---
title: "Troubleshooting - Chat Thing Documentation"
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/troubleshooting"
last_updated: "2026-07-20T15:03:03.852Z"
meta:
  description: "Common issues and how to fix them"
  "og:description": "Common issues and how to fix them"
  "og:title": Troubleshooting
  "twitter:description": "Common issues and how to fix them"
  "twitter:title": Troubleshooting
---

**Introduction**

# Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to fix them.

## Data source sync issues

### Sync is failing or timing out

**Possible causes:**

- The website is blocking our crawler
- The page is behind authentication
- The page takes too long to load

**Solutions:**

- Check if your site has bot protection (Cloudflare, etc.) - you may need to whitelist our crawler
- For authenticated pages, use the Basic Auth fields in scraping settings
- Try syncing fewer pages at once
- For very large sites, split into multiple data sources

### Notion sync is slow

Notion syncs can take a long time for large workspaces. This is normal - a workspace with hundreds of pages can take 30+ minutes.

**Tips:**

- Only add the top-level pages you need (child pages are included automatically)
- Use multiple smaller data sources instead of one large one

### Content not appearing after sync

- Check that the sync completed (look for the green tick and "Last sync" time)
- Make sure your CSS selector is correct - try `body` if unsure
- For websites, check the page isn't loading content via JavaScript after page load

## Bot response issues

### Bot is giving wrong answers

**Try these settings adjustments:**

- Lower the **creativity/temperature** slider for more accurate responses
- Adjust the **document relevance** slider - lower = more content considered
- Review your prompt - add explicit "don't" rules
- Check your data sources actually contain the information

### Bot says "I don't know" too often

- Lower the document relevance threshold
- Increase max context documents
- Check your data sources have synced successