WordPress REST API (wp-json) returning 404

Symptoms

Can’t connect your site to Kintsu
Visiting yoursite.com/wp-json/ shows “Not Found”
WordPress Site Health shows: “The REST API encountered an unexpected result”
Your homepage works but other pages may not

Cause

Your server’s Apache configuration is ignoring WordPress’s .htaccess rewrite rules. This is common on unmanaged hosting providers like Hetzner, DigitalOcean, and AWS EC2, where Ubuntu ships with AllowOverride None by default.

Quick check

Visit yoursite.com/wp-json/ in your browser. If you see an Apache “Not Found” page instead of JSON data, this guide applies to you.

Fix (if you have SSH access)

Open the Apache config

sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Find the /var/www/ directory block

Look for this block:

<Directory /var/www/>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None

Change None to All:

<Directory /var/www/>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All

Restart Apache

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Re-save permalinks

In WordPress, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes.

Fix (if you don’t have SSH access)

Send this to your hosting provider’s support:

“WordPress REST API URLs (/wp-json/) are returning 404. Please change AllowOverride None to AllowOverride All for the /var/www/ directory in the Apache configuration and restart Apache.”

After fixing

Visit yoursite.com/wp-json/ again — you should see JSON data instead of a 404. Then reconnect your site in Kintsu.

Could not reach the Kintsu API

​Symptoms

​Cause

​Quick check

​Fix (if you have SSH access)

​Fix (if you don’t have SSH access)

​After fixing

Symptoms

Cause

Quick check

Fix (if you have SSH access)

Fix (if you don’t have SSH access)

After fixing