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Common Issues

Common Issues

Section titled “Common Issues”

This page covers the most frequently reported problems and their solutions. Each section follows a problem, cause, and solution format so you can resolve issues quickly.

Extension Not Detecting Alerts

Section titled “Extension Not Detecting Alerts”

Problem: The Chrome extension does not highlight or extract alerts from your monitoring dashboard.

Cause: The extension relies on content scripts that match specific URL patterns for supported platforms. If the platform is not in the supported list, the page has not fully loaded, or the extension is disabled, detection will not trigger.

Solution:

  1. Confirm your monitoring platform is on the supported platforms list: Datadog, Grafana, New Relic, PagerDuty, Prometheus, SigNoz, Elasticsearch, and AWS CloudWatch
  2. Refresh the monitoring page after the extension is installed --- content scripts only inject on page load
  3. Open chrome://extensions and verify that Overwatch Companion is enabled
  4. Check that the extension has permission to access the current site

Tip: If you recently updated the extension, close and reopen your monitoring tab so the new content scripts load.

Helper CLI Not Connecting

Section titled “Helper CLI Not Connecting”

Problem: The Chrome extension shows “Helper not detected” even though the binary is running.

Cause: The Helper CLI authenticates with your Overwatch session token and communicates over a local WebSocket. Connection failures are typically caused by an expired session token, the binary not running, or a firewall blocking localhost traffic.

Solution:

  1. Confirm the Helper binary is running: check your system tray or run ps aux | grep overwatch-helper in a terminal
  2. Re-authenticate by clicking Reconnect in the extension popup or restarting the Helper binary
  3. Verify that no firewall or antivirus software is blocking localhost WebSocket connections
  4. Check the Helper log output for authentication errors

Note: The Helper CLI must be downloaded from Settings > Helper CLI in the Overwatch dashboard. Third-party builds are not supported.

Login Failures

Section titled “Login Failures”

Problem: You cannot log in to the Overwatch dashboard or the Chrome extension.

Cause: Common causes include incorrect credentials, a locked account after too many failed attempts, expired sessions, or stale browser cache interfering with authentication.

Solution:

  1. Double-check your email and password --- credentials are case-sensitive
  2. Clear your browser cache and cookies for the Overwatch domain, then try again
  3. If your account is locked after repeated failed attempts, wait 15 minutes or contact your administrator to unlock it
  4. Verify your account status with your organization admin --- deactivated accounts cannot log in
  5. For SSO users, confirm that your identity provider session is active

Dashboard Not Loading

Section titled “Dashboard Not Loading”

Problem: The Overwatch dashboard shows a blank page, a loading spinner that never resolves, or a connection error.

Cause: The frontend cannot reach the backend API, typically due to a misconfigured API URL, a network connectivity issue, or a browser extension blocking requests.

Solution:

  1. Open the browser developer console (F12 > Console) and look for network errors or failed API calls
  2. Verify that the API URL is correct: navigate to <your-api-url>/docs and confirm the OpenAPI documentation loads
  3. Check your network connectivity --- VPN disconnections are a common cause
  4. Disable browser extensions that block requests (ad blockers, privacy extensions) and reload
  5. Try an incognito window to rule out cached state or conflicting extensions

AI Responses Are Slow

Section titled “AI Responses Are Slow”

Problem: The AI chat takes noticeably longer than expected to return a diagnosis.

Cause: Response time depends on whether the query hits the semantic cache, which model tier is selected, and current network conditions. Cache misses on complex queries that escalate to higher model tiers (Sonnet or Opus) take longer.

Solution:

  1. Check if similar queries have been asked before --- repeated or similar questions benefit from semantic cache hits and return near-instantly
  2. Review your organization’s model tier configuration in Settings > AI Configuration --- lower tiers (Nova Micro, Haiku) respond faster for simple queries
  3. Verify your AI quota has not been exhausted, which can delay or block requests
  4. Check network latency to the Overwatch API endpoint

Tip: You can monitor cache hit rates and model tier usage in the Analytics section of the dashboard.

WebSocket Disconnected

Section titled “WebSocket Disconnected”

Problem: Real-time updates stop arriving, the connection indicator turns red, or you see a “WebSocket disconnected” message.

Cause: WebSocket connections can drop due to network interruptions, browser extensions that block persistent connections, or idle timeouts.

Solution:

  1. Check your network connection --- switching Wi-Fi networks or VPN reconnections will drop the WebSocket
  2. Click the connection indicator in the dashboard to manually reconnect
  3. Disable browser extensions that interfere with WebSocket traffic (some ad blockers and privacy tools block persistent connections)
  4. If disconnections are frequent, check whether your network proxy or corporate firewall allows WebSocket (wss://) connections
  5. Refresh the page as a last resort --- the client will re-establish the connection on load

Note: The Overwatch client automatically attempts reconnection when a WebSocket drop is detected. If the indicator stays red for more than 30 seconds, the issue is likely network-level.

Still Stuck?

Section titled “Still Stuck?”

If none of the solutions above resolve your problem: