Why does my Intastellar cookie banner or consent setup look broken?

This page is for integrators (agencies, developers, technical marketers) and for owners who can follow a short browser checklist with their team.

What it is: a technical runbook — policy URLs, placement, caches, tag order, and what to gather for support.
What it is not: proof of legal compliance. Your lawyer decides what applies; we help you see whether the product and your tags behave the way you intended.

Work top to bottom. Stop when you find a clear misconfiguration — most issues are policy URLs, snippet placement, or tags firing before consent.

Quick read: healthy vs broken

Signal	Usually healthy	Usually broken
First visit (incognito)	Banner appears when policy URL and placement are correct	No banner → policy link, head placement, cache, or single-page paste
After Accept	Analytics / ad tags run if you wired them to consent	Expected tags never run → consent wiring or trigger conditions
Before Accept	Fewer (or no) non-essential tracking requests, if tags respect consent	GA / Meta / similar requests already fire → tag order or GTM, not “the banner is broken”
Same site, second page	Choice remembered; banner does not loop every navigation	Storage / domain mismatch (`rootDomain`), multiple conflicting snippets

If the banner works but tracking fires too early, read Google Tag Manager and the Verify in the browser section in the JavaScript install guide. Product context: Intastellar Consents.

1. Confirm the basics (about 2 minutes)

Privacy / policy URL — Open it in a normal browser tab (200 OK, real HTML). A broken or placeholder link often means no banner on purpose. For custom sites, confirm policy_link / settings.privacy_policy in window.INTA matches that live URL (full snippet reference).
HTTPS — http vs https typos in links or config break validation and confuse storage.
Coverage — The snippet runs on every layout that should show the banner (not only the homepage or one landing page).
One source of truth — Remove duplicate or old Consents snippets left from a previous agency or test.

2. Browser tools (Console, Network, storage)

Console

Look for errors mentioning Intastellar, INTA, blocked scripts, or mixed content on https sites.

This is the same sanity check as in the install guide, worth doing on every new implementation:

Private / incognito window, Developer tools → Network.
Reload before clicking Accept / Reject on the banner.
Filter for domains you care about (google-analytics, collect, facebook, doubleclick, etc.).
Accept (if your test allows) and reload or navigate — compare which requests appear after consent.

Interpretation: If heavy hitters run before any choice, the problem is almost always how tags are injected (GTM trigger order, missing Consent Mode, duplicate tag paths), not a missing line in window.INTA alone.

Application → cookies / storage

After a choice, check first-party cookies or storage keys your implementation relies on. Wrong rootDomain often shows up as choices not sticking across paths or subdomains.

3. Stack-specific shortcuts

WordPress — Re-check Intro and Privacy policy in wp-admin; temporarily disable minify / defer / combine plugins that touch the head. Plugin settings, WordPress — Get started.
GTM — Confirm the Consents tag fires on Consent Initialization (or your earliest safe trigger), not only after DOM Ready behind analytics. Google Tag Manager.
Shopify — theme.liquid (or equivalent layout), live policy_link, storefront vs checkout domains. Shopify.
Custom HTML — Early <head> placement, shared layout, JavaScript install guide.

4. Still failing?

Collect this bundle before you open a ticket:

Page URL (staging or production).
CMS / stack (WordPress + theme, Shopify theme, GTM container ID, or “custom”).
Screenshot of the banner (or note that it never appears).
Console errors and, if possible, one Network screenshot before accepting cookies.

Then use Contact & support:

Product bug (script/SDK behaviour) → GitHub issue for Consents where applicable.
Documentation gap → help site or corporate contact as directed on that page.

Owners: walk through Site owner checklist first, then return here with whoever maintains code or GTM.

Last updated Apr 7, 2026