recordist

Troubleshooting

Most problems are one of the following. Settings → Diagnostics in the app runs the same checks and links here.

The prompt never appears

  1. Check Settings → Detection. Mic in use must be on for apps Recordist does not recognise by name.
  2. On macOS, make sure Recordist is allowed to run in the background: System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.
  3. Some apps open the microphone only when you unmute. Unmute once and the prompt appears.
  4. If you clicked Snooze 10m, prompts are silent for ten minutes. The menu bar or tray icon shows a small “zz” during a snooze.
  5. Browser meetings: the prompt appears when Chrome opens the mic. For titles and participants, pair the Chrome extension.

More detail: The record prompt didn’t appear.

The recording is silent, or only one side is there

Symptom Cause Fix
Only you are in the transcript System audio permission missing macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording → enable Recordist, then restart the app
Only they are in the transcript Microphone permission missing, or the wrong mic is selected Grant Microphone permission; check Settings → Capture → Microphone
Nothing at all on Linux (early access) No monitor source pactl list sources short should show a .monitor source. On PipeWire, install pipewire-pulse
Nothing at all on Windows (early access) Exclusive-mode audio In Sound settings → device Properties → Advanced, untick “Allow applications to take exclusive control”
Audio is there but the transcript is empty Voice detection too strict for very quiet audio Settings → Transcription → turn off VAD and re-run transcription from the meeting’s menu

Transcription is slow

  • Check which backend is in use: Settings → Transcription → Advanced. If it says CPU on a machine with a GPU, update your graphics driver (Windows and Linux).
  • Pick a smaller model. small is about four times faster than the default on CPU, with a modest loss in accuracy. See Transcription models.
  • Turn off the Live transcript during meetings on older hardware; the final pass after the meeting is unaffected.
  • Close other heavy apps. Transcription wants memory bandwidth more than cores.

Notes are not generated

  • “The built-in notes engine isn’t ready yet”: the engine and its model download once, in the background, after setup (about 160 MB plus 1–2.5 GB for the model). Open Settings → AI notes to watch progress or press Set up now. Notes written before it finished are basic fallback notes; regenerate them afterwards.
  • “Ollama not reachable” (only if you chose Ollama I already run): start Ollama, or set its address under Settings → AI notes, or switch back to the built-in engine.
  • “Model not found” (own Ollama): run ollama pull qwen3:4b-instruct (or whichever model you selected).
  • “Monthly limit reached”: after the 14-day Pro trial, the Free plan includes 3 AI notes a month. The counter resets on the first of the month. Transcription is unaffected.
  • Provider returns 401: the API key is wrong or revoked. Paste it again under Settings → AI notes → Provider.
  • Notes marked as a fallback were produced without a model because none was reachable; click Regenerate once the provider is back.
  • Local notes take minutes on an 8 GB machine by design; here is why, and what to do.

An agent or the extension cannot connect

  • The desktop app must be running for the extension and for anything that needs live access; the MCP gateway can read your meetings with the app closed.
  • If your assistant says the token is missing, open the app once: the token is created on first launch.
  • If something else is using the app’s port, the app says so in Settings → Diagnostics → Logs. Developers can move it; see the local API.

The app will not open

  • macOS says the app is “damaged” or “cannot be opened”: the download was interrupted. Re-download and verify the checksum on the download page.
  • macOS says the developer is unidentified: expected on early builds; right-click → Open.
  • Windows SmartScreen (early access): early builds are not yet signed, so SmartScreen warns. Verify the checksum first, then choose More info → Run anyway.
  • Linux AppImage does nothing (early access): chmod +x it, and install libfuse2 on distributions that lack it, or run with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Reset without losing meetings

Quit Recordist, rename the settings file in the data folder (Settings → Privacy → Show data folder) to settings.backup.json, and open the app. Preferences return to defaults; the database and audio are untouched.

Logs

Settings → Diagnostics → Open logs folder. Logs rotate at 5 MB and contain no transcript text.

Reporting a problem

Open a ticket or email [email protected]. Attach Settings → General → Export diagnostics: one file with app and OS versions, your settings (with keys and tokens removed), permission status, database counts and the last 200 log lines. It contains no audio, no transcripts and no notes. We never ask for transcripts or audio; if we need details, send diagnostics only.