Triage Routes: What Each One Means

What a triage route is #

After Loupely diagnoses what broke on your site, it gives you a triage route: the specific path forward based on what it found. This isn’t a generic checklist. The route is determined by the failure class Loupely identified in your capture, which means it’s pointed at the actual cause rather than a list of things to try.

There are 5 triage routes. Here’s what each one means, what it looks like in practice, and exactly what to do when you get it.

Route 1: Rollback #

Something changed recently and the change caused the failure. Loupely identified a signal that connects the problem to a recent plugin update, WordPress Core Update, theme change, or settings modification.

What the triage step tells you: which plugin, theme, or update to roll back. It’s specific, not vague.

How to act on it:

1. Go to your WordPress Dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
2. Find the plugin Loupely named and click Deactivate.
3. Test the functionality that was broken. If it works, the plugin is the confirmed cause.
4. You can either leave the plugin deactivated and contact the developer, or use a plugin like WP Rollback to install the previous version while you wait for a fix.

If the rollback applies to a WordPress Core Update rather than a plugin, the triage step will say so and give you the specific path. Core rollbacks are more complex than plugin rollbacks and the triage will recommend contacting your hosting provider if you’re not comfortable doing it manually.

Route 2: Plugin conflict #

2 or more active plugins are interfering with each other. Loupely identified a hook conflict, a JavaScript collision, or a REST API interference pattern between specific plugins.

What the triage step tells you: which plugins are involved in the conflict, and a recommended isolation sequence.

How to act on it:

1. Start with the plugins Loupely named. Deactivate 1 of them.
2. Test the broken functionality.
3. If it works, that plugin is the conflict source. If not, reactivate it and deactivate the other named plugin.
4. Once you’ve confirmed which plugin causes the conflict when active alongside the others, contact that plugin’s developer with the conflict details. The Loupely capture file gives them everything they need to reproduce and fix it.

Route 3: Hosting or server configuration #

The failure is rooted in your server environment, not your WordPress installation. This applies to PHP Memory Limit exhaustion, execution timeouts, server-level file permissions, hosting firewall rules blocking legitimate requests, or PHP version incompatibilities with a plugin you’re running.

What the triage step tells you: the specific server-side issue Loupely found, and language you can send directly to your hosting provider’s support team.

How to act on it:

1. Copy the pre-written message from the triage step.
2. Open a support ticket with your hosting provider and paste the message. It describes the specific configuration issue and asks for the specific change needed.
3. You don’t need to understand the technical details to send it. The message is written for a hosting support agent, not for you to interpret.

Route 4: Cache clear #

A caching layer is serving stale content that conflicts with current site state. This is common after plugin updates, settings changes, or theme modifications where your changes aren’t appearing because an old cached version is being served instead.

What the triage step tells you: which caching layers are most likely involved (WordPress caching plugin, CDN, server-level cache, browser cache).

How to act on it:

1. WordPress caching plugin: find your caching plugin in the admin toolbar or under its settings menu and click the clear cache option. LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, and WP Fastest Cache all have this option in slightly different places, but it’s always 1 or 2 clicks.
2. CDN cache (Cloudflare, etc.): log in to your CDN provider’s dashboard and purge the cache for the affected URLs or purge everything.
3. Browser cache: press Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Delete (Mac) in Chrome, select Cached images and files, and clear.
4. After clearing, reload the affected page and test the functionality.

Route 5: Developer handoff #

The failure requires code-level investigation or a fix that can’t be achieved through settings changes alone. Custom code conflicts, database integrity issues, theme code problems, and deeply nested plugin interactions often land here.

What the triage step gives you: a structured capture file download and a pre-written message formatted for developer handoff.

How to act on it:

1. Download the capture file from the popup.
2. Copy the pre-written message from the triage step.
3. Send both to your developer. The message explains the failure in terms they can act on immediately. The capture file contains all the technical evidence they need to locate and fix the problem without asking follow-up questions.

See The Capture File: What’s in It and How to Use It for more on what your developer receives.