# Troubleshooting (/troubleshooting)



Lumi tries not to fail quietly. A press it cannot carry out puts an alert on
screen for two seconds **and** pins the reason to the row in **Shortcuts**, so
the first place to look is usually the row itself.

The one deliberate exception is a [leader menu](/features/leader-menus) step
with nothing bound to it: the cheatsheet is already on screen listing what that
tier answers to, so the menu just closes.

## A shortcut does nothing [#a-shortcut-does-nothing]

Work down this list:

1. **Is the row switched on?** A row that is off claims nothing.
2. **Is the Shortcuts master switch on?** It releases every binding but Lumi's
   own.
3. **Is it scoped?** A row with **Runs in** set to one application is silent
   everywhere else. See [Scope](/features/shortcuts#scope).
4. **Is another app holding the combination?** Press **Test** in the sheet — it
   claims the combo from macOS and waits to see whether the keypress comes back.
   (Greyed out for Fn and double-tap triggers: those are never registered with
   the OS, so there is nothing to test.)
5. **Does the action need Accessibility?** Send keystroke, media keys, window
   arranging and cycling all do — see
   [what stops working without it](/get-started/permissions#what-stops-working-without-it).
   The press says so rather than failing quietly.
6. **Is the target still there?** `No installed application with bundle id …`
   means the app moved or was removed.

### An Fn shortcut in particular [#an-fn-shortcut-in-particular]

Nothing fires if the **Globe** key has been remapped — Lumi never sees it. Put
it back under **System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts… → Modifier
Keys**. The Hyper pane says so when it detects this. See
[Fn as a modifier](/features/hyper-key#fn-as-a-modifier).

### A **Run flow** shortcut in particular [#a-run-flow-shortcut-in-particular]

The press draws the reason and pins it to the row. It is one of: the flow is
switched off, the flow was deleted, its Manual trigger was deleted, or the free
plan has no room for it. See [Flows](/features/flows#triggers-and-starting-a-flow-by-name).

## Accessibility says it is granted, but nothing works [#accessibility-says-it-is-granted-but-nothing-works]

**Replacing `Lumi.app` in place can drop the grant.** macOS may treat the new
copy as a different application. Switch Lumi back on under **System Settings →
Privacy & Security → Accessibility**.

macOS never tells an application when a grant is taken back, so Lumi re-checks
whenever its window comes to the front — which is the only moment it can rely
on. If the banner is stale, click the window.

## A snippet does not expand [#a-snippet-does-not-expand]

1. **The master switch** at the top of the Snippets pane.
2. **The Excluded apps tab** — applications listed there switch every snippet
   off, whatever a snippet says about itself.
3. **The snippet's own scope.** *Only in* with nothing chosen can never fire,
   and Save says so.
4. **The expand key.** A snippet set to fire *when you tap the expand key* does
   nothing until one is picked under **Snippets → Settings**.

### It still does nothing, silently [#it-still-does-nothing-silently]

That is probably the safety net working. Before deleting anything, Lumi reads
the text actually in front of your caret and compares it to the trigger — and
**if it does not match, the snippet is skipped and says nothing.** A Vietnamese
input method rewrites characters after Lumi has seen them, so the guess and the
document genuinely differ; eating the wrong characters is much worse than a
missed expansion. Full explanation under
[Vietnamese and other input methods](/features/snippets#vietnamese-and-other-input-methods).

Applications that expose no text at all fall back to backspaces, which is the
one path an input method can still throw off.

## Log out, Restart or Shut down does nothing [#log-out-restart-or-shut-down-does-nothing]

Those three need a **second, separate permission**, and the press says so:

> … needs permission to control loginwindow — allow Lumi under System Settings →
> Privacy & Security → Automation

Allow it once and it is remembered. See
[Automation](/get-started/permissions#automation-for-three-system-commands).
The other eight system commands ask for nothing.

## Cycle windows does nothing [#cycle-windows-does-nothing]

* **With one window, or none, nothing happens and nothing is said** — macOS's
  own <kbd>⌘</kbd><kbd>\`</kbd> is silent there too, and the press was not
  refused.
* **From Lumi's own window it is refused**: &#x2A;Lumi's own windows cannot be cycled
  — switch to another app first.*
* Minimised windows and non-standard windows (sheets, palettes) are skipped on
  purpose.
* Without Accessibility it is refused out loud.

## A leader menu opens with nothing in it [#a-leader-menu-opens-with-nothing-in-it]

The panel says which of these it is:

| It says                                               | Meaning                                        |
| ----------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| *This menu has no shortcuts in it yet.*               | Nothing has been added                         |
| *Everything in this menu is switched off.*            | Rows exist, all off                            |
| *Nothing in this menu has a key yet.*                 | Rows exist, none has a step key                |
| *Nothing in this menu applies to the app in front.*   | Every step is pinned to some other application |
| *This menu holds only empty menus, which are hidden.* | **Show steps that open empty menus** is off    |

A step that presses and closes the menu with no message is a key with nothing
bound to it. That silence is deliberate — see the note at the top of this page.

## Steps I cannot find any more [#steps-i-cannot-find-any-more]

Changing a menu row's action, or deleting it, strands the steps inside. Steps
whose menu is gone collect under **No way in** at the bottom of the Shortcuts
list, which is the only place they can be seen and so the only place they can be
fixed.

## A flow will not switch on [#a-flow-will-not-switch-on]

* **The free plan runs three ways into a flow at once.** Switching on a fourth
  is refused in amber, with the pane that would free a place named. Nothing is
  written and the switch does not move. See [Pro](/pro#what-counts-as-a-way-in).
* **A flow using a node this build does not understand opens read-only** and
  cannot be armed — a flow half of whose steps were silently skipped would do
  something nobody wrote.
* **The Run button in the editor is never capped**, so a flow can always be
  built and tested even when it cannot be armed.

## Every setting looks reset [#every-setting-looks-reset]

Lumi's configuration lives in one file, and **a file it cannot parse is neither
applied nor overwritten**. Losing every shortcut is bad; silently rewriting your
file with defaults is worse — so Lumi leaves it exactly as it found it and says
so.

Fix the JSON at
`~/Library/Application Support/dev.thiennguyen.lumi/config.json` and restart.
Snippet history, flows and the licence live in their own files beside it, so a
bad hand-edit to one cannot take the others down.

## Still stuck [#still-stuck]

**Send Feedback…** in the menu-bar menu. It carries the build you are running,
which is the first thing worth knowing.