Troubleshooting and FAQ
Most snags have a one-step fix. Find your symptom below, apply the fix, and the agent is back at work. Anything not covered here goes to Support in the dashboard or to [email protected].
My preview says nothing is listening on the port. What's wrong?
The server listens on localhost or 127.0.0.1, which the preview can't reach. Start it on 0.0.0.0:
npm run dev -- --host 0.0.0.0
vite --host 0.0.0.0
next dev -H 0.0.0.0
rails s -b 0.0.0.0
uvicorn app:app --host 0.0.0.0
The Previews view of the box flags a server that listens on localhost only. Ports from 1024 to 65535 work. If nothing runs on the port yet, the link answers once a server starts. More in Previews and files.
The agent says it is signed out, or my account row reads "Signed out". How do I fix it?
The subscription lost its login, and boxes bound to it stop until you reconnect. Open Accounts, pick Reconnect on the row, and sign in to the same account. Every box binding stays in place. See Subscriptions.
I switched the account of a box, but the agent still uses the old one. Why?
A running agent keeps the login it started with. Restart the agent in each open tab after you switch accounts.
A tab says "Stopped on the limit". What now?
The subscription ran out, and the row shows when it resets. You have three ways forward:
- Switch on Continue after the limit resets, and the box types "continue" the minute the limit resets.
- Connect a second account and switch on Rotate subscriptions as they run out.
- On a Codex account with resets left, pick Use a reset on Accounts.
Rotation explains all three.
A tab says "Stopped to keep your reserve". How do I let it run?
The account reached the reserve you set. Open Accounts, pick Keep a reserve on the row, and lower the numbers. The account returns to its boxes as soon as you save.
Codex won't connect. OpenAI refuses the code.
Turn on device code sign-in first. In ChatGPT, open Settings → Security and switch on device code authorization for Codex. Then pick Get a new code in the dialog. A code expires after 15 minutes.
Can I copy auth.json from the box to my laptop?
No. It holds a short-lived token that only the box gets renewed. Sign in to Codex and Claude on your laptop separately.
Voice input is missing in Firefox. Why?
Voice input uses the browser's speech recognition, and Firefox has none. Use Chrome, Edge or Safari. If dictation stops at once, allow the microphone for my.detachbox.com in the site settings.
I don't get push pings on my iPhone. How do I turn them on?
Safari on an iPhone sends pings only to the Home Screen app. Open my.detachbox.com in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Open detachbox from that icon, go to Notifications, and pick Turn on for this browser. Then pick Send a test ping.
Pings stopped arriving at night. Are they broken?
Check Quiet hours on Notifications. Nothing is sent between From and To, in the time zone shown on the page. The Terminals list still shows every agent that waits.
SSH says "Permission denied (publickey)". What's wrong?
The box got no key it knows. Check three things:
- The key on your computer is listed on SSH keys. Add it, or use Import from GitHub.
- The user in the command is the box name:
ssh [email protected]. - You pasted the public
.pubfile, not the private key.
SSH has the full steps.
Switching to a smaller plan was refused. Why?
The data on the box doesn't fit the smaller disk. The message names how much the box stores and how much the smaller plan holds. Free up space inside the box, then switch again:
du -sh ~/* | sort -h
docker system df
On Business plans, snapshots count against the disk too. Disk: files and snapshots on Overview shows the total.
My box stopped and says the payment did not come through. Is my data gone?
No. An unpaid box stops on day 3 and is deleted on day 14. Pay before then and it starts again with every file in place. Pick Pay now on the box page, or update the card under Manage billing. See Billing.
My tmux sessions are gone after a node reboot. Where did they go?
A planned reboot keeps files, Docker images and volumes, and boxes start again on their own. Running processes and tmux sessions start fresh, so open the terminal and start the agent again. Planned reboots come with an email 48 hours ahead.
A page the agent opened never showed up. Why?
The browser blocked the pop-up. Allow pop-ups for my.detachbox.com, and the next pages open by themselves. To have pages open without asking, switch on Open them in this browser by themselves under Settings → Pages the agent opens.
I can't open another terminal tab. Why?
A box holds up to 10 tabs. Close one you no longer need, and the + button opens a new one. Closing a tab stops every program in it.
Dropping a folder into the terminal fails. How do I upload it?
The terminal refuses folders. Zip the folder and drop the zip, or copy the folder with rsync over SSH:
rsync -az ./my-folder/ [email protected]:~/my-folder/
Single files go up to 50 MB, images up to 20 MB.
The box page says "Setup stopped halfway". What do I do?
Reset the box to run setup again: Settings → Reset box. If it stops again, write to support and quote the box name.