Recover a computer

What this does for you

This page orders every way to fix a stuck or broken computer from least to most destructive, and states exactly what each one keeps and what it throws away.

Before you start

• You are signed in as a member of the organisation the bot belongs to.
• You know which is wrong: the app around the computer (a stuck tab, a stale build) or the computer itself (a bot's screen will not open, or a task keeps failing).
• For the last four steps below, you can reach Settings → Updates. Check for Updates works only in the desktop app.

Steps

Try these in order. Each one undoes less of your work than the next, so do not reach for Reset first.

When the bots' computer can't be reached

One problem shows as one notice. When the bots' computer can't be reached, the conversation shows a single notice just above the message box, with a yellow-brown edge — not a red bar across the top of the chat. It says Your bots' computer can't be reached. and offers one button, Retry.

• Retry asks for the computer again. If it comes back, the notice goes away by itself.
• If it still can't be reached, the same notice says Your bots' computer still can't be reached; Recover rebuilds it from your last saved copy. and its one button becomes Recover, which asks you to confirm first (step 4 below).

While the notice is showing, the bot's screen on the side panel's Computer tab just says Screen not available. It has no notice or buttons of its own: the notice above the message box is the one place to act.

Which failure you are looking at

When a bot's screen cannot open, the screen names one of five classes. Two of them are not yours to fix, and the product says so rather than offering you a control that would change nothing: their Try again is shown, greyed, with the reason beside it.

"Not answering" is also the honest answer when the cause is not known — the computer is not responding and nothing sharper has been recorded. It is never a guess at a cause.

1. Retry. Close whatever refused and try again — a screen that would not open, a task that failed. Most failures are transient and clear on their own. This step has no screen of its own: it repeats whatever action failed.

2. Restart the app. Close and reopen the browser tab, or quit and relaunch the desktop app. This clears a stuck client without touching the computer at all. This step has no screen of its own: it happens outside the product.

3. Check for an update. Open Settings → Updates and click Check for Updates in the top section. A client bug is sometimes already fixed in a newer build.

4. Recover. In Settings → Updates, under Your computer, click Recover. This rebuilds the computer from its last saved snapshot; confirm once you understand you may lose very recent changes. Reach for this when the computer will not respond and you do not know why.

5. Update. When an update is waiting, the same section shows Update your computer with an Update button in place of Your computer is on the latest version. The line under it says which kind of update it is:

   • A software update is waiting. Your installed apps are kept. — files, logins and installed apps all stay.
   • A computer update is waiting. It replaces the whole computer, so installed apps are removed. Your files and logins stay. — for this kind, Update later lets you pick a time for it instead, and Schedule sets it.

   Bots that use the computer pause while it updates and carry on by themselves when it is back.

6. Reset. Click Reset, then type reset to confirm. This rebuilds the computer on a new machine from the last saved snapshot of its disk: your files, settings and sign-ins come back, your files in /workspace are put back from the last saved copy, and installed apps are removed, as are node_modules and Python virtual environments. Very recent changes may be lost. Your conversations are not stored on the computer and are not affected. On the home edition, Reset puts back /workspace and your sign-ins from the saved copy.

If the computer's disk is ever lost, the next time it opens it is rebuilt the same way, from the last saved snapshot and the last saved copy of /workspace.

When the computer starts on a new disk

If your computer's disk is lost — the provider replaced it, or it could not be read — the computer starts on a new, empty one, and /workspace is put back from the last saved copy. You do not have to do anything. Settings → Computer then says so, with the day it happened and the day that copy was saved, so you know which of your changes came back: anything you changed in /workspace after that copy was saved is not on it.

A worked example

Reset asks you to type the word below, case-insensitively, before the button will confirm:

reset

What can go wrong

See also

• What the computer is
• The desktop app
• Troubleshooting