Troubleshooting
Most problems fall into one of three buckets: daemon not running, agent not found, or push not triggering the pipeline. This page walks each one.
First stop for anything: no-mistakes doctor.
Debug in this order
flowchart TD
problem["Something is wrong"] --> doctor["Run no-mistakes doctor"]
doctor --> daemon{"Daemon issue?"}
daemon -- "yes" --> daemonpath["Check daemon status and daemon.log"]
daemon -- "no" --> triggered{"Did the push trigger a run?"}
triggered -- "no" --> gate["Check remote, hook, and socket"]
triggered -- "yes" --> provider["Check agent or provider setup"]
That order matches the actual boundaries in the system:
- local environment and binaries
- daemon and gate wiring
- provider-specific PR or CI integration
Daemon won’t start
Symptoms: no-mistakes daemon status shows stopped, or no-mistakes exits with “daemon not running.”
Start it manually
no-mistakes daemon startThis installs or refreshes the managed service (launchd, systemd user service, or Task Scheduler), then starts it. If service install or startup fails, it falls back to a detached daemon.
Check logs
tail -f ~/.no-mistakes/logs/daemon.logCheck for stale artifacts
Stale PID files or sockets from a crashed daemon can block startup:
ls -la ~/.no-mistakes/daemon.pid ~/.no-mistakes/socketIf the PID file points at a process that’s no longer running, remove both and run no-mistakes daemon start again.
Managed service logs
- macOS (launchd):
launchctl list | grep no-mistakesand check~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.kunchenguid.no-mistakes.daemon.*.plist - Linux (systemd):
systemctl --user status no-mistakes-daemon-*andjournalctl --user -u no-mistakes-daemon-* -f - Windows (Task Scheduler):
schtasks /query /tn "no-mistakes-daemon-*"
NM_HOME collisions
If you have multiple installs with different NM_HOME roots, each gets its own scoped service name (with a short suffix derived from the path). Make sure you’re looking at the right one - no-mistakes daemon status reports which.
no-mistakes update aborts
Symptom: update says “aborted: daemon running from different executable path.”
The update requires the running daemon to already be using the same binary that’s running the update. This is a safety check so you don’t replace a binary that’s been copied somewhere else.
Fix:
no-mistakes daemon stopno-mistakes updateIf the daemon executable path can’t be determined at all (stale PID, permissions), the update also aborts. Same fix.
Agent binary not detected
Symptom: doctor shows – for your agent, or the pipeline errors with “agent binary not found.”
Check PATH
The daemon uses the same binary-discovery order described in Choosing an Agent. When it’s running through a managed service, it reloads PATH from your login shell on macOS and Linux, but it can’t read Homebrew shellenv or nvm-style setups that only run in interactive shells.
Fastest fix: set an explicit override in ~/.no-mistakes/config.yaml:
agent_path_override: claude: /Users/you/.local/bin/claudeRestart the daemon after installing a new agent
no-mistakes daemon stopno-mistakes daemon startgit push no-mistakes doesn’t start a pipeline
Symptom: push succeeds but no-mistakes shows no active run.
Check the remote
git remote -v | grep no-mistakesIf it’s missing, run no-mistakes init again.
Check the hook
The gate’s bare repo has a post-receive hook that notifies the daemon. Look at the gate path:
no-mistakes status# gate path is shown in the output
ls -la <gate-path>/hooks/post-receiveThe hook should be executable. If it’s missing or non-executable, no-mistakes init will reinstall it.
Also check <gate-path>/notify-push.log. The hook now appends daemon notification failures there and prints the same error back to the pushing client.
Check the daemon socket
The hook talks to the daemon over ~/.no-mistakes/socket. If the daemon isn’t running, the push still succeeds (the hook never blocks), but no pipeline starts. Start the daemon and push again.
If the gate is older, restarting the daemon also reapplies hook-path isolation for existing bare repos when Git supports config --worktree. That protects the gate hook if a tool such as Husky wrote core.hookspath into shared git config from inside a linked worktree.
PR step is skipped
Symptom: pipeline completes but the PR step shows skipped.
Check the Provider Integration requirements. Most common causes:
ghorglabnot installedgh auth statusshows not authenticated- Bitbucket env vars not set in the daemon’s environment
- Upstream is on a host that isn’t supported (GitHub, GitLab, or
bitbucket.org) - You pushed the default branch (PR step always skips on the default branch)
CI step stuck or timed out
Symptom: CI step runs for 4 hours and pauses for approval.
ci_timeout defaults to 4h. Raise it in ~/.no-mistakes/config.yaml:
ci_timeout: "8h"If CI is genuinely hanging on the provider side, the step times out and pauses with findings for the unresolved state. You can approve (accept the risk), fix (run another auto-fix cycle), skip, or abort from the TUI.
Worktree won’t clean up
Symptom: ~/.no-mistakes/worktrees/<repoID>/<runID>/ sticks around after a run ends.
The daemon removes worktrees at run completion, and also on daemon startup (crash recovery). If one is still there:
# From inside the repo the worktree belongs to:git worktree listgit worktree remove --force <path>Or let the daemon clean it on next startup:
no-mistakes daemon stopno-mistakes daemon startReset everything
When state is genuinely wedged:
no-mistakes daemon stoprm -rf ~/.no-mistakes/worktrees ~/.no-mistakes/servers ~/.no-mistakes/socket ~/.no-mistakes/daemon.pidno-mistakes daemon startThis keeps your gate repos, database, and config but clears transient state. For a full wipe, see the Uninstall section.
Still stuck
- Check
~/.no-mistakes/logs/daemon.logatlog_level: debug - File an issue: https://github.com/kunchenguid/no-mistakes/issues
- Discord: https://discord.gg/Wsy2NpnZDu