Troubleshooting

If something is not working, start here. Most issues come down to shortcuts, permissions, provider setup, or tools not being enabled yet.

The Command Bar Does Not Open

Try these first:

  1. Make sure Atua is running in the menu bar.
  2. Check that your shortcut is still set in Settings → General.
  3. Try a different shortcut if another app is using the same keys.
  4. If you just installed Atua, make sure your license was activated.

Selected Text Is Missing

If Atua cannot read selected text:

  1. Open Settings → General.
  2. Check the Accessibility permission status.
  3. Turn the permission on in macOS if needed.
  4. Try selecting the text again in the original app.

Some apps are better than others at exposing selected text to macOS. If selected text still does not come through, use {{ocr}} or {{windowContent}} instead when that fits the task.

OCR Or Screen Text Capture Is Not Working

If {{ocr}} is empty or incomplete:

  1. Open Settings → General.
  2. Check that Screen Recording permission is enabled.
  3. Try again with the content clearly visible on screen.

OCR is most useful for text you can see but cannot directly select, such as screenshots, scanned PDFs, or app interfaces.

Voice Input Or Voice Paste Is Not Working

Check these:

  1. Make sure the selected speech engine is downloaded in Settings → General.
  2. Make sure Microphone permission is allowed.
  3. If you want the fastest startup, switch to Parakeet TDT v3 in Settings → General.
  4. Make sure the correct microphone input is selected in Settings → General, or switch back to System Default.
  5. For command bar voice input, use the microphone button or ⌘ + M to start and stop.
  6. For Voice Paste, press ⌥ + ⇧ + Space once to start and the same shortcut again to stop.

If the first recording takes a while, the model may still be loading into memory. Later recordings should usually start faster.

If you still prefer Whisper, try the Tiny or Base variant first.

If Whisper reports a missing model file after download:

  1. Go back to Settings → General.
  2. Remove the Whisper model.
  3. Download the same Whisper variant again.
  4. Try the recording once more after the status returns to Ready.

If nothing is detected, try speaking for a little longer before stopping.

The AI Is Not Responding

Usually this means provider setup needs attention.

Check the following:

  1. Open Settings → Models.
  2. Make sure you have at least one provider saved.
  3. Make sure one provider is marked Active.
  4. Recheck the API key and model name.
  5. If you are using a local provider, make sure Ollama or LM Studio is running.

A Saved Command Is Not Doing What You Expect

Check the command itself:

  1. Open Settings → Commands.
  2. Make sure the prompt uses the right tags, such as {{selectedText}}, {{windowContent}}, or {{transcript}}.
  3. Check the Output Mode.
  4. Check whether the command is using a different model than your main one.
  5. If it depends on tools, make sure Enable Tools is on.
  6. If you imported the command from JSON, check whether any MCP server dependency was skipped during import.

A Tool Is Missing Or Not Running

If a command cannot use a tool:

  1. Open Settings → Tools for built-in system tools.
  2. Open Settings → MCP for connected MCP tools.
  3. Make sure the tool or server is enabled.
  4. If it is an MCP server, refresh the tool list.
  5. If the tool works with another app, check whether macOS asked for Automation permission.
  6. If the command came from an imported command bundle, make sure you approved the MCP server install and that the required MCP tools are enabled on that server.

An Imported Command Needs Notion, GitHub, Or Another MCP Server

That usually means one of these things:

  1. The shared command included an MCP dependency and you chose not to install it during import.
  2. The MCP server was added, but it still needs OAuth authorization.
  3. The server connected, but the required tool is still turned off.

Check Settings → MCP and confirm:

  1. The server exists.
  2. The server is enabled.
  3. The required tool is enabled.
  4. If the server uses OAuth, click Authorize and complete sign-in.

I Denied A Permission Earlier

You can fix that later.

  1. Open Settings → General in Atua to see which permissions are missing.
  2. Use the button there to open the matching macOS settings screen.
  3. Turn the permission on.
  4. Return to Atua and try again.

Still Stuck

If you are not sure which page to check next: