The plugin won’t enable — it shows an error about the Site Alias
The master Enable Advally Ads toggle is blocked until a valid Site Alias is saved. The alias is validated by checking that the Adligature CDN returns a response for your site’s ad configuration.
Fix: Use the Connect to Advally button (in the Plugin Configuration card) to auto-populate your alias via OAuth. If you are entering it manually, confirm the alias matches exactly what is in your Advally account — it is the CDN subdirectory slug (e.g., yourforum.com), and it is case-sensitive.
Ads are not showing on my forum
Work through this checklist in order:
- Enable Advally Ads is toggled on under Options → Advally Advertising → Plugin Configuration.
- The green CONNECTED TO ADVALLY banner is visible at the top of the options page. If not, use the Connect button to re-authorize.
- The page you are testing is one that has an assigned ad position (check the Ad Unit Matrix cards — at least one position must be enabled for your user group’s experience level).
- You are not logged in as an administrator who is assigned to the No Ads experience level. Admins often see no ads by design — test in an incognito window or as a guest.
- Check your browser’s developer console for JavaScript errors that might indicate a blocked script. Adblock extensions will suppress ads — test in a clean browser profile.
Ads.txt is not being updated
Check these common causes:
- Enable Ads.txt Management is off. Confirm the toggle is on in Options → Advally Advertising → Plugin Configuration.
- Management mode is set to Manual. Switch to Automatic for the plugin to write the file on its own schedule.
- The ads.txt file is not writable. The plugin shows a permission indicator next to the path. If it is red, your web server process does not have write access to the XenForo webroot. Check file permissions on
/path/to/xenforo/ads.txt(or create the file and grant write access). - Your Site Alias is not set. The ads.txt cron job skips its run if no alias is configured. Connect to Advally first.
- Wait up to 15 minutes. The cron runs every 15 minutes. The first run happens immediately on first save — but only if you saved with Automatic mode enabled.
To force an immediate update, go to Admin → Tools → Cron Entries, find Advally: Update Ads.txt, and run it manually.
The connection is expired or shows a token error
The plugin’s OAuth token is refreshed automatically before expiry. If you see a token-expired error, it typically means the token was revoked on the Advally side (e.g., password change, account suspension, or manual revocation).
Fix: Click the Reconnect button in the green banner at the top of the options page and re-authorize. Your Site Alias, Site ID, and ad settings are not affected.
Can I use the plugin without connecting via OAuth?
Yes. You can enter your Site Alias and Site ID manually in the Plugin Configuration card without using the Connect button. The OAuth connection is required for features that call the Advally API (such as the Beta Feedback Widget), but ad serving, ads.txt management, and user experience assignment all work with just the Site Alias.
Does the plugin work with XenForo 2.2?
The current version (2.6.x) is built for XenForo 2.3+. XenForo 2.2 introduced the xf:lazy template syntax used by the plugin’s script loading, and XenForo 2.3 added the xf:callback attribute syntax used in the Ad Unit Matrix. Running on 2.2 or earlier is not supported and may produce template errors.