Skip to main content
A channel is an account, Page or group that someone has connected to MagicPost with the network’s own sign-in. Two people can be involved when something breaks: the admin who registered the developer app and entered its keys, and the user who connects an account through it. This page says which of them has to act. For the normal flow, see Connect channels and Publishing channels.

​
How a connection is made

  1. A user selects Add a channel on Channels and picks a network. MagicPost sends them to the network to authorise access.
  2. The network sends them back to {your site}/publishing/{network}/callback, with a one-time code.
  3. MagicPost swaps the code for tokens, reads the account details and saves the channel. If the authorisation covers more than one account, the user picks which ones to connect.
The callback address does not change with the interface language, so it is the same for every user. WhatsApp and Telegram do not use this flow. See WhatsApp and Telegram at the end of this page.

​
Messages after the redirect

When the connection does not complete, Channels shows one of these.

​
”The connect request could not be verified”

MagicPost remembers the connection attempt in the user’s session. The message appears when that session is gone at the return, which happens when:
  • The user opened the site at one address (for example example.com) and the network returned them to another (www.example.com). The two do not share a session. Make the redirect URI, APP_URL and the address people use all the same.
  • The user started the connection in one browser or tab and finished it in another, or started two connections at once.
  • Sessions cannot be saved. Check SESSION_DRIVER and that the sessions table exists.

​
”Connecting failed: …”

The text after the colon names what failed.

​
Redirect URI mismatch

The most common admin mistake. The network compares the address character for character, and refuses the sign-in on its own page, before the user returns to MagicPost.
1

Copy the address from MagicPost

Go to Admin → Publishing → Platforms, select Add credentials (or Edit credentials) on the network, and copy the Redirect URI under What to register.
2

Paste it exactly into the developer console

Add it to the network’s list of redirect, callback or authorised URLs. Do not add or remove a trailing slash, and keep https.
3

Check it

Select Run checks on the network. The Redirect URI line fails with “platforms only accept HTTPS callbacks” when the address is plain http. If it does, fix APP_URL and open the admin panel over https.
The address shown is built from the address you opened the admin panel at. If you copy it while on a different host name than your users use, the console and the real flow disagree. A Custom redirect URI field exists for the rare case where you must register another address. Leave it blank otherwise.
Changing the redirect URI, the keys or the permissions of a developer app does not update channels that are already connected. Users reconnect them.

​
The app is still in review or testing

Until a network approves the developer app, it only lets a few people connect. The setup guide for each network on Admin → Publishing → Platforms says the same. Each network has its own page with the exact console steps: X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

​
Needs reconnect

A channel marked Needs reconnect has lost its authorisation. Posts for it wait on hold and are closed after Wait for a channel for up to hours (24 by default). MagicPost sends the owner a notification titled “Reconnect” followed by the channel’s name. By default it also sends an email, and each person can change that under Settings → Notifications. See Notifications.

​
Why it happens

  • The user signed out of the app on the network, changed their password, or removed MagicPost from their connected apps.
  • The token expired and could not be renewed. MagicPost renews tokens by itself, hourly, when they are due within 24 hours and the network allows it. A network that refuses the renewal marks the channel for reconnection. A network that is only busy or unreachable does not.
  • The admin changed or regenerated the app’s keys, or the app lost a permission. System health then shows “Every … channel needs reconnecting, which usually means the app’s keys or permissions changed. Check the app under Platforms.”
  • A channel with posts due in the next two days is checked about once a day, so a revoked token is usually noticed before a post fails.

​
Reconnect

1

Open Channels

Select Channels, and find the channel marked Needs reconnect.
2

Check the connection

Select Check (or Check again). Connection check shows the authorisation state. If the network now accepts the token, the channel returns to Active by itself.
3

Reconnect

If it still fails, select Reconnect, sign in to the network with the same account as before, and approve the permissions.
4

Confirm

The page says that the channel “is connected.” Posts that were waiting go out shortly.
The same Reconnect button appears on a post that is on hold for that channel.

​
Check connections from SSH

These commands are what the scheduler runs for you. Run them by hand to test a fix.

​
Missing permissions

Each channel remembers the permissions it was connected with. When one that a feature needs is missing, that feature is switched off for the channel instead of failing later. For example, the first comment option disappears in the composer for a channel connected before the comment permission was added to the app. Reconnect the channel to grant the missing permission. If every user has the problem, the admin should check the Permissions asked for list on the platform and the app’s permissions in the developer console. For LinkedIn, changing Kind of app changes the permissions. MagicPost warns that “Changing this later means everyone reconnects their LinkedIn channels.”

​
Admin: a network will not switch on

When you try to switch a network on before saving its keys, MagicPost answers “Add the client ID and secret before enabling …”. Save the Client ID and Client secret first. The network card then shows one of these badges:

​
WhatsApp

WhatsApp numbers connect through a provider, not a redirect. WhatsApp signs a number linked through WAHA or Whapi.Cloud out after about 14 days with the phone offline or the server stopped. Use Reconnect on the channel, see WhatsApp channels. Provider problems are on the WAHA, Whapi.Cloud and Official Cloud API pages.

​
Telegram

Telegram chats connect through a bot, not a redirect. A user links a Telegram account, adds the bot to a chat and, when a linked account is an admin there, the chat becomes a channel. See Telegram channels and Set up Telegram. Under Your Telegram chats on the Connect Telegram page, a chat that is not connected yet shows Waiting with one of these reasons: A channel marked Expired shows why: the bot was removed or lost its rights, or the site’s bot stopped working or was replaced. Add the bot back as an admin, then use Reconnect and Check again. If the bot stopped working for every Telegram channel at once, the administrator has to save a working token first, see Set up Telegram. If a user presses Start and nothing links, or a chat never appears, updates from Telegram are not reaching the site. See Set up Telegram.