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Reference

Troubleshooting

Most problems are the phone not reaching the computer, the computer refusing the sign-in, or Herdr not answering. Start with the connection log, then find your message below. For notifications, see Fix notifications.

Read the connection log

Open the computer and tap the status line under its name, or tap ⋯ › Connection Log. It shows each step with a time stamp, newest first, and warnings and errors in colour. Reconnect now closes the connection and tries again. If you write to support, copy what it shows.

The phone cannot reach the computer

A timeout, a refused connection or an unreachable host means the phone never got an SSH answer. Melta waits 20 seconds before giving up. Check:

  • SSH is on. On a Mac, System Settings › General › Sharing › Remote Login. On Linux, the OpenSSH server.
  • The address is right. A local IP only works on the same Wi-Fi. Use the Tailscale IP or name away from home.
  • Tailscale is connected on the phone, if you use it, and on the computer.
  • The computer is awake. Melta cannot wake a sleeping computer. See keeping a Mac awake for SSH.

The computer refuses the sign-in

  • Key refused. The phone's public key is not in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys for that user, or the user name is wrong. Run the setup command again from Edit Host; it adds the key if it is missing. Check User against whoami on the computer.
  • The key was added but the computer still refused it, after Add Key with Password: check that ~/.ssh on the computer is not writable by other users.
  • The computer didn't accept that password, after Add Key with Password: check the user name and password. Some servers turn password sign-in off; use the setup command to add a key instead.
  • No credentials saved on this device. This phone has no key or password for the computer, which happens on a new phone. Open Edit Host and add one.
  • Host key changed! See First connection.

SSH connects but nothing is listed

  • Herdr is not running. The list stays on Loading Herdr… with a reason starting with Herdr:. Run herdr on the computer, then ⋯ › Reconnect.
  • Wrong session. If you use a named Herdr session, set it in Edit Host › Herdr › Session. An empty field means the default session.
  • Herdr is not found. Melta looks for herdr on the computer's PATH and in ~/.local/bin, ~/.cargo/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin and /usr/local/bin.
  • No live updates. To follow Herdr's events, Melta needs nc with -U support or python3 on the computer. Show on computer needs python3 or perl.

If a chat shows Live status paused. Reconnecting to Herdr…, Melta lost Herdr's event stream and is retrying.

The connection drops

  • While the app is open, Melta reconnects on its own, three times, after about 1, 3 and 8 seconds. After that, tap Reconnect.
  • When you come back to the app, it checks each computer you had open and reconnects the ones that dropped.
  • On iOS, the system closes idle connections while the app is in the background, so expect a reconnect after a longer break.
  • On Android, Melta keeps connections open in the background with a Connected to your computer notice. Swiping Melta away from recent apps ends its sessions.

Herdr keeps your panes running whatever happens to the phone, so a reconnect picks up where you left off.

A pane or chat looks wrong

  • Session ended: taken over by another client: something else took control of the pane. Tap Reconnect.
  • The computer's screen is small after using the phone: tap ⋯ › Show on computer in the terminal to hand the pane back at full size.
  • No transcript yet in a chat: install Herdr's integration with herdr integration install claude or herdr integration install codex. See Agent chat.
  • The output stopped moving: tap ⋯ › Jump to bottom, in case Herdr's view of the pane is scrolled up.

The Hosts screen says Can't reach the server

Your list of computers is loaded from Melta's server, so the phone needs internet access to show it. Tap Retry once you are back online.

You forgot your Melta password

On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password?, enter your account's email and tap Send Code. Type the 6-digit code from the email and a new password, and you are signed in. The code works for 15 minutes and for 5 tries; Send a new code replaces it. Resetting signs out every other phone. If you signed up with Apple or Google, the same steps add a password, so you can sign in with your email too.

More help

Fix SSH from your phone covers each SSH error in more depth. If you are still stuck, write to support with your phone and its system version, the Melta version from Settings, your computer's system, the output of herdr --version, and the connection log.