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WooCommerce logs show what happened when an order, payment, webhook, scheduled task, or other store operation failed. Open WooCommerce > Status > Logs to select a source and date, then search the message fields. If the relevant event is not recorded there, enable or adjust the logger under Logs > Settings; for PHP errors outside WooCommerce’s logger, use WordPress’s separate wp-content/debug.log.
The reliable method is to configure logging, reproduce the failure once, note the exact time and identifiers, and then correlate the matching entries with the customer action. This guide explains that workflow, the file-system and database storage choices, severity levels, fatal-error troubleshooting, and the precautions needed when logs contain customer or payment data.
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What WooCommerce logs contain
WooCommerce’s logger records messages emitted by WooCommerce and many extensions. An entry normally has a timestamp, source, severity, message, and context. The source may identify WooCommerce itself or an extension, gateway, scheduled action, webhook, import/export process, or another subsystem.
A log is most useful when you can match it to one specific event. Record the customer’s action, the order number, the payment gateway, the endpoint or webhook involved, and the time with its time zone. Then search for a stable identifier instead of reading an entire day’s output line by line.
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- Customer action: for example, clicking Place order or opening a customer account page.
- Order identifier: the order number or internal ID, if available.
- Integration: the payment gateway, shipping extension, tax service, or other plugin name.
- Request identifier: a REST endpoint, AJAX action, webhook name, or distinctive error text.
- Time: the exact local or UTC time at which you reproduced the problem.
A single warning is a clue, not proof of the cause. Check whether the same source and message recur immediately before, during, or after the failed operation.
Open and search the WooCommerce Logs screen
- Sign in to WordPress with an account that can manage WooCommerce.
- Open WooCommerce > Status > Logs.
- Use the log selector to choose the source and date closest to the event. The interface lists file-system logs by source and date.
- Open the selected log and search within its message fields. Search first for the order number, payment gateway, endpoint, plugin slug, webhook name, or a distinctive phrase from the error.
- Compare the entry’s timestamp with the time you recorded. Account for the site’s configured time zone when a log appears to use a different time base.
If several files have similar names, choose the one whose source corresponds to the operation that failed. For a payment failure, begin with the gateway or checkout-related source; for a scheduled task, begin with the scheduled-action or extension source. If no matching source exists, continue with the logger settings and the WordPress debug log described below.
Enable and configure WooCommerce logging
WooCommerce provides logger controls from WooCommerce > Status > Logs > Settings. Confirm that the logger is enabled before reproducing the issue. Then select a storage handler, retention period, and minimum severity threshold.
| Setting | What it controls | Practical choice |
|---|---|---|
| Logger enabled | Whether WooCommerce writes logger entries at all. | Enable it while diagnosing a reproducible problem. |
| Storage | Where entries are saved: File system or Database. | Choose the handler that fits your access, backup, and retention needs. |
| Retention period | How long old entries remain before automatic deletion. | Keep enough history to cover your normal incident-investigation window, then reduce it if storage is constrained. |
| Minimum severity | The lowest level that is recorded. | Use None when you need every severity during a focused investigation; use a narrower threshold afterward to limit noise. |
Setting the threshold to None records all severities. That is useful when an extension emits only notices or debug messages around a failure, but it can create substantial volume on a busy store. Capture the incident, review the result, and restore the normal threshold when troubleshooting is complete.
Reproduce only once, with a record of the event
- Write down the current time, including whether you are using UTC or local time.
- Record the affected order number, customer-facing URL, endpoint, gateway, and extension involved.
- Perform the failing action once, avoiding repeated test orders that make the sequence harder to interpret.
- Return to WooCommerce > Status > Logs and select the source and date covering that time.
- Search by the recorded identifier and inspect entries immediately around the failure.
On a production store, use a controlled test order or staging copy when possible. Repeated retries can trigger duplicate payment attempts, duplicate webhooks, or rate limits, while also flooding the log with unrelated retries.
