I was dealing with a WordPress site and the user wished to use Ulysses which is a macOS-based writing app to write and post to their WordPress blog. When they tried to add their site to Ulysses, they received the following error.
Failed to Connect. Please Verify the URL of your Blog
You can also test XML RPC using the following tool, which you can self-host or find someone who has self-hosted it.
Just be cautious about using real usernames and passwords as the person hosting it might save these and use them maliciously. I used this site for testing.
https://webdogs.com/xml-rpc-validator/
However, I used a random username and password “test/test”. When using the tool on sites that worked with Ulysses, there was no error message. But this particular site showed the following error on the xml-rpc-validator
405 Method not allowed
The site in question was hosted on Siteground, and from what I can tell they don’t block XML-RPC. They do include a file /var/lib/sec/wp-settings.php in the wp-config.php that has some XML-RPC throttling. But that’s it.
After disabling all the plugins on the site, and enabling them one after another. I found that a helper plugin called “Penci Shortcodes & Performance” for the installed theme “Soledad” was the culprit. Penci is the company and Soledad is the theme.
If you go under “Speed Optimization->General & Lazyload” you’ll find the “Remove XML-RPC and RSD Link” option.
Turning this off solved the problem.
You might find that some plugins do more than what they advertise. So it’s always good to go through their code or google further.
Hope this helps!
Jordan Trask
With 20 years of experience in technology spanning Linux, Data Center Infrastructure, and related services and applications, Jordan consults with small, medium, and large organizations tackling technology problems and needs. With 10 years of experience in WordPress, he’s created Managing WP as a means of dumping his brain on the web.
Jordan operates LMT Solutions providing Technology Consulting Services and We Power WP for WordPress Care Plans and Support.
