Connect a WordPress site

This page covers the connection flow in detail. For a 2-minute happy-path, see Quick-Start.

How the connection works

When you connect a site, Hubbee and the WordPress plugin exchange a one-time onboarding token to mutually authenticate. After the handshake:

• The plugin stores an encrypted api_secret used for HMAC-signed pushes
• The dashboard stores the site’s REST endpoint URL and metadata
• A heartbeat cron job (default every 5 minutes) reports the site’s status

The onboarding token is single-use and expires after 1 hour. Once used, it cannot be reused — even on the same site.

Standard flow (wordpress.org plugin)

Recommended for production sites:

1. Hubbee dashboard → Sites → Add Site
2. Enter a friendly name (only visible inside Hubbee, never on your WP site)
3. Click Generate Code → copy the hb_onb_… token
4. WP Admin → Plugins → Add New → search “Hubbee” → Install Now → Activate
5. WP Admin → Hubbee → Settings → paste the connection code → Connect
6. Page reloads showing Connected within 2-3 seconds

Manual ZIP install (no internet / staging)

For air-gapped environments or staging hosts without wordpress.org access:

1. In the Add Site dialog, click Download plugin ZIP
2. WP Admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → choose ZIP
3. Install Now → Activate
4. Continue with steps 5-6 above

The manual plugin is identical to the wordpress.org version — same code, same auto-update mechanism. The only difference is the initial install path.

Staging environments

You can connect both staging.example.com and example.com as separate sites:

• Each gets its own connection code
• Each maintains its own api_secret
• Push to one without affecting the other
• Use bulk push to send the same content to both after staging review

Warning: Don’t clone a connected staging site’s database to production. The cloned plugin will inherit the staging api_secret, which Hubbee will reject. Always re-run Connect on the new environment.

WordPress Multisite (network) installs

Hubbee treats each subsite of a Multisite as a separate connected site. Network-activate the plugin once at the network level, then run the Connect flow on each subsite individually.

The plugin only modifies the active subsite’s database — never the network meta. You can connect 3 subsites of a 10-site network without affecting the other 7.

Connection code doesn’t work

If pasting the code returns “Invalid or expired”:

• Did you wait more than an hour? Tokens expire after 60 minutes. Generate a fresh one.
• Did you copy a previous code? Tokens are single-use. Generate a fresh one.
• Are there hidden whitespace characters? Copy-paste from the dashboard, not from email forwards. Trim whitespace before pasting.

If the code is fresh and unused but still fails, see Plugin shows offline.

What happens next

Within 2-3 seconds of pressing Connect:

• The plugin creates two database tables: wp_bz_tokens and wp_bz_processed_requests
• An encrypted api_secret is stored in wp_options
• A hubbee_heartbeat cron schedule is registered
• The bz/v1 REST namespace becomes available for inbound pushes

You can now push your first content token. For ongoing health checks, see Site health & monitoring.