Chat troubleshooting

Cortex Chat says what is wrong in plain words rather than spinning or guessing. That makes most problems self-explanatory once you know which message belongs to which situation, which is what this page is for. Everything below is grouped by what you were trying to do when the message appeared: send, wait for an answer, run a tool, attach a file, hit a limit, make a document, search, or tidy up a chat. Each entry gives the message you see, what it means, and what to do next.

Why a control is sometimes missing rather than greyed out

Before the messages, one rule explains a whole class of confusion. When a capability is not available to you, Cortex removes the control instead of disabling it. That is why the read-aloud button, the microphone, the save-to-drive button and the thinking selector are sometimes simply not there. A missing control means “not available here”, not “broken”. Expect controls to appear when they can do the work, rather than to sit greyed out.

Sending a message

What you see	What it means	What to do
`The message is empty.`	there was nothing to send	type something first
`The message is longer than the permitted maximum.`	one message can carry up to 50,000 characters	split it, or attach the text as a file
`You are offline — your message will wait here`	no network; the draft is held, not lost	wait; you will also see `Sending when back online`
`A waiting message was discarded because you left this chat.`	you navigated away while a message was queued offline	retype it in the chat you meant to send it from
`Loading the available models.`	the model list has not arrived yet	wait a moment, then send
A reason followed by `Sending is unavailable until the model list loads.`	the model list could not be fetched	retry; sending unblocks once the list loads
`No models are available on your account.`	no model is offered to this account at all	check Plans and quotas, and status.cortex.foundation if it persists

Waiting for an answer

What you see	What it means	What to do
`Reconnecting`, then the same word with an attempt count	the connection dropped mid-answer	nothing; the card adds `The answer picks up where it stopped.` and the words continue from where they were
`This stream is no longer resumable. Reload the conversation.`	too much time passed to pick the stream back up	reload the page; if the answer finished server-side, you will see it in full
`Generation failed. Your allowance for this message has been returned.`	the model failed part-way through the turn	send it again; nothing was charged
`The action was interrupted.`	the turn was cut short	continue the answer, or regenerate it
An error card in the middle of a finished-looking answer	the failure happened after the answer had begun, so it arrives inside the answer rather than instead of it	read the code on the card and look it up in the Problem catalog

Reloading the page during an answer does not lose it. The answer is produced on Cortex’s side and buffered, so a dropped tab, a reload or a flaky connection does not cost you the turn. See Streaming and reconnects. Two endings are worth telling apart. An interrupted turn is either your own stop or a client that went away. A turn that ended on length hit the wall clock or the model’s output ceiling, in which case continuing it is usually what you want.

Stopping, continuing, regenerating and branching

What you see	What it means	What to do
`Stopped` on the answer card	the turn ended early and kept what it had written	use Continue (`Pick up the answer where it stopped.`) or Regenerate
`That answer cannot be continued.`	this answer did not end in a way that can be resumed	regenerate instead
`There is no answer to continue in a new conversation.`	there is nothing before this point to pick up	send a message first
`Wait until the current answer finishes.`	you tried to edit or branch while an answer was live	wait for the answer, then edit; only one live answer can exist in a conversation
`Branching from a message is not on this deployment.`	the branch action is not served here	copy what you need into a new chat

Regenerating never deletes anything: the previous answer is kept as a version, and a pager appears above the answer so you can step between them with Previous version and Next version. Editing one of your own messages keeps the original too, under the banner Editing · original kept as Branch 1.

Tools inside an answer

What you see	What it means	What to do
`No output.` on a tool row	the tool ran and returned nothing	usually harmless; the answer continues
A row naming a tool that failed, with the detail it returned	one tool failed	the answer continues without it; rephrase if the missing step mattered
`The same tool call repeated without progress. Try a different action.`	the same call repeated six times with no progress, so the loop was broken	rephrase the request, or narrow it
`The tool call budget for this turn (50) is exhausted. Answer with what you have, or ask the user how to proceed.`	the turn reached its ceiling on tool calls	ask a narrower question, or split the work over two messages
`Tools are not configured on this process.`	this deployment has no tools wired	not a user error; ask without tools

A Chat turn gets eight rounds of tool use and at most 50 tool calls. When the round budget runs out the model is told so and asked to answer with what it has, which is why a long research-shaped question can end with a summary rather than more searching. See Built-in tools.

Attaching a file

What you see	What it means	What to do
`Upload failed`	the upload did not complete	retry from the attach button
`That file is larger than the attach limit.`	over the composer’s ceiling, which is shown as `10 MB max`	compress it, split it, or paste the relevant part as text
`That file is not an image or video the composer can attach.`	the image and video rail only takes media	use the general attach button for documents
`That file is encrypted or unreadable. Cortex did not extract it.`	the file could not be read, so nothing was extracted from it	remove the protection, or export an unencrypted copy
`HEIC photos can be checked for origin. Use Check origin, or convert to JPEG or PNG.`	that photo format is accepted for origin checking only	convert it, or use Origin check
A chip stuck on a reading state, naming the file	text is still being extracted	wait; the chip settles into the file name

The size check runs in the browser before anything uploads, so an oversized file is refused straight away rather than after a long wait. Signed-out use cannot upload at all. See Attachments and files.

Running into a limit

What you see	What it means	What to do
`You’ve reached today’s limit for this model`	the daily message allowance is used up	wait for the reset named on the banner, or see Plans and quotas
`You’ve reached this month’s limit for this model`	the monthly allowance is used up	same; the banner says when it resets
`Resets on its own.`	the reset time could not be named	retry later
A banner offering another model that is still available	one model is capped, another is not	take the offer, or start a new chat on the other model
`You have used today's messages`	the plan-limit detail behind a message cap	see quota_exceeded
`You have used today's document exports`	the plan-limit detail behind an export cap	wait for tomorrow; drafting an outline never counts
A Sign in action on a refusal	the thing you asked for needs an account	sign in; see Accounts and sign-in
An Upgrade action on a refusal	your plan does not include it	see Plans and quotas and entitlement_required

Messages are charged against a daily and a monthly window at once, and the first one to run out is the one that stops you. Thinking is not metered on any plan.

Documents, decks and exports

What you see	What it means	What to do
`The document could not be opened.`	the canvas did not load	close and reopen the rail; see Chat canvases
`The document could not be saved.`	the last canvas save failed	copy the text out before retrying
`The deck could not be created`	the answer’s deck export failed at the create step	retry; a failed write returns your export
`The deck could not be exported.`	the thread’s deck export failed	use Try again
`The document writer is not available on this deployment.`	files cannot be typeset here	nothing to configure; the export is not charged
`Deck export is not available yet.`	the deck flow on a research report is not ready	retry later
`The outline could not be drafted.`	Cortex could not draft slides from this material	ask for a summary first, then export that
`The file could not be saved.`	saving an export to a connected drive failed	download the file instead; drive saving is not available in this wave

See Export documents for the whole flow and its allowances.

Searching

What you see	What it means	What to do
`Search could not run.`	the search request failed	try again
`No matches for` followed by your query	nothing matched in chat search	search matches conversation titles only, so try a word from the title
`No matches in this conversation.`	the in-conversation search found nothing	the hint says it: `Try a shorter word, or a term from the answer rather than the question.`
`No messages to search yet.`	the conversation is empty	ask something first

Chat search covers titles, Library and skills, eight results per group, and an empty query lists your recent chats. Its footer states the split with Code: ↑↓ to move · ↵ jump · Chat only · Code has its own palette.

Organising a chat

What you see	What it means	What to do
`Chat titles cannot be renamed yet — this app has no route for it.`	renaming a chat is not available	a chat is named automatically from its first message; the title is never in the link
`You have 20 pinned chats and projects. Unpin one before pinning another.`	the pin cap is 20, shared between chats and projects	unpin something first
`A Temporary chat cannot be pinned or moved to a project.`	temporary chats cannot be filed	copy what you need into a normal chat
`Temporary is chosen when a chat starts.`	you cannot switch temporary on or off later	start a new temporary chat
`The chat could not be archived`	the archive did not stick	retry from the sidebar row
`The chat could not be deleted`	the delete failed	retry; deleting is permanent once it succeeds
`The chat could not be moved`	filing the chat failed	it adds `Please try again.`
`Could not load your projects`	the project list did not load	reopen the move dialog; `No projects yet` means you have none
`The note could not be saved`	saving a selection to Library failed	retry; the message adds `Please try again.`
`The plan could not be created`	the plan dialog failed	retry from Start a plan

Archiving takes a chat out of Recents and offers Undo in its toast. There is no separate view that lists archived chats afterwards, so treat archiving as hiding a chat from Recents rather than filing it somewhere you can browse.

Voice

What you see	What it means	What to do
No microphone in the composer	this deployment cannot transcribe speech	nothing to configure; type instead
No Listen under an answer	this deployment cannot read answers aloud	same
`Voice is not available on this deployment.`	a live voice conversation is not reachable here	use dictation and read-aloud where they appear; see Voice

What you see	What it means	What to do
`Sharing is not on this deployment`	conversation sharing does not exist yet	export a file or copy the text; see Sharing and teams
`Sharing is not available for this message yet.`	a link to that message could not be built	copy the message text instead
`Copy failed`	the clipboard write was refused	check your browser’s clipboard permission, then retry
`The link could not be copied.`	the same, for a message link	retry

Still stuck

Keep the request id shown on the error card, the time, and what you were doing. Then:

Look the code up in the Problem catalog or in Errors.
Check status.cortex.foundation if other products are failing too, and see System status.
If it looks like a defect, follow Report a bug.

How Chat works for the turn loop and its budgets.
Streaming and reconnects for what a dropped connection does and does not lose.
Plans and quotas for every allowance behind a limit message.
Problem catalog for the full list of error codes.
Troubleshooting for the same guidance across all products.

Overview

Conversations

Organize your work

Research and creation

Connected apps

Reference

Why a control is sometimes missing rather than greyed out

Sending a message

Waiting for an answer

Stopping, continuing, regenerating and branching

Tools inside an answer

Attaching a file

Running into a limit

Documents, decks and exports

Searching

Organising a chat

Voice

Still stuck

​Why a control is sometimes missing rather than greyed out

​Sending a message

​Waiting for an answer

​Stopping, continuing, regenerating and branching

​Tools inside an answer

​Attaching a file

​Running into a limit

​Documents, decks and exports

​Searching

​Organising a chat

​Voice

​Sharing and copying

​Still stuck

​Related

Why a control is sometimes missing rather than greyed out

Sending a message

Waiting for an answer

Stopping, continuing, regenerating and branching

Tools inside an answer

Attaching a file

Running into a limit

Documents, decks and exports

Searching

Organising a chat

Voice

Sharing and copying

Still stuck

Related