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Understand WooCommerce severity levels
WooCommerce uses eight severity levels. Read the level together with the message and context; a low-severity message can still identify the failing component, while a high-severity entry may be a consequence of an earlier problem.
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|---|---|
| emergency | A severe condition requiring immediate attention; look for a store-wide or core operation impact. |
| alert | A condition that needs prompt action to prevent continued disruption. |
| critical | A serious failure in a component or operation; correlate it with the request that failed. |
| error | An operation did not complete as expected. Check the message, source, and preceding entries for the triggering condition. |
| warning | A potentially harmful or abnormal condition. Confirm whether it repeats at the failure time before treating it as the root cause. |
| notice | An informative condition about an unusual or noteworthy state. |
| info | Normal operational information that can help establish the sequence of events. |
| debug | Detailed diagnostic information, often useful only while investigating a specific problem. |
Read the context, not just the headline
Start with five fields: timestamp, source, severity, message, and context. Ask whether the timestamp aligns with the customer’s click, a checkout request, a webhook delivery, a scheduled task, or an import/export job. Then identify the first unusual entry in the sequence. A later “payment failed” message may merely report a timeout that appears a few lines earlier.
Search for identifiers that remain stable across entries. An order number is usually more useful than a customer’s display name; a gateway name or REST route is more useful than a generic word such as “failed.” Copy the exact error text into the search box when the interface supports it.
Choose between file-system and database storage
WooCommerce has two built-in log storage methods. The choice affects where entries live, how retention works, and how you access or back them up.
| Characteristic | File system | Database |
|---|---|---|
| Default location | The site’s uploads/wc-logs directory. |
The {$wpdb->prefix}woocommerce_log table. |
| Retention deletion | WooCommerce deletes whole files that are older than the retention period. | WooCommerce deletes individual old entries. |
| Rotation | Files can rotate at 5 MB. | No corresponding file-rotation behavior applies because entries are stored as rows. |
| Access considerations | Useful for administrators or hosts who work with files, but permissions must allow WordPress to write them. | Useful when database backup and query access are part of the operating procedure. |
| Effect of changing handlers | Existing entries stay with the file handler. | Existing entries stay with the database handler. |
Changing the storage method does not migrate existing entries to the new handler and does not delete the old history. If an incident began before the change, inspect the previous location or handler as well as the current one.
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File-system security and permissions
WooCommerce adds an .htaccess file intended to protect the wc-logs directory, but not every web server recognizes that file. When your hosting setup allows it, place logs outside the web root. Keep permissions configured so WordPress can write new entries without making the files publicly downloadable.
Do not assume that a browser request to a log URL is safe merely because an .htaccess file exists. Ask the host how its web server handles directory rules, and verify that direct access is blocked. Logs may contain order data, email addresses, request details, tokens, or other sensitive values.
Retention and storage planning
Retention removes old data to save space. With file storage, deletion happens at the file level; with database storage, deletion happens per old entry. Set a period long enough to investigate normal incidents, but do not retain verbose debug output indefinitely on a busy production site. Export or preserve only the sanitized entries needed for an active incident.
When the problem is outside WooCommerce’s logger
Some PHP failures occur before WooCommerce can write a logger entry, or they originate in WordPress or another plugin. WooCommerce’s maintained debugging instructions recommend enabling WordPress’s debug log while hiding errors from visitors.
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Fatal errors and blank pages
If checkout produces a fatal error, a blank page, or an HTTP 500 response and WooCommerce Logs show only a symptom—or nothing—check wp-content/debug.log for the PHP file, plugin, class, or line that failed. Match its timestamp to the checkout attempt. A server-level PHP or web-server failure may not appear in either WooCommerce’s logger or WordPress’s debug file, so ask the host for PHP and web-server logs covering the same timestamp.
Investigate payment and checkout failures
Use a layered workflow rather than assuming every failed payment is a gateway problem.
- Confirm the event. Record the order number, checkout URL, gateway, customer action, and exact time.
- Check WooCommerce Logs. Select the relevant source and search for the order number, gateway name, or distinctive error phrase.
- Trace the sequence. Read entries before and after the failure. Look for a timeout, rejected request, missing configuration value, authentication error, or webhook response that precedes the final failure message.
- Check the gateway’s own logger. If no gateway-specific entry exists in WooCommerce Logs, the extension may have a separate logging switch. Enable that option according to the extension’s settings, reproduce the event, and inspect its log.
- Check WordPress and server layers. If WooCommerce records only the symptom, inspect
wp-content/debug.logand request the host’s PHP/web-server records for the same time. - Stop and secure the evidence. Redact customer details, payment information, API keys, and tokens before sending excerpts to a developer, host, or extension support team.
Do not repeatedly retry a live card transaction merely to generate a log. Use a sandbox or a controlled test path when the gateway provides one, and verify that a failed attempt did not create a successful authorization or duplicate order.
Use Query Monitor when the log shows only the symptom
WooCommerce’s debugging resources recommend Query Monitor for deeper inspection in a staging or development context. It can show database queries, PHP errors, AJAX and REST requests, hooks and actions, enqueued scripts and styles, and HTTP API calls.
Use it when a WooCommerce entry identifies an operation but not the reason it failed. For example, an entry may show that a checkout request returned an error; Query Monitor can help determine whether a database query, hook callback, REST request, or outbound HTTP call failed first. Keep this work off a customer-facing production session whenever possible because diagnostic output can expose sensitive data and add overhead.
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Common logging problems and their fixes
No new entries appear
- Verify that the logger is enabled in WooCommerce > Status > Logs > Settings.
- Check that the minimum severity is not filtering out the message; temporarily choose None for a focused reproduction.
- Confirm that the selected storage handler is the one you are inspecting.
- For file storage, ask the host to verify that the web server user can write to
uploads/wc-logs. - If the failure is a PHP fatal error outside WooCommerce, inspect
wp-content/debug.loginstead.
The log list does not contain the old incident
Check whether the retention period removed it. If the site changed from file-system to database storage—or the reverse—inspect the old handler because changing storage does not migrate entries. File logs may also have rotated at 5 MB, so look for the adjacent file covering the earlier time.
A gateway log is missing
WooCommerce’s logger is used by many extensions, but an extension can expose a separate logging switch. Check the gateway extension’s settings, enable its logger for the reproduction, and search both its own output and WooCommerce Logs.
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The log is too noisy
Search by an order ID, gateway name, endpoint, plugin slug, or exact error phrase instead of scanning every line. After collecting the required evidence, raise the minimum severity from None and turn off temporary WordPress debugging so routine traffic does not create an unmanageable volume of data.
Sharing a log reveals private information
Copy only the entries needed to explain the failure. Remove names, email addresses, billing or shipping details, payment references, authorization headers, API keys, session identifiers, and any other personal or secret values. Never publish a raw log in a support forum or ticket.
A repeatable incident checklist
- Write down the exact reproduction time and time zone.
- Record the order number, endpoint, gateway, extension, and customer action.
- Confirm logger status, storage handler, retention, and severity threshold.
- Open WooCommerce > Status > Logs and select the matching source and date.
- Search for a stable identifier, then read timestamp, source, severity, message, and context together.
- Check for a repeated message and identify the earliest abnormal entry.
- If WooCommerce has no usable entry, inspect
wp-content/debug.log. - For deeper diagnosis, use Query Monitor in staging or obtain host PHP/web-server logs.
- Redact sensitive data before sharing excerpts.
- Restore normal severity, WordPress debug, and display settings after the incident.
This process gives you a time-correlated record instead of a guess: first establish whether WooCommerce recorded the event, then determine which layer—extension, WordPress, PHP, database, HTTP request, or server—failed first.
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