Title: sift.js missing (404 errors)
Last modified: February 13, 2026
---
# sift.js missing (404 errors)
* Resolved [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/)
* Having updated the WooCommerce Tax plugin (folder name woocommerce-services)
to v3.4.1 earlier today, I’m now getting many Apache error log lines like with
a 404 for the file /wp-content/plugins/woocommerce-services/assets/javascript/
sift.js?ver=3.4.1
I’ve had a closer look, and there is no assets folder, let
alone a javascript subfolder, nor a sift.js file.
- This topic was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/).
Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
* Plugin Support [Frank Remmy (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/frankremmy/)
* (@frankremmy)
* [3 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18821153)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* That’s a frustrating issue! It sounds like the WooCommerce Tax plugin update
didn’t complete properly, leaving behind references to JavaScript files that
weren’t actually included in the new version. Are you seeing any functional issues
with the tax calculations, or is it just the Apache error logs that are concerning?
* Here are a few steps to try:
1. If you’re using caching or optimization plugins, clear all caches and temporarily
disable them to see if that resolves the 404 errors.
2. Try deactivating and reactivating the WooCommerce Tax plugin, or delete and
reinstall it fresh from your account area and manually reinstall it.
3. If the issue persists, try a [conflict test](https://woocommerce.com/document/how-to-test-for-conflicts/)
by temporarily disabling other plugins to see if something else is interfering.
* I hope that helps. Let us know how that goes.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18821219)
* Regarding the steps you suggested:
1. I encountered this issue on a staging site, with no caching or optimization
plugins present, so that can’t be the cause.
2. I’ve downloaded the .zip file of the latest incarnation of the plugin, and there
is no assets folder in there either. It appears to be a build problem by the
developers.
3. It’s not a conflict with other plugins, the affected file literally doesn’t
exist.
* It’s not an incomplete or faulty updated either, as mentioned above, the most
recent incarnation of the plugin simply doesn’t ship with the file that’s being
requested.
* I don’t see any functional problems in the site, it’s purely about large numbers
of 404 errors. This does cause issues, because we’ve built an in-house system
that will block any IP address from accessing the server once a larger-than-acceptable
number of 404/500/503 log entries has been created by that IP address.
* Is there a Github repository where I can report this issue?
* Plugin Support [Frank Remmy (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/frankremmy/)
* (@frankremmy)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18822855)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* Thanks so much for the update, really appreciate you taking the time to dig into
it.
* I also checked the plugin files on my end, going all the way back to version
3.2.2, and I can confirm the same thing you’re seeing: the `assets/javascript/
sift.js` file (and even the parent folders) have never existed in any of the
releases. I also set up a tax rate, ran through checkout, and monitored for PHP
or server‑side errors, but I wasn’t able to reproduce the 404s you’re encountering.
* For reference, the plugin repository is here:
[https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services](https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services)…
but based on what we’re seeing so far, we haven’t been able to trigger the issue
yet.
* Out of curiosity, does this missing file actually break anything on your site,
or affect how taxes are calculated or displayed? Also, do you recall which version
you were on before noticing the 404s? If you roll back to that version, does
the request for `sift.js` still appear? And roughly when did you first notice
the errors? That timeline might help us pinpoint where the change was introduced.
* Looking forward to your findings.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18822891)
* Along with woocommerce-services, I updated a bunch of other WooCommerce plugins
around the same time, and after that, I looked at various settings pages and
other pages to have a look at the changes, additions and fixes in all of these
plugins, following along the change logs.
* My guess is that one of these other plugins may still contain references to sift.
js. That might also explain why I haven’t seen those 404s for sift.js before,
I may simply never have opened a settings page that calls it.
* I’m going to revisit this, trying to mimic what I did last week, and see if I
can figure out from which settings page (and ideally also from which plugin)
the calls to sift.js originate.
