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Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Bot doesn't respond to messages

Symptoms: Send voice messages but get no response.

Check:

  1. Is your chat ID in ALLOWED_CHAT_IDS?

    # Find your chat ID
    curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getUpdates"
    

  2. Is the bot running?

    journalctl -u voice-agent -f
    

  3. Is the token correct?

    # Test with curl
    curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getMe"
    

"Transcription failed" errors

Symptoms: Bot receives audio but can't transcribe.

Check:

  1. Is whisper-server running?

    curl http://localhost:8080/health
    

  2. Is WHISPER_URL correct?

    curl -X POST -F "file=@test.ogg" http://localhost:8080/transcribe
    

  3. Is the audio format supported? Telegram sends .oga (Opus in Ogg).

"claude CLI not found"

Symptoms: Transcription works but Claude doesn't respond.

Check:

  1. Is Claude CLI installed?

    which claude
    claude --version
    

  2. Is Claude CLI authenticated?

    claude login
    

  3. Is Claude CLI in the service's PATH?

Permission requests never complete

Symptoms: Asked to approve but approval doesn't work.

Check:

  1. Say the exact keywords: "yes", "approve", "ok"
  2. Check for pending permissions: say "status"
  3. Approval might have timed out (default: 5 minutes)

Session state is wrong

Symptoms: Claude seems confused or in wrong directory.

Fix: Say "new session" to reset.

Debug Mode

Enable verbose logging:

import logging
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)

Or set environment:

export PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
export LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG

Log Locations

Method Location
Direct run stdout
systemd journalctl -u voice-agent
Docker docker logs voice-agent

Getting Help

  1. Check logs for error messages
  2. Try "status" command to see session state
  3. Say "new session" to reset
  4. Restart the service if needed

Known Limitations

  • No voice responses: Output is text only
  • Single session per chat: Can't run parallel Claude sessions
  • Memory-based sessions: Sessions don't persist across restarts
  • No image support: Can't process screenshots or images