> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.skupply.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Troubleshooting & FAQ

> What to do when the bot doesn't respond the way you expect

## The bot didn't reply at all

This is usually correct behavior, not a bug. The bot only acts on messages that clearly and literally contain a transaction. If your message was ambiguous, informal in a way it couldn't parse, or read as a question/discussion rather than a transaction, it stays silent on purpose rather than guessing.

Try resending in one of the exact formats from [Placing an Order](/placing-an-order), [Recording a Payment](/recording-a-payment), etc.

## "Sorry, I couldn't process that right now."

This reply comes from `@Skupply` conversational questions (the open-ended Q\&A mode), not from the order/payment/balance commands. It means the AI backend had a temporary hiccup. Wait a moment and try again; if it keeps happening, flag it to an admin — it may need attention on the backend.

## "🔄 No messages in \~20 min, so I restarted my connection..."

This is the bot's own self-monitoring, not a Fly.io or hosting outage. It works like this in the background:

* The bot expects to see *some* message activity in the group every 10 minutes or so. If it sees none, it restarts its own connection to Signal as a routine health check — this happens silently and is completely normal.
* If that happens twice in a row with zero messages received in between (roughly 20 minutes of total group silence), it posts this message so the group knows a restart happened.
* As soon as a real message gets through afterward, it follows up with **"✅ @Skupply is back and receiving messages again"** — usually within seconds.

<Note>
  This message is informational, not an alarm — the group being quiet for 20 minutes (evenings, slow periods) is enough to trigger it on its own, and it typically self-recovers on the very next message sent. No action needed unless replies actually stop coming through.
</Note>

If replies genuinely stop coming through — especially if this message keeps repeating without a "back" follow-up — flag it to an admin to check `fly logs -a skupply`.

## The bot didn't recognize a customer or product

It won't guess or silently create one. For a new customer, resend explicitly:

```
New customer Big Smoke Variety - CL x 10
```

For an unrecognized product, it means the SKU/name doesn't match anything in the catalog — check the spelling, or ask an admin to add it in the dashboard.

## I'm not sure an order/payment actually went through

Every real transaction gets a confirmation message in the group — an order gets `✅ Order confirmed` with an invoice attached, a payment gets `💰 Payment recorded`. No confirmation means it wasn't recorded. Don't resend blindly if you're unsure — check the dashboard first to avoid a duplicate.

## Who to contact

If something looks wrong with an amount, a balance, or stock levels after using the bot, flag it to an admin so it can be checked against the dashboard — the dashboard is always the source of truth.