* [LovingBro (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lovingbro/)
* (@lovingbro)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18822936)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* That makes a lot of sense, and I appreciate the methodical approach you are taking
to trace this back. If another WooCommerce extension is still enqueueing sift.
js, that would definitely explain why the file is being requested even though
it is not part of the WooCommerce Tax plugin itself.
* A good next step would be to open your browser’s developer tools, check the Network
tab, and inspect the 404 request for sift.js to see which script or page is initiating
it. You could also temporarily activate the Query Monitor plugin to review enqueued
scripts on the affected settings pages, which may help pinpoint the plugin responsible.
* Once you identify the source, sharing that detail here or on the relevant plugin’s
GitHub repository would help move things forward quickly.
* Looking forward to what you uncover.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18822976)
* I was a bit surprised to find that immediately following login, I saw the first
call to sift.js happening right at /wp-admin/ . On the same page (a bit higher
up in the network list, I see a call to [https://cdn.sift.com/s.js](https://cdn.sift.com/s.js),
which must be related. Having it happen at /wp-admin/ of course makes it hard
to point to which of the other plugins exactly is causing this.
* There is a snippet of code towards the end of the page’s HTML like this:
* ```wp-block-code
```
* As mentioned last week, the odd calls to sift.js occured on our staging site
after I updated various WooCommerce related plugins. I also just checked one
of our production sites that I haven’t updated yet, and there I still see the
call to [https://cdn.sift.com/s.js](https://cdn.sift.com/s.js) but no call to
[https://{redacted}/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce-services/assets/javascript/sift.js?ver=3.4.1](https://{redacted}/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce-services/assets/javascript/sift.js?ver=3.4.1).
* This appears to demonstrate that the new behavior in the staging site is related
to one of those updated plugins on my staging site. I’ll continue digging to
see if I can figure out which one it is. But I have a slight suspicion it might
be the “WooCommerce Stripe Gateway” plugin…
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18823091)
* I have updated all plugins that had a new version available in one of our production
sites, one after the other. Before I started, I saw calls to [https://cdn.sift.com/s.js](https://cdn.sift.com/s.js)
happening in /wp-admin/ and also on the plugin list and all other backend pages.
* However, after I updated WooCommerce Tax (previously WooCommerce Shipping & Tax)
from 3.3.1 to 3.4.1, all calls to [https://cdn.sift.com/s.js](https://cdn.sift.com/s.js)
stopped appearing, and no call to sift.js was added either.
* This seems to indicate that something went wrong updating WooCommerce Tax in
my staging site, when I ran that update last week. So I reuploaded WooCommerce
Tax there, and the plugin manager offered to replace it, but afterwards, there
were still calls to sift.js and to [https://cdn.sift.com/s.js](https://cdn.sift.com/s.js)
* I can’t really explain this. I’ll continue digging. The good news is that this
issue isn’t occurring in the production site.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18823107)
* In the relevant Github repo, there was a commit last week that was related exactly
to this matter:
* [https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/commit/8a9e8ce9593283bd6eb106c061d63070413640c5](https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/commit/8a9e8ce9593283bd6eb106c061d63070413640c5)
* [https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/pull/2922](https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/pull/2922)
* [LovingBro (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lovingbro/)
* (@lovingbro)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18823184)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* Thank you for the detailed follow up and for linking the specific GitHub pull
request related to this. I really appreciate the time you have invested in tracking
this down so thoroughly.
* I have taken a look at the pull request you shared, and I can confirm that it
directly addresses the exact behavior you are seeing, namely the `wc-services-
sift-js` reference that results in the 404 for `assets/javascript/sift.js`. That
aligns perfectly with the errors you are encountering in your staging environment.
* Since there is already an open pull request that resolves this, it means the
fix has been identified and merged into the development workflow. Once the next
release of WooCommerce Tax is published, this incorrect script reference should
no longer be enqueued, and the 404 errors should stop occurring.
* In the meantime, as this is only affecting the staging site and not production,
you may choose to temporarily ignore the 404s there, or monitor the plugin changelog
for the upcoming release here:
[https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-services/#developers](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-services/#developers)
* Thanks again for digging into this and sharing the commit and PR links, that
was extremely helpful in narrowing it down.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/#post-18823267)
* There appears to have been some caching at work, because after a while the production
site also started to call the sift.js file that’s missing. As a work around I’ve
created an empty file in that exact spot so that at least the browser has something
to retrieve (albeit 0 bytes).
* That PR [https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/pull/2922](https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/pull/2922)
I found has been merged on February 10th, so 1 day after the most recent release
3.4.1. I guess it’s a matter of patiently waiting for the next bug fix release
to be published….
* [LovingBro (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lovingbro/)
* (@lovingbro)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/page/2/#post-18823398)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* You have done a really thorough job tracing this down, and creating the empty
file as a temporary mitigation makes sense given your 404 monitoring rules.
* You are correct. The fix was merged after the 3.4.1 release, so that version
still contains the incorrect `wc-services-sift-js` reference. The next bug fix
release of WooCommerce Tax should remove the stray enqueue and stop the 404s.
* For now, your empty placeholder file is a reasonable temporary workaround to
prevent log noise and IP blocking.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/page/2/#post-18825471)
* I’ve set a ‘watch’ on the Github repository so that I get informed straight away
when the next release is posted.
* [LovingBro (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lovingbro/)
* (@lovingbro)
* [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/page/2/#post-18825733)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* That sounds like a solid plan, and it is great that you have set up notifications
on the repository to stay informed.
* Once the next WooCommerce Tax release is published, please go ahead and update
and let us know whether the stray sift.js enqueue is fully resolved on your end.
Keeping the thread updated will definitely help others who might encounter the
same behavior.
* We will also keep an eye on the release notes or subscribe to receive notification
about plugin update:
[https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-services/#developers](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-services/#developers).
Looking forward to your update after the next release.
* Thread Starter [Erik Geurts](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/)
* (@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom)
* [3 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/page/2/#post-18833614)
* I can confirm that version 3.5.0 of this plugin fixes this issue. There is still
a call to the external [https://cdn.sift.com/s.js](https://cdn.sift.com/s.js)
* [LovingBro (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lovingbro/)
* (@lovingbro)
* [3 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/page/2/#post-18833755)
* Hi [@erikgeurtsplatformiqcom](https://wordpress.org/support/users/erikgeurtsplatformiqcom/),
* That is great to hear, and I really appreciate you coming back to confirm that
updating to version 3.5.0 resolved the missing `sift.js` 404 issue on your end.
Thank you as well for the thorough investigation throughout this thread, it was
incredibly helpful.
* Regarding the remaining call to `https://cdn.sift.com/s.js`, that is expected
behavior. A script tag for Sift was introduced in the previous update, however
the local asset `assets/javascript/sift.js` was not included in the build at
the time, which is what led to the 404 error you were seeing. As outlined in
the pull request you referenced, the issue was specifically about the missing
local file in the packaged release, not the external Sift script itself: [https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/pull/2922](https://github.com/Automattic/woocommerce-services/pull/2922)
* Now that the incorrect local enqueue has been removed in 3.5.0, the 404s should
no longer occur, while the external Sift script can still load as intended.
* Since everything is now working as expected, I will go ahead and consider this
fully resolved. If WooCommerce has been helpful in your workflow, we would truly
appreciate a 5 star review here, it helps a great deal and supports continued
improvements: [https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce-services/reviews/#new-post](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce-services/reviews/#new-post).
Thanks again for your detailed follow up and collaboration on this one.
Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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* 23 replies
* 3 participants
* Last reply from: [LovingBro (woo-hc)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lovingbro/)
* Last activity: [3 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sift-js-missing-404-errors/page/2/#post-18833755)
* Status: resolved