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description=Find and read PHP error logs in WordPress to debug issues. Learn where logs are stored, how to enable them, and what the errors mean.;

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how to find and read your php error logs and debug wordpress meow apps skip to content meow apps plugins neko pass learn contact for ai account 0 how to find and read your php error logs and debug wordpress where to find the php error logs how to turn them on in wordpress and how to read them then the step by step order that finds the bug fastest january 28 2022 october 27 2026 6 min read updated october 2026 something went wrong while you were using a plugin a freeze an endless spinner a button that does nothing or your site shows a blank screen or a critical error checking your php error logs is the first thing to do wordpress is loud about its errors if you let it talk most people don t and they end up guessing the php error log is not your web server s access or error log apache nginx those are about requests to your server the one you want is about php the code wordpress and its plugins run on what is the php error log it s a plain text file where php writes down every problem it runs into programming errors but also memory disk space and timeout issues when a page breaks it almost always tells you why and where don t worry if it s never empty warnings notices and deprecation messages are logged too and most of them are harmless what matters are the lines written at the moment your problem happened and above all the ones that say fatal error your hosting panel plesk cpanel or your host s own system often a logs folder in the file manager meow apps dashboard in every meow apps plugin it reads the log and colors warnings and errors wp config php turn on wp_debug_log and errors go to wp content debug log where to find the php error log in your hosting panel usually you can reach it through the admin panel of your hosting service not the wordpress one it can be plesk cpanel or the host s own system for example siteground open site tools then site then file manager you ll find a folder called logs for php errors specifically look in the public_html folder of the domain for a php errors log file through wordpress directly if you re lucky you can read the log from inside wordpress whether it works depends on your hosting service if the file is not found or is empty logging is probably disabled turn it on with the wp config php settings below if you still can t find it or it stays empty while you have issues ask your hosting service for access to your php error logs good hosts will help you troubleshoot at the same time with the meow apps dashboard every meow apps plugin includes it it s a common library shared by all of them open meow apps dashboard and load the error logs it reads the file php is writing to splits it into separate errors warnings and notices and colors them so the serious ones stand out it s the simplest way to check with a dedicated plugin a few plugins are made just to read the php error log they work like the meow apps dashboard usually a bit simpler they show whatever is in the file you can try error log monitor turn on the php error log through wordpress wordpress can write every error to a file for you as long as your host allows it most do add this to your wp config php file right above the that s all stop editing happy publishing line older files say happy blogging enable wp_debug mode define wp_debug true log errors to the wp content debug log file define wp_debug_log true don t show errors to visitors define wp_debug_display false errors now go to wp content debug log instead of a white screen and wp_debug_display set to false keeps them hidden from visitors while you investigate these are the settings wordpress itself recommends for debugging on many servers anyone who knows the url can open wp content debug log and it can contain file paths and other details about your site turn it off once you re done or give wp_debug_log a file path outside your public folder instead of true wordpress supports this since version 5 1 how to read it each line is one problem when it happened how serious it is what went wrong and exactly where for example 23 oct 2026 08 14 02 utc php fatal error allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted tried to allocate 20480 bytes in wp content plugins some plugin includes import php on line 142 the date tells you if it matches the moment your problem happened old lines are history the type fatal error and parse error stop the page warning notice and deprecated usually don t but they can hint at the cause the message says what went wrong here php ran out of memory the file and line name the culprit the folder after plugins or themes tells you which plugin or theme it is most of the time the error names the culprit directly read it like a sentence not a wall of text the order that finds the bug fastest wordpress is your core install plus a theme plus a pile of plugins plus your own customizations when something breaks it is almost always at the seam between two of those if the log alone doesn t solve it follow this order and don t skip steps the order that finds the bug fastest 1 read the error it names the file and line 2 log errors wp_debug_log in wp config php 3 halve the plugins disable half keep halving 4 check the browser console and network tabs 5 default theme ten minutes to rule out the theme 1 read the error if wordpress shows you an error read it as explained above file line message if you only see there has been a critical error on this website check the admin email inbox wordpress usually sends the full error there with a link to recovery mode so you can still get into your dashboard 2 turn on real error logging no error on screen nothing in the log turn on wp_debug_log as shown above reproduce the problem once and look at the newest lines 3 halve the plugins if the error doesn t name a file the plugin causing it is hiding in your active set the fastest method is bisection disable half your plugins if the problem stops the cause is in the disabled half if not it s in the other one keep halving the guilty half with 30 plugins you find it in about 5 rounds instead of 30 toggles on a live site the health check troubleshooting plugin lets you do this only for yourself while visitors keep seeing the normal site 4 check the browser side too if the page looks broken but the php log is quiet the bug is in javascript or in a failed request open your browser s developer tools and watch the console and network tabs while you reproduce the issue a red request or a javascript exception is usually the bug quick guide here 5 switch to a default theme briefly if everything above came back clean and the bug is still there switch to a default theme like twenty twenty five for ten minutes if the problem vanishes your theme is the cause and now you know it for sure switch back and dig into your theme often its functions php common errors we have written about fix timeout and memory errors fix cookie nonce invalid fix wordpress rest api asking for help with the error in hand once you ve found the error and the plugin behind it you can write a support request that gets results plugin authors fix bugs fast when you give them the exact error line the file and what you were doing it doesn t work leads to a long back and forth line 142 of import php throws this fatal error when i click import often gets fixed the same week still curious where php stores its log on different setups there s a good discussion on stack overflow where does php store the error log written by jordy meow i m a software engineer and photographer living in tokyo i ve been making wordpress plugins since 2011 including ai engine media cleaner and meow gallery now running on more than 350 000 sites jordymeow com instagram what is the php error log where to find the php error log in your hosting panel through wordpress directly turn on the php error log through wordpress how to read it the order that finds the bug fastest 1 read the error 2 turn on real error logging 3 halve the plugins 4 check the browser side too 5 switch to a default theme briefly common errors we have written about asking for help with the error in hand popular articles how to connect claude to wordpress with mcp app desktop claude code how to find and read your php error logs and debug wordpress how to make wordpress faster optimize it meow apps learn how to find and read your php error logs and debug wordpress meow apps meow apps was created by jordy meow a software engineer and photographer based in tokyo so many solutions are available for wordpress today but of uneven quality often oversized and not well supported meow apps aims for perfection by providing tools that will change your wordpress life for the best meow apps en français meow apps 日本語版 docs learn the hidden docs ai engine docs wordpress guides contact support meet the team newsletter plugin news and the occasional discount no spam unsubscribe anytime please leave this field empty check your inbox to confirm your subscription other links terms of use privacy policy meow 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