How to Fix Fatal Error with Docy Theme After Update: Child Theme Not Recognized

Having trouble with a fatal error after installing or updating the Docy WordPress theme, especially when using a child theme? You’re not alone. This post summarizes a real troubleshooting process, explains why the error appears, and offers the proven solution—saving you time and headaches!

A user installed the Docy theme (version 4.0.1) with its plugins and demo content on WordPress 6.7.1 (PHP 7.4). Upon visiting the front end, they encountered a fatal error, rendering their site inaccessible.

Symptoms

• Site crashes or displays a fatal error after updating Docy to version 4.0.1.
• Reverting to Docy 4.0.0 causes the child theme to be deactivated.
• WordPress shows: The parent theme is missing. Please install the “docy” parent theme.

Diagnosis

This issue is not simply an incompatibility between theme versions but relates to how WordPress locates the parent theme for a child theme. The child theme looks for a folder named docy in wp-content/themes/. If the folder is named differently (e.g., docy-4.0.0), the child theme cannot find its parent and becomes inactive—even if the correct parent theme is installed.

Solution: Ensuring The Correct Parent Theme Folder Name

If you downgrade, re-install, or manually upload the Docy theme, make sure the parent folder is named docy—not docy-4.0.0 or anything else. Follow these steps:

1. Download the Docy parent theme .zip file.
2. Extract (unzip) the file on your computer.
3. Rename the extracted folder from docy-4.0.0 to docy.
4. Compress (zip) the renamed folder into a new docy.zip file.
5. Go to Appearance > Themes > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
6. Upload the freshly zipped docy.zip file.
7. Activate the Docy theme, then ensure your child theme is also active.

Why This Works

WordPress child themes declare their parent by folder name in the style.css file (e.g., Template: docy). If the parent’s folder name doesn’t match, your child theme cannot find or leverage its parent assets.

Conclusion

If the Docy child theme shows errors or refuses to activate after theme updates, double-check the parent theme’s folder name. Renaming it to docy resolves most child-parent linking issues, restores your site, and prevents further fatal errors.

Still having trouble? Share your exact error messages and WordPress environment details for further assistance.