Troubleshooting

Fix common Slowave problems: agents that don’t remember, a dashboard that won’t open, missing agents, stopped services, and slow first runs.

Find your problem fast

What you see	Go to
Your agent doesn’t remember anything	Connection problems
Setup didn’t find your agent	Connection problems
The dashboard won’t open	Connection problems
Slowave stopped, or slowave is not found	Services and updates
It’s slow the first time	Services and updates
Something specific to macOS, Linux or Windows	Problems on your system
A locked or damaged database, or a failed backup	Data problems

Run slowave doctor first

Most problems show up in these two commands.

slowave doctor
slowave status --services

doctor checks your setup, database and agent connections. status --services shows whether Slowave’s background services are running.

Connection problems

My agent doesn't remember anything

Your agent may not be connected, or it may still have an old session open.

1. Run slowave doctor and look for your agent.
2. Run slowave setup to reconnect.
3. Restart your agent.

Memory also builds slowly. A brand-new install starts empty.

Setup didn't find my agent

Setup skips agents it can’t detect.

1. Open your agent once so it creates its settings folder.
2. Run slowave setup --client <name>, for example claude-code.

Cursor and Claude Desktop also need a manual step. Setup prints it.

The dashboard won't open

The dashboard runs in your terminal while it’s open.

1. Run slowave dashboard and use the address it prints.
2. If another copy is open, close it with Ctrl+C and try again.
3. For a blank page, run slowave doctor.

Services and updates

Slowave stopped after a restart or update

The background services may be stopped.

1. Run slowave start.
2. If that fails, run slowave setup to register them again.
3. Restart your agent.

Slowave can take up to two minutes to start after an update.

I still see the old version after upgrading

Old processes may still be running.

1. Run slowave setup.
2. Run slowave restart.
3. Close and reopen your agents.

slowave: command not found

Your terminal can’t find the program.

1. Run pipx ensurepath.
2. Open a new terminal.

Don’t install a second copy to fix this.

It's slow on first use

Setup downloads a small search model (about 45 MB, from Hugging Face) the first time. After that it works offline. Keep an internet connection until setup finishes. If it stopped early, run slowave setup again to resume. Your memory text stays on your computer.

Problems on your system

macOS

Services run in your logged-in desktop session. Run slowave status --services, then slowave start. Logs are in the logs_dir folder that status --services prints.

Linux

Slowave uses your user’s systemd. Check it with systemctl --user status slowave-daemon.service. Don’t use sudo. In containers or WSL without systemd, run services by hand.

journalctl --user -u slowave-daemon --since today

Windows

Slowave uses Task Scheduler tasks that start with Slowave. Open Task Scheduler and check their last result. Company policy can block task creation. If so, ask your admin.

Data problems

Database is locked, or something looks corrupted

1. Run slowave stop.
2. Run slowave doctor.
3. If the database is damaged, restore a backup.

Don’t delete database files by hand.

A daily backup fails

Run slowave backup and read the error. Check that you have free disk space.

Get help

Open an issue at github.com/slowave-ai/slowave/issues. Include:

• The output of slowave doctor
• Your operating system and agent
• What you expected and what happened

Check the output for private paths or project names before you post it.

More answers are in the FAQ.