Watchful communicates with your WordPress and Joomla! websites to collect site information, monitor uptime, perform security checks, and manage updates.
Firewalls and security tools can sometimes block these connections, causing validation errors, failed operations, or incorrect monitoring results.
If Watchful cannot communicate with one or more of your websites, you may need to allowlist Watchful’s IP addresses or user agents in your firewall or security software.
When is allowlisting required?
Allowlisting may be necessary if you experience any of the following:
- Watchful cannot connect to or validate your website.
- Site information is not updating in the
Sites Dashboard. - Website updates or security scans fail unexpectedly.
- Uptime monitoring reports that an otherwise accessible website is offline.
- Several websites hosted on the same server experience similar connection problems.
These issues can occur when requests from Watchful are blocked by:
- A cloud-based web application firewall (WAF), such as Cloudflare or Sucuri.
- A server firewall, such as ConfigServer Security & Firewall (CSF).
- A WordPress security plugin, such as Wordfence or Defender.
- A Joomla! security extension, such as Admin Tools or RSFirewall.
- Security or bot-protection rules configured by your hosting provider.
Watchful IP addresses
Watchful uses multiple IP addresses to communicate with managed websites and monitor uptime from different geographic locations.
The definitive list of Watchful IP addresses is always available here: https://app.watchful.net/ip-v4.txt
At time of writing, the published list includes:
34.250.7.114/32
34.250.132.64/32
54.216.138.100/32
54.216.114.117/32
3.64.51.169/32
54.193.88.250/32
52.62.227.180/32
54.207.182.59/32
15.188.66.58/32
13.50.31.157/32
3.98.253.172/32Each address uses CIDR notation. The /32 suffix identifies a single IPv4 address rather than a range of addresses.
We recommend using the published list as your source of truth, particularly when configuring firewall rules or automated allowlists.
The list may change as Watchful’s infrastructure evolves.
Automatically updating your allowlist
If you manage your own server infrastructure, you can use the published IP address list to automate firewall configuration.
The following URL returns a plain-text list suitable for processing with scripts or other security management tools:
https://app.watchful.net/ip-v4.txt
Your automation should periodically retrieve the list and update the appropriate firewall rules.
Before applying changes, validate the retrieved list and ensure that an unsuccessful download does not remove existing firewall permissions.
Watchful user agents
In addition to IP addresses, Watchful identifies some requests using HTTP user-agent strings.
These identifiers help distinguish Watchful requests from other automated traffic.
Watchful uses the following user-agent identifiers:
Watchfulli/1.0— Used by the Watchful monitoring bot to communicate with managed websites.WebsiteOps— Used for website uptime monitoring.
Additional information about the Watchful monitoring bot is available: watchful.net/bot-info/
Allowlisting user agents is not normally required. However, some hosting providers and security tools use bot-detection rules that may block automated requests.
If your firewall logs show that Watchful requests are being blocked because of their user agent, you may need to create an appropriate exception.
IP-based rules are generally preferable when available because HTTP user-agent strings can be imitated by other clients.
Where to configure your allowlist
Depending on your hosting environment, you may need to allowlist Watchful at more than one level.
Cloud-based firewalls
Services such as Cloudflare and Sucuri can block requests before they reach your web server.
If you use a cloud-based firewall, check its security event logs for requests originating from Watchful IP addresses.
Server firewalls
Your server or hosting provider may restrict traffic based on source IP addresses.
If you manage your own server, review its firewall rules. Otherwise, contact your hosting provider and request that the published Watchful IP addresses be allowed.
WordPress and Joomla! security software
Security plugins and extensions may block requests even when your cloud and server firewalls permit them.
Check the security logs and allowlist settings of any security software installed on your website.
Firewall configuration instructions
For detailed instructions on configuring IP allowlists in common hosting and firewall environments, see:
When creating exceptions, limit them to the rules and resources required for Watchful to operate. Avoid disabling unrelated security protections or bypassing your entire firewall unnecessarily.
Testing the Watchful connection
After updating your firewall or security settings:
- Return to the Watchful
Sites Dashboard. - Locate the affected website.
- Refresh its site data.
- Confirm that Watchful can connect and retrieve the latest information.
- Retry any operation that previously failed, such as a security scan or website update.
If you modified firewall settings to resolve an uptime monitoring problem, check the monitor again after the changes take effect.
Troubleshooting continued connection problems
If Watchful still cannot communicate with your website after allowlisting its IP addresses, consider the following:
- Verify that you have included every IP address in the published list.
- Check whether another firewall or security layer is blocking the connection.
- Review firewall logs for blocked requests or bot-protection challenges.
- Confirm that the website URL configured in Watchful is correct.
- Check whether your hosting provider applies additional security restrictions.
For additional troubleshooting steps, see: Troubleshoot site connection problems
If the problem persists, contact Watchful support and include the affected website URL, any error messages, and relevant firewall log entries.