---
title: "Troubleshooting"
description: "Where the logs are, what to ask your agent, and answers to the questions everyone asks first."
canonical: "https://smabar.com/docs/troubleshooting/"
lang: en
---

# Troubleshooting

> Where the logs are, what to ask your agent, and answers to the questions everyone asks first.

Canonical HTML version: https://smabar.com/docs/troubleshooting/ · Language: en · Publisher: smabar (https://smabar.com)

---

## Start with the logs

Everything smabar does ends up in `~/.smabar/logs/` (`%USERPROFILE%\.smabar\logs\` on Windows): one file for the app, one per plugin. The fastest way through them is your agent: ask it to read the log of the plugin that misbehaves. It gets the plugin's output, every crash and every element the bar removed from its markup, each with the supported alternative.

> The departures widget shows nothing since this morning. Read its log and fix it.

## The bar is not visible

On Linux the bar needs X11 or a Wayland compositor with layer-shell support; GNOME on Wayland has none. On a multi-monitor desktop the bar sits on the primary screen. If it once showed and now does not, a restart of smabar fixes most cases.

## Clicks go through the bar or land beside it

The bar's clickable area follows its shape; the transparent corners around the pill let clicks through to the desktop on purpose. If clicks land in the wrong place after changing scale or resolution, restart smabar.

## A plugin does not start

Its log names the reason. The usual ones: a manifest field that is invalid, a Python dependency the plugin declares but cannot fetch, or a file the plugin expected in its data folder. The very first plugin also provisions the Python runtime under `~/.smabar/tools/`, which needs a network connection once.

## Reset

Your configuration is `~/.smabar/config.json`. Deleting it restores the defaults; deleting the whole `~/.smabar/` folder removes plugins, data and themes as well.

## Questions

**Is it free?** Yes. There is nothing to buy and no plan.

**Do I need an account?** No. There is no account and no cloud.

**Does anything leave my machine?** smabar itself talks to the update server for the version check you asked for and to the store for the catalog. Plugins talk to whatever service they were written for; that is their business and their README should say so.

**Can I use it without an agent?** Yes. Pinned shortcuts, the bundled widgets, themes and the store all work without any MCP client. The agent is how new widgets get built.

**Windows says the installer is unrecognised.** The installer carries no Authenticode signature. Choose "More info" and "Run anyway", or compare the checksum first.

**macOS?** Planned, not yet.