showing#

The widget says "Failed to load feed". The page couldn't load the widget's data. Open the widget in Feed Control, click Copy Code and replace the code on your page with it. Both parts are needed: the div with data-widget-id and the script tag. See Widgets.

The widget shows no items, or fewer than you expect. The widget shows the feed's published items, so filtered, processing and failed items aren't included. If Require image is ticked, items without an image are left out. Check the Items setting, too.

The widget doesn't show new items. A widget's data is refreshed when its feed gets new items, but only while the widget's Active setting is on. Check the widget is active and that its feed is updating (see A feed isn't updating). To refresh it straight away, open the widget, click Edit, then Save. Refreshes after the feed gets new items appear in Event Logs as CDN Uploads events for the widget. If you deleted the widget and created a new one, replace the code on your page: the old code doesn't update any more.

Still stuck?#

Contact support. Include the feed or integration's name and, if you have one, the number of a failed event from the top of its details screen (for example Event Log #1234).