"Provider is unavailable or cannot serve model"
The chat is pinned to a model whose provider is not enabled, has no credential, or does not list that model.
Tidebreak does not fail over to another provider. A foreground turn stays on the model you chose and refuses loudly rather than quietly answering from somewhere else. Fix the provider in Settings → Providers, or change the model on the chat.
The agent says it cannot run commands
Code execution has no backend selected. On macOS the local sandbox is used automatically; on Windows and Linux you must configure one — Docker, E2B, or Daytona — under Settings → Code execution.
If Docker is selected, check that the container runtime is actually running.
A package install fails
pip install needs the chat's network policy to be Package installs or
wider. Set it from the composer's Tools → Network. See
Code execution.
Search does not work on a Gemini model
Gemini models in Tidebreak do not use a provider-side search. With Search mode on Automatic and no search key saved, there is nothing for the tool to call. Add a key under Settings → Web search, or run that chat on an Anthropic or OpenAI model.
macOS keeps asking for keychain access
macOS ties keychain approvals to a binary's code signature. After an update, or when switching between a release build and one you built yourself, previously stored credentials belong to a different signature.
Re-enter the credential, or run:
tidebreak rehome-secrets
which rewrites each stored credential under the running binary's signature.
The app will not start, or reports the data directory is in use
One process owns the application data directory at a time, enforced with a
lock file. Close the other instance — including a headless tidebreak serve
pointed at the same directory.
Chats disappeared after an update
While Tidebreak is pre-1.0, opening a database written by an incompatible older build can rebuild it rather than migrate it. Export anything you need to keep with Save as… on outputs, and treat the local database as disposable until 1.0.
Reporting a problem
The chat header menu has Copy debug info and Save debug bundle…. Attach the bundle to a GitHub issue — it carries what is needed to reconstruct the turn.
Logs are at logs/tidebreak.log inside the application data directory.