Every attempt to write an article – successful or not – is recorded here. This chapter shows you how to use the Log to confirm everything is working and to understand what went wrong when it isn’t.
Overview
The Log screen is your complete history of article generation activity – a permanent record of every keyword that was attempted, which AI model was used, how much it cost in tokens, whether it succeeded, and (if it failed) exactly why. It’s the first place to look whenever something on your Dashboard looks off.
How It Works
Every time the plugin attempts to generate a post – whether from the daily schedule or a manual Generate Now click – it creates one log entry per keyword. That entry is updated as the process runs: it starts, calls the AI, saves the post, generates SEO data and images, and finally marks itself Success or Failed. If something goes wrong at any point, the specific error message is saved directly in that log entry so you don’t have to guess what happened.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Open the Generation Log
Go to AI News Publisher → Log.
2. Scan the Status column
Look down the Status column for any entries marked Failed. A healthy site will show mostly Success entries.
3. Read the Error column on a failed entry
Click into the row or read the Error column directly – it contains a plain description of what went wrong, such as an invalid API key, a rate limit from your AI provider, or a timeout.
4. Check tokens used per entry
The Tokens column shows how much AI usage each article consumed, broken down into text sent in and text received back – useful if you’re watching your AI provider’s billing.
5. Open a successful post from the log
Click the Post link on any successful row to jump straight to that article in the WordPress editor, or use the “View” link to see it live on your site.
6. Filter the log
Use the filter bar at the top to narrow the list by Status (success/failed/pending), Provider, or a search term matching a keyword, model, or error message.
7. Fix and retry a failed keyword
Once you understand the cause of a failure (for example, an expired API key), fix the underlying setting in Connecting Your AI News Engine, then go to Keywords, find that keyword, and click Reset so it gets attempted again on the next run.
Fields Table
| Field Name | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
ID |
A unique number identifying this specific log entry. |
317 |
Keyword |
The topic that was being written about in this attempt. |
central bank interest rate decision explained |
Status |
Whether this attempt succeeded or failed. |
Success / Failed / Pending |
Provider / Model |
Which AI service and model handled this specific attempt. |
openai / gpt-4o |
Tokens |
How much text was processed, split into text sent in and text generated back. |
4,100 (1,300 in / 2,800 out) |
Post |
A direct link to edit or view the resulting WordPress post. |
#958 – Edit / View |
Error |
The plain-language reason a failed attempt did not succeed. |
“Invalid API key provided.” |
Field Explanations
A Pending status usually just means a generation is currently in progress – give it a moment and refresh the page; it should update to Success or Failed shortly.
The Error message is written to be understandable without technical knowledge, but if you’re ever unsure what it means, most errors fall into one of three categories: your API key (See Connecting Your AI News Engine), your AI provider’s account limits or billing, or a temporary connection issue that usually resolves itself on the next attempt.
The log keeps a permanent history, so you can always look back weeks later to confirm exactly when and how any specific article was created – including which language and content type it used.
Tips
- Check the Log at least once a week, especially right after setup, to catch and fix any recurring failures early.
- Use the search box to quickly find every attempt tied to a particular keyword or error type.
- If you see the same error repeating across many entries, fix the underlying cause once – don’t reset and retry each one individually before doing so.
Common Mistakes
- Ignoring repeated Failed entries. The same error repeating across many keywords almost always points to one fixable setting, like an expired API key.
- Resetting a failed keyword without reading the error first. If the underlying problem isn’t fixed, it will simply fail again the same way.
- Never checking the log at all. Since generation runs automatically in the background, this is the only place you’ll reliably notice a quiet failure.