{
  "id": 17036628,
  "title": "Activate WP_DEBUG and read debug.log without breaking the site in production",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/activer-wp-debug-et-lire-debug-log-sans-casser-le-site-en-production",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-29T09:00:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/creebs/activer-wpdebug-et-lire-debuglog-sans-casser-le-site-en-production-4m7j"
  },
  "original_language": "fr",
  "account": "WordPress has a setting that writes errors to a file instead of displaying them, which is crucial for debugging issues without revealing sensitive information to visitors. To enable this, users must define three constants in wp-config.php: WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG, and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY. The WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY constant is often overlooked but is essential in production, as it prevents errors from being displayed on the site. The debug log file, located in wp-content/debug.log, can grow indefinitely and potentially expose sensitive information, so it should be deleted after use.",
  "summary": "A site that crashes without saying anything is a site that is hiding the answer from you. WordPress knows about it, it simply refuses to display it, and this is intentional: showing a PHP trace to your visitors would reveal your file paths and software versions. There is a setting that writes the error to a file instead of displaying it. That's the one you need, not the other one. The three constants, and…",
  "key_points": [
    "Activate WPDEBUG and set WPDEBUGLOG to true in wp-config.php",
    "Disable WPDEBUGDISPLAY to prevent errors from showing to visitors",
    "Check debug.log for Fatal, Warning, and Notice messages to diagnose issues"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Configuring error logging to a file rather than the browser allows developers to diagnose critical site failures without exposing sensitive system paths or software versions to public visitors.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}