Missed schedule WordPress Origin: Application & API Last updated 15 Oct 2026

WordPress: Missed schedule — scheduled posts not publishing (WP-Cron not running)

WP-Cron didn’t fire at the scheduled time, so scheduled posts and tasks (backups, emails, WooCommerce jobs) are late.

Exact message you may see Missed schedulescheduled posts not publishingWP-Cron not running
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Seen on: WordPress

Meaning

WP-Cron runs only when someone visits the site and requires loopback requests to work. Low traffic, DISABLE_WP_CRON without a real cron job, caching, basic auth or blocked loopbacks stop it.

Common causes

  • Low traffic (no visits to trigger cron)
  • DISABLE_WP_CRON true without a server cron
  • Loopback requests blocked (firewall, basic auth, SSL)
  • Full-page caching preventing PHP execution

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Disable WP-Cron and run it from system cron every 5 minutes
  2. Fix loopback requests (Site Health)
  3. Check scheduled events with WP Crontrol or wp cron event list

Detailed fix by platform

Linux

  1. bash
    # crontab -e (as the web user)
*/5 * * * * cd /var/www/html && wp cron event run --due-now >/dev/null 2>&1

WordPress

  1. define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true); // only with the system cron above

How to diagnose

  1. Cron — wp cron event list
  2. Loopback — Site Health status
  3. Config — DISABLE_WP_CRON

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

Where this error sits

Origin: Application & API. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):

403 Forbidden wp-admin — WordPress: 403 Forbidden on wp-admin, wp-login.php or admin-ajax.php (WordPress)403 Forbidden wp-admin404 except homepage — WordPress: 404 Not Found on every page except the homepage (permalinks / .htaccess / Nginx rules) (WordPress)404 except homepageAnother update is currently in progress — WordPress: Another update is currently in progress. (WordPress)Another update is cur…FailedScheduling — Kubernetes: Pod stuck in Pending — FailedScheduling: 0/3 nodes are available (Kubernetes)FailedSchedulingMaintenance mode — WordPress: Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute. (WordPress)Maintenance modePVC Pending — PersistentVolumeClaim stuck in Pending (no persistent volumes available / waiting for first consumer) (Kubernetes)PVC PendingThe REST API encountered an error — Site Health: The REST API encountered an error / Your site could not complete a loopback request (cURL error 28) (WordPress)The REST API encounte…Missed sc…

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