Admin Notifications
Benecaster surfaces notices in two places: the notification bell (🔔) in the top bar, and a persistent bar that appears at the top of Benecaster screens for high-priority conditions. Most notices live only in the bell panel; critical conditions also appear as a full-width bar that stays visible until the issue is resolved.
Notice Tiers
Every notice has a tier that controls where it appears and whether it can be filtered:
| Tier | Color | When it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 🔴 Red | Always shown — cannot be filtered out |
| Warning | 🟡 Amber | Shown unless you’ve set your minimum to Critical only |
| Info | 🔵 Blue | Shown unless you’ve set your minimum to Warning or above |
| Tip | 🟣 Purple | Shown unless you’ve set your minimum to Info or above |
| Marketing | 🩵 Teal | Hidden unless you’ve set your minimum to All |
You can adjust which tiers appear in Settings → Notifications → Minimum notice level. Critical notices are always shown regardless of this setting.
Dismissing Notices
Most notices have a dismiss [✕] button. Dismissal is site-wide — dismissing a notice on one screen clears it everywhere. Some notices are non-dismissible; they remain until the underlying condition is resolved.
The Mark all read button in the bell panel dismisses all currently visible dismissible notices at once.
Notice Catalog
Account and License
Setup wizard incomplete (Tip)
Shown on first activation before the setup wizard is completed. Provides a direct link to start the wizard. Clears automatically once the wizard is finished. Dismissible.
License validation failing (Warning → Critical)
The plugin hasn’t been able to reach the Benecaster license server. Days 1–14: silent fail-open. Day 15: Warning notice appears. Escalates to Critical as the window progresses. Non-dismissible. Clears when the next validation succeeds. See License Status for the escalation schedule.
There is no notice for reaching your plan’s site activation limit. The limit is still enforced, but it is checked on benecaster.com before you are asked to approve the connection — you see the at-capacity screen there, with the option to disconnect an existing site, and you are never sent back to your WordPress admin with an error. You can also free a slot ahead of time from Connected shows on your account page. See Connecting Your Site.
Subscriber Limits
Approaching subscriber limit — 80% (Warning)
Your paying subscriber count has reached 80% of your plan’s limit. Includes a one-click upgrade link. Dismissible, but a dismissal holds for 30 days — if you’re still at 80% or above 30 days later, the notice returns with your current numbers. It also clears itself within two days once your count falls back under 80%, so dismissing it is not the only way to be rid of it.
Approaching token cap — 80% (Warning)
Your total token count (paying + free-tier subscribers) has reached 80% of your plan’s cap. Dismissible on the same terms as the subscriber warning above: a dismissal holds for 30 days and then the notice returns while the condition lasts, and it clears itself within two days once usage falls back under 80%.
Some subscribers are receiving the public feed (Warning)
Shown when one or more subscribers are on your public feed instead of their private feed because your plan’s paying subscriber limit or total token cap has been reached. It reads “Some subscribers are receiving the public feed instead of their private subscriber feed because your plan’s limit has been reached. upgrade your plan to restore private access for all subscribers.”, and upgrade your plan opens Settings → Account. This one is a standard WordPress admin notice at the top of your admin screens, not a bell-panel entry, and only administrators see it. It cannot be dismissed. It is checked at each daily license check and clears at the first check after every subscriber is back on their private feed. See How Subscriber Limits Work for who is moved and how to resolve it.
Show Limits
Show limit reached (Warning)
Your plan’s active show limit is occupied. The Add Show button is disabled. Includes an upgrade link to Multi-Show. Non-dismissible while at limit. Clears if you delete or archive an active show.
Setup and Health Checks
Listener Support: Stripe not connected (Warning)
Listener Support is enabled in your show settings but no Stripe publishable key is configured. Appears weekly while the condition persists. Links to Shows → [show] → Listener Support. Dismissing hides it for 7 days; the check re-runs on the next weekly cycle. Auto-clears when Stripe is connected or the Listener Support intent toggle is turned off.
GeoIP database update available (Info)
A newer version of the MaxMind GeoLite2 database is available. The GeoIP database provides country and region data for subscriber analytics. Dismissible; your existing database remains in use until updated. Links to Settings → Tools → Update GeoIP database.
Email template missing for locale (Info)
One of your supported languages has a template gap — a customized email template exists for your primary locale but has not been created for a secondary locale. One notice per affected language; dismissing one locale’s notice does not dismiss others. Auto-clears when the gap is resolved. Re-evaluates immediately when you add or remove a language in Shows → [show] → Language.
{N} transcript files are attached to “{episode}”, so Benecaster could not pick one automatically. Set the Transcript URL on the episode manually. (Warning)
Fires when an episode has two or more .vtt/.srt/.txt-shaped files attached, so Benecaster’s Podcasting 2.0 transcript auto-fill can’t tell which one to use. One notice per episode, keyed on the episode ID. Dismissible, but its re-surfacing rule is unlike every other notice on this page — there is no weekly cycle and no 7-day dismissal window. The notice is deleted and republished on every save of that episode while the ambiguity persists, so dismissing it and saving again brings it straight back. Clears when the ambiguity does: detach a file down to one (or zero), or set the Transcript URL by hand.
Connect your transcription provider. (Dashboard → Needs attention)
Shown while the Transcription Service add-on is switched on for at least one show and no provider has accepted a saved API key. Add API key → opens Settings → Transcription. It clears itself once the key is verified, and comes back if a later Test connection rejects the key or Benecaster can no longer read it. Dismissible per user. See Setting Up Transcription.
Transcription errors (Warning)
Fires when a Transcription Service job fails. Names up to five failed episodes, newest first, each with the provider’s reason, then …and N more; Open the latest episode opens the newest. When a failure was too many requests at once, it suggests lowering Max concurrent transcription jobs and gives its current value. Dismissible; comes back on the next failure. See Transcription Overview.
Your outbound webhook is failing: the last 3 events could not be delivered, even after retries… (Warning)
Fires when the three most recently finished deliveries on Settings → Webhooks all failed, each after its three attempts. The message names the latest error when there is one, for example HTTP 410. Dismissible. Button “Open webhook settings” opens Settings → Webhooks. Clears by itself when the next event is delivered; a successful Send test event clears it straight away, and so does switching sending off. Never shown on a staging site, which sends nothing. This is the only alert for a failing webhook: nothing is emailed. See Outbound Webhooks.
Security
Unusual failed feed access on {Show} (Warning)
Fires when a show sees 10 or more feed requests in 60 minutes using feed addresses that match no subscriber at all — revoked tokens never count toward this. At most one per show per 24 hours; each occurrence is its own bell entry. Dismissible — dismissing the show’s current alert clears its count and keeps that show quiet for at least an hour, after which a fresh burst of 10 alerts again. Button “What to do” links to Invalid Feed Token Security Alerts. Developers can retune the threshold or window per show with the benecaster_invalid_token_alert_threshold filter.
Remote Notices
Remote notices are delivered by the Benecaster license server during the daily license check. They appear in the bell panel alongside local notices.
Security alerts (Critical)
Issued when a known vulnerability requires immediate action. Non-dismissible. Includes a description of the issue and a link to the resolution.
Feature announcements and release notes (Info)
New features, compatibility updates, and release highlights. Dismissible.
Add-on promotions (Marketing)
Add-on highlights and bundle announcements. Filtered out unless your minimum notice level is set to All.
Remote notices are retired automatically by the license server — they disappear from the bell panel when their expiry date passes, even if not explicitly dismissed.
Persistent Bar Notices
Critical and some warning notices use a persistent bar that spans the top of every Benecaster admin screen. Only the highest-priority active bar notice is shown at once. The bar cannot be dismissed for non-dismissible notices — it clears when the condition resolves.
Conditions that trigger a persistent bar:
- License validation entering the critical escalation window (Day 22+)
- Security alerts from the license server
See Also
Need this built rather than just documented? See our services →
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