Code troubleshooting

Code tells you what is wrong in plain words. This page maps those words to causes and fixes. For the terminal, see CLI troubleshooting; for the rest of the app, Troubleshooting.

Access

What you see	Cause	Fix
This space is reserved	You are not signed in	Sign in, or Continue in Chat
The public product page at `/code`	Same — guests see the product page	Sign in, then choose Code
`/code/secrets` sends you home	There is no Secrets page	Set environment inside the session; see Cloud runtimes

GitHub

What you see	Cause	Fix
No Connect GitHub control	GitHub is not available on this deployment, or you are a guest	Sign in; if still missing, the surface is not offered here
Reconnect	The grant lapsed or was revoked	Choose Reconnect and approve on GitHub
A repository is missing from the picker	The grant does not cover it	Reconnect and include it
You are looking for a token field	There is none	Connect GitHub is the only route; see Connect GitHub

Runtime

What you see	Cause	Fix
Code says Cloud compute is unavailable	No Cloud runtime on this deployment right now	Try again later, or use This PC on the desktop app or CLI
A session is slow to start	The guest is being prepared — the agent is installing what the repository needs	Wait; the timeline shows progress
A follow-up wakes the session before working	The guest hibernated while idle	Expected — the turn resumes it first
This PC or SSH is refused in the CLI	Those hosts need an already connected Code session	Resume a session that has the host, or unset `CORTEX_COMPUTER`. See Code on desktop

The agent will not change anything

Check, in order:

Mode. Ask and Plan withhold the mutating tools. Switch the turn to Agent.
In the CLI, the sandbox. --sandbox read-only blocks all writes; workspace-write confines them to the project. See Modes and permissions.
In the CLI, Spec mode. Mutating tools stay locked until you accept the plan.
In the CLI, the permission table in config.toml can deny edit or specific commands outright. cortex debug config --diff shows what differs from the defaults.

Cortex Security

What you see	Cause	Fix
A check run marked failed	The review found issues, or could not run — a review that could not run is stored as failed, never as approved	Read the check run; fix and push
No check run on a pull request	The GitHub App is not installed on that repository	Install it from `/code/security`
You expected `/security` to show reviews	`cortex.foundation/security` is the public product page	Open `/code/security` in the app

Errors

Every failure is a problem document with a stable code and a request_id. Common ones in Code:

Code	Meaning
`concurrency_limit_reached`	Too many sessions or turns at once on the account
`no_capacity`	The farm is full; try again shortly
`invalid_state`	The session is not in a state that allows the action — for example a turn is already running
`upstream_timeout`	The runtime did not answer in time; retry

Full list: Problem catalog.

⌘I

Getting started

Core guides

Desktop and terminal

Advanced

Access

GitHub

Runtime

The agent will not change anything

Cortex Security

Errors

​Access

​GitHub

​Runtime

​The agent will not change anything

​Cortex Security

​Errors

Access

GitHub

Runtime

The agent will not change anything

Cortex Security

Errors