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Troubleshooting Clariti Plugin Connection

Getting a 403 Forbidden or "Connection not established" error? Start here — most plugin connection failures are caused by a firewall, security plugin, or Cloudflare blocking Clariti's requests.

Written by Jen Lowery

The Clariti WordPress plugin helps verify site ownership and sync content updates in real time. If it's not connected, Clariti may be unable to pull in or track updates from your site.


This article covers the errors you may see during setup or reconnection, including:

  • 403 Forbidden (Code: 403) when you click Test Connection in Clariti

  • "Connection not established. Please check your site settings at Clariti to reconnect the plugin." in your WordPress dashboard

  • The plugin showing as "Not Connected" in Clariti

  • Your site not syncing new or updated posts

The most common cause by far is that something on your site is blocking Clariti's requests to your WordPress REST API — a firewall, a security plugin, or Cloudflare. Start with Step 1 below.

What a 403 error actually means

A 403 means Clariti's servers tried to reach your site and were turned away before the request ever got to WordPress. The Clariti plugin itself never returns a 403 — so if you're seeing one, something in front of WordPress is blocking us.

Usual suspects, in rough order of likelihood:

  • Cloudflare — especially Bot Fight Mode or a WAF rule

  • Security plugins like Wordfence

  • Caching or performance tools like Perfmatters (check that the REST API is enabled)

  • Hosting firewalls or host-level security settings

Important: checking /wp-json in your browser does not prove anything

You may have been told to visit https://yourdomain.com/wp-json to confirm your REST API is available. This test is unreliable and regularly gives a false pass.

Most firewall and bot-protection rules are built to let real browsers through and block automated, server-to-server traffic. Clariti is server-to-server traffic. So /wp-json can load perfectly in your browser while Clariti is being blocked with a 403 on the exact same URL.

If your browser shows /wp-json loading fine but Clariti still reports a 403, trust the 403 and keep going with the steps below.

Step 1: Allow Clariti through your firewall and security tools

Clariti connects to your site from a static IP address:

Clariti IP address: 35.192.123.62

Add that IP to the allowlist in each of these, wherever they apply to you:

  • Your hosting provider's firewall settings

  • Any security plugin's allowlist (Wordfence, etc.)

  • Cloudflare (see below)

If you use Cloudflare:

  1. Go to Security > WAF > Tools

  2. Create a rule to allow requests from 35.192.123.62

  3. Go to Security > Bots and disable Bot Fight Mode

See Set Up Cloudflare to Work with Clariti for detailed steps with screenshots.

Cloudflare settings are per-domain. If you run more than one site, each domain is a separate zone with its own settings. It's very common for one site to connect fine while another fails — that just means the working site's zone is already configured correctly. Compare the two and match the settings.

Once that's done, continue to Step 2 to reconnect.

Step 2: Regenerate and reconnect using a new API key

  1. Disconnect the plugin from the WordPress side

  2. In Clariti Settings, click the action menu (…) and choose "Regenerate API Key"

  3. Copy the new API key exactly as shown (no extra spaces)

  4. In your WordPress dashboard, go to the Clariti plugin settings

  5. Paste in the new API key and save

  6. Click "Test Connection" to verify

Note: if the underlying block hasn't been cleared, regenerating the key will not help — you'll get the same 403 or "Connection not established" message again. Do Step 1 first.

For more details on connecting the plugin, see: How do I upload a Clariti plugin to my WordPress site?

Step 3: Clear the secret key in WordPress

After resetting the API key, clear the secret key to ensure the plugin is fully refreshed.

  1. Go to:
    ​https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=clariti&advanced=true

  2. Click Clear Secret

  3. Return to Clariti and regenerate your API key

  4. Paste the new key into your WordPress plugin settings and try reconnecting

Step 4: Reinstall the Clariti plugin

In some cases, a full reinstall resolves cached settings or configuration issues:

  1. In WordPress, deactivate and delete the Clariti plugin

  2. Reinstall it from the plugin directory

  3. Reconnect using the regenerated API key

  4. Click "Test Connection" in the plugin settings

Important: after reinstalling, always regenerate a fresh API key in Clariti (Step 2) rather than re-pasting your old key — for security reasons, a previously used key can be rejected with a "Cannot modify secret" error.

Still not connecting?

If none of the above steps resolve the issue, reach out to our support team with the following information:

  • Which steps you've already tried

  • A screenshot of the error message and the exact error code

  • Which security, caching, or performance tools you use (Cloudflare, Wordfence, Perfmatters, etc.)

  • Who your host is

  • If you run multiple sites: which ones connect successfully and which don't

Email us at [email protected], and we'll be happy to investigate further!

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