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Asteris for WordPress — Recovery guide

Asteris for WordPress — Recovery guide

Site broken after activating a module? wp-admin not loading? Here’s how to recover, in order of how disruptive each step is. Start at the top — most issues resolve at step 1 or 2.

Quick decision tree

SymptomStart here
wp-admin still loads, but a specific module is misbehavingStep 1 — Safe Mode (URL token)
wp-admin still loads, you want to disable all modules to isolateStep 1 — Safe Mode (URL token) or Step 2 — persistent Safe Mode
wp-admin won’t load (white screen, fatal error before login)Step 3 — WP-CLI
You have no SSH / WP-CLI access, only FTPStep 4 — Rename plugin folder via FTP
Site fully unresponsive, even FTP not helpingStep 5 — Contact [email protected] with your hosting panel access details

Step 1 — Safe Mode via URL (one-shot bypass)

If you can still log into wp-admin, Safe Mode lets you suspend ALL Asteris modules for a single request. License + admin shell + WP-CLI continue to load — you stay in Pro/Agency/Founder tier through the recovery flow.

  1. SSH into your server or open your hosting panel terminal
  2. Run: wp asteris safe-mode token
  3. Copy the printed URL (looks like https://your-site.com/?asteris_safe_mode=Xa9bK2mN…)
  4. Paste into your browser
  5. For THAT request only, all Asteris modules are bypassed — site renders without Asteris features
  6. Use this to confirm Asteris is the source of the issue before flipping the persistent flag

Security note: the token is auto-generated and site-scoped. Don’t post it in public forums. If it leaks, rotate via wp asteris safe-mode rotate-token.

Step 2 — Persistent Safe Mode (modules suspended until you re-enable)

If you’ve confirmed Asteris is the source and want to keep modules off while you troubleshoot:

wp asteris safe-mode enable

This sets a persistent flag. Every page load skips Asteris modules. wp-admin shows an orange warning banner so you know it’s active.

When you’ve fixed the underlying issue (deactivated the problem module, fixed the conflict, etc.):

wp asteris safe-mode disable

Modules return to normal. Or click the Disable Safe Mode button in the admin warning banner.

Status check:

wp asteris safe-mode status
wp asteris status          # also shows Safe Mode state

Step 3 — WP-CLI deactivate (wp-admin won’t load at all)

If wp-admin is fully broken (white screen of death, fatal PHP error before login renders):

wp plugin deactivate asteris-for-wordpress

Site comes back without Asteris loaded at all. Log in normally. Once you’ve diagnosed the root cause, reactivate:

wp plugin activate asteris-for-wordpress

If you immediately need just to isolate one module before deactivating the whole plugin:

wp option get asteris_enabled_modules
wp option update asteris_enabled_modules '<json-with-the-bad-module-removed>' --format=json

Step 4 — Rename plugin folder via FTP / SFTP / file manager

No CLI access? Most hosts give you SFTP or a file-manager in cPanel.

  1. Connect via FTP / SFTP / hosting file manager
  2. Navigate to wp-content/plugins/
  3. Rename asteris-for-wordpress/ to asteris-for-wordpress.broken/
  4. WordPress auto-detects the missing plugin folder on next page load and deactivates the plugin
  5. wp-admin loads — log in normally
  6. Once the underlying issue is identified, rename the folder back: asteris-for-wordpress.broken/ → asteris-for-wordpress/
  7. Go to wp-admin → Plugins → click Activate on Asteris for WordPress

Caveat for sister-plugin users: if you also have Asteris for WooCommerce installed and the two share modules via the vendored shared/ architecture, renaming the asteris-for-wordpress/ plugin folder will only disable WP-specific modules. Shared modules (SEO + AI, Analytics, Links, AI library, Activity Log + Site Health) will continue running from the WC plugin. Usually this is what you want — but if a shared module is the culprit, you’ll need to rename asteris-for-woocommerce/ too.

Step 5 — Last resort: contact support

If steps 1–4 don’t restore access:

Email [email protected] with:

  • A description of what happened, including which module you most recently activated/configured
  • The exact error message (screenshot or copy-paste)
  • Your hosting environment (host name, PHP version if you know it)
  • Whether you can access SFTP or any kind of file manager
  • Your site URL

We’ll respond within your tier’s first-response SLA. For severe outages on Pro / Agency / Founder tiers, we’ll prioritise — flag “site down” in the subject line so it routes to the priority queue.

License continuity during recovery

Important: Safe Mode does NOT affect your license state. Pro / Agency / Founder access is preserved through the entire recovery flow. The license check fires BEFORE the module loader, so safe-mode bypass doesn’t accidentally drop you to Free tier mid-troubleshoot.

If you needed to do Step 4 (rename plugin folder), the license stays bound to your site instance. After you rename the folder back and reactivate, the license picks up where it left off — no re-activation needed.

If you somehow ended up needing to deactivate via Plugins screen (which clears the LS activation slot via register_uninstall_hook), you’ll need to re-enter your license key after reinstalling.

Activity Log — coming in v1.1

In Asteris for WordPress v1.1, every settings change and bulk operation will be logged with one-click undo (Asteris Undo). This means most “I changed something and now the site looks wrong” issues will resolve in seconds without needing this recovery guide.

Until v1.1 ships, the steps above are the recovery path.

See also