“Past-due actions found;
something may be wrong”

Search wp-config.php for this line:

define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );

Either delete that line, or — better on a busy store — keep it and add a real cron job in your hosting panel, so the queue runs on a schedule you control:

*/5 * * * * curl -s https://your-site.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

Tools → Site Health. Look for “Your site could not complete a loopback request.”

• Remove HTTP basic auth, or allowlist your own server’s IP
• Check any security or firewall plugin for a rule blocking self-requests
• If you can’t unblock it, use the real server cron job from cause 1 — it doesn’t depend on loopback

WooCommerce → Status → Scheduled Actions → Failed. Note the hook name, which tells you which plugin owns the broken job:

Update that plugin first. If it’s already current, turn on WP_DEBUG_LOG and read wp-content/debug.log while a batch runs — the fatal error names the file. Then take the hook name and the error to that plugin’s support forum.

Note the past-due count, wait ten minutes, and look again. Falling slowly means you’re under-provisioned, not broken. Rising means something is queueing faster than it should — usually one plugin scheduling duplicates.

Raise how much the queue chews through per run:

add_filter( 'action_scheduler_queue_runner_batch_size', function () {
    return 100;
} );

add_filter( 'action_scheduler_queue_runner_concurrent_batches', function () {
    return 3;
} );

Raise these gradually. Set them too high on shared hosting and you’ll trip cause 5 instead.

Look in your PHP error log for timeouts or memory-exhausted fatals with timestamps that match your cron schedule.

Raise the limits if your host allows it, or lower the batch size so each run finishes inside them — the opposite of cause 4, which is why identifying the right cause first matters:

add_filter( 'action_scheduler_queue_runner_time_limit', function () {
    return 120;
} );

SELECT status, COUNT(*) FROM wp_actionscheduler_actions GROUP BY status;

If that query is slow or times out, you’re in this case. Your table prefix may differ from wp_.

Back up the database first. Then delete completed and cancelled rows in batches — never everything at once, and never the pending ones, which are real work waiting to happen:

DELETE FROM wp_actionscheduler_actions
WHERE status IN ( 'complete', 'canceled' )
LIMIT 10000;

Repeat until it stops deleting, then fix whichever cause above created them.