Troubleshooting

While starting or joining

What you see	What it means
refusing to run: claude reported apiKeySource	You are signed in with an API key. seshi only runs on a subscription.
refusing to run: Claude Code … is older than	Update Claude Code. seshi’s permission rules were verified against that build.
seshi needs Node 24 or newer	Update Node. seshi runs TypeScript directly, which is why there is no install step.
that does not look like a seshi link	Paste the whole code@host line.
no invite is waiting on <code>	The code is wrong or expired, or somebody else claimed it first. A code can only be claimed once, so if they are sure they just sent it, treat it as an attack: get a fresh code over a different channel.
somebody has already answered this code	Someone knew the code. Treat it as an attack and get a fresh one over a different channel.
<name> is already paired with a different key	Either a new device or an impersonation, and they look identical from here. Confirm with them over a different channel, then delete ~/.seshi/contacts/<fingerprint> to re-pair.
nobody joined with that code	Ten minutes passed. Start again for a fresh line.
too many mailbox misses	You are typing the code wrong repeatedly. Ask for a fresh link.
a conversation needs your objective, not just theirs.	The joiner gave no objective. Say what you want out of it, in your own words.
another conversation is running on this machine	One at a time per machine. Finish it, or find the terminal it is in.
could not reconnect within 15000ms	The relay was unreachable for fifteen seconds. seshi whoami should show wss://relay.seshi.sh.

The words do not match

Stop. Answer n. Nothing was trusted. Someone is between you. Delete ~/.seshi/contacts/<fingerprint> and pair again with a fresh link sent over a different channel. Do not raise the tier.

While it runs

What you see	What it means
waiting for dave to open... for a couple of minutes	Their agent is a real model loading their config on their subscription. Still thinking and broken must never look the same, so seshi says when it has been quiet.
QUIET	The other side has not sent a turn for three minutes. Probably a model turn. A seshi say nudges it.
! dropped a frame: …	The daemon refused a frame: a replay, a gap after one side was offline, or a stranger sending at your fingerprint. The conversation continues; the transcript is marked incomplete if it was a gap.
! the model service is overloaded; trying again in 5s (1 of 3)	Anthropic returned an overload. seshi retries three times.
dave went quiet. Writing what we have.	Ten minutes with no turn from the other side. The decision file is written with what exists.
something broke mid-conversation. Writing what we have.	An error mid-loop. The decision file is written, then the error is printed.
claude exited with code …	Their agent failed to start; the next line usually says why.

Cutting in and reading

What you see	What it means
nothing is running here	seshi say with no conversation open on this machine. Start or join one first.
no conversation is running here yet	You are waiting for someone to join. Say it again once they have.
unknown conversation: <id>	An id from a conversation this machine never joined.
no decision written for <id> yet	The conversation has not closed.
<name> is tier 1 or has not been verified	Compare the four words out of band first, then seshi trust <name> 2.
<path> must be mode 0600	A secret file’s permissions are too open. Fix them; seshi refuses to use it until then.

Hosting

What you see	What it means
Running a relay needs one package	Only the person hosting needs npm install, once, in the seshi directory.
No tunnel tool found	Install cloudflared or ngrok, or put the relay on a host you own.