Post detail page fails when WordPress `/users` REST endpoint is disabled

[presidenwashil]

Summary

When using the posts/[slug] page, the app fails with a 404 / TimeoutError if the WordPress REST endpoint /wp-json/wp/v2/users/:id is disabled (which is common in production WordPress setups).

This happens because the template fetches author, category, and featured media via separate REST requests, instead of using WordPress’ _embed=true feature.

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Environment

• Template: 9d8dev/next-wp
• Framework: Next.js (App Router)
• WordPress: Headless CMS
• REST API security: /wp/v2/users endpoint disabled (default on many hosts/plugins)

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Error Output

Error [WordPressAPIError]: WordPress API request failed: Not Found
endpoint: https://example.com/wp-json/wp/v2/users/4
status: 404

and sometimes followed by:

Error [TimeoutError]: The operation was aborted due to timeout

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Use a WordPress site where /wp-json/wp/v2/users/:id is disabled or protected
2. Navigate to /posts → works fine
3. Click on a single post → /posts/[slug]
4. Page fails with 404 or timeout error

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Root Cause

In app/posts/[slug]/page.tsx, the template performs multiple REST requests:

const author = await getAuthorById(post.author);
const featuredMedia = await getFeaturedMediaById(post.featured_media);
const category = await getCategoryById(post.categories[0]);

This assumes all REST endpoints are publicly accessible, which is not true for many WordPress installations, especially /users.

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Expected Behavior

• Post detail page should render correctly even if /wp/v2/users is disabled
• Author, category, and featured media should be resolved from the post request itself

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Suggested Fix

Use WordPress REST API embedding:

/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?slug=example&_embed=true

Then resolve related entities from _embedded instead of separate fetches:

• Author → _embedded.author[0]
• Featured image → _embedded["wp:featuredmedia"][0]
• Categories → _embedded["wp:term"]

This approach:

• Eliminates extra REST requests
• Prevents 404 / timeout errors
• Matches WordPress headless best practices (used by Frontity, Faust.js, etc.)

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Proposed Code Changes (High Level)

• Update getPostBySlug to include _embed=true

• Refactor posts/[slug]/page.tsx to stop calling:

  • getAuthorById
  • getFeaturedMediaById
  • getCategoryById

• Read related data from post._embedded

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Additional Context

This issue does not appear on the posts list page because pagination endpoints work without hitting /users. The issue only occurs on post detail pages.