Disconnect and Reconnect

Outcome

You will know the safest order for disconnecting or reconnecting a self-hosted WordPress site from TMXIO, the cases where you should choose one path over the other, and how to confirm that the disconnect or reconnect actually completed on both sides.

This page is specifically about the TMXIO connection. It is not about deleting the WordPress install, removing the plugin’s files, or wiping the site’s database.

Caution

Disconnecting a site does NOT delete the WordPress site or any of its data. It only removes the link between WordPress and TMXIO. The WordPress site, its pages, posts, users, plugins, themes, uploads, and database all stay exactly where they are. If you want to retire a site entirely, disconnect it from TMXIO first and then perform the actual host-level decommissioning separately.

When to Disconnect

Disconnect a site whenever the current TMXIO connection is wrong, stale, or no longer wanted. The common scenarios are:

• The site is being moved to a new host. Disconnect before the migration so the old install does not keep sending heartbeats from the staging environment after cutover.
• The API key in use needs to be rotated. Disconnect to stop the old key from being used in the background, then reconnect with the new key.
• The plugin needs to be reinstalled from scratch. Disconnect cleanly before deleting plugin files so TMXIO does not keep treating the site as a connected install.
• The site is being decommissioned. Disconnect so the dashboard does not show a permanently disconnected entry for a site that is never coming back.
• The site was connected to the wrong workspace. Disconnect, then reconnect to the correct workspace.

When to Reconnect

Reconnect when the WordPress install is still in service but TMXIO no longer trusts the link. The common scenarios are:

• The plugin has lost communication after a host migration, DNS change, or TLS certificate update.
• The site was intentionally disconnected earlier and is being put back into TMXIO monitoring.
• Credentials were rotated and you have a fresh API key to install.
• The site was restored from a backup that pre-dated the original connection.

Disconnect a Site

1. Confirm you are operating on the correct site.

   Open WordPress admin and check the site URL in the address bar. Then open the TMXIO plugin and confirm the account context and workspace the plugin reports match the site you intend to disconnect. It is unfortunately easy to disconnect the wrong staging environment by mistake when several sites share similar branding.

2. Disconnect from the WordPress plugin first.

   Inside the TMXIO plugin’s settings, use the disconnect action. The plugin will reach out to TMXIO, mark the connection as withdrawn, and then clear its local state. Going plugin-first keeps the WordPress-side state and the TMXIO-side record aligned as closely as possible.

   If the plugin reports that the disconnect succeeded but TMXIO still shows the site as connected after a refresh, see the Disconnect tab in External Troubleshooting.

3. Verify the disconnect on both sides.

   In WordPress, the plugin should no longer show a connected state and should be back at the connection-choice screen. In TMXIO, the site should drop out of the active connected-sites list (or be visible only as a historical entry, depending on your dashboard view).

4. Optional: remove the plugin from WordPress.

   If you are retiring the integration entirely, deactivate and delete the TMXIO WordPress Plugin from Plugins in WordPress admin once the disconnect is confirmed. If you might reconnect later, leaving the plugin installed but disconnected is fine.

Reconnect a Site

1. Make sure the WordPress side is ready.

   Confirm the TMXIO WordPress Plugin is still installed and active. If it was deleted, reinstall it before continuing. Confirm the site is reachable in a browser and that /wp-json/ responds without an authentication wall in front of it.

2. Have your credentials ready.

   Decide whether you are reconnecting with an existing TMXIO account login or with a fresh API key. If a key was rotated as part of the disconnect, use the new key. Do not paste an old key that you know has been rotated; the connection will refuse to save and the failure message is less specific than the credential issue itself.

3. Open the plugin and start the connection flow.

   In WordPress admin, open the TMXIO plugin. Because the site is currently disconnected the plugin will present the same connection-choice screen used during the initial setup. Choose either “Create a TMXIO account from WordPress” or “Enter an existing API key”, matching the path your team uses.

4. Pick the right workspace.

   If your TMXIO account can access more than one workspace, the plugin will ask which workspace to attach the site to. Choose carefully — picking the wrong workspace here is the most common cause of immediately disconnecting and reconnecting all over again.

5. Save and run Test Connection.

   Save the connection from the plugin. After the save succeeds, run Test Connection to confirm the round trip works. A successful test almost always means the next scheduled heartbeat will land cleanly too, so the site should appear as healthy in TMXIO within a few minutes.

Reconnect After a Host Move

If you moved a site between hosts and want to reconnect from the new host, the cleanest order is:

1. Cut traffic over to the new host.
2. Confirm the new host’s outbound connectivity by loading any external site in a request from a WordPress shell or a small test plugin.
3. Disconnect the lingering connection from the old install (if it is still reachable) to avoid two installs heartbeating with the same identity.
4. Reconnect from the new host using the same workspace.

If the old host is already gone, that’s fine — TMXIO will eventually mark the old connection as disconnected on its own, and your reconnect from the new host will not collide with it.

What Success Looks Like

Disconnect:

• The plugin no longer shows the site as connected.
• TMXIO no longer treats the site as an active connected site.
• No new heartbeats arrive from the site in TMXIO’s record.

Reconnect:

• The plugin validates and saves the new credentials.
• The site appears in the correct TMXIO workspace.
• Test Connection succeeds and a fresh heartbeat lands within the expected window.

Related Troubleshooting

If disconnect or reconnect fails partway through, use External Troubleshooting and capture the exact message shown in WordPress admin. The wording on the failure is what support uses to figure out whether the problem was on the WordPress side, the network path, or the TMXIO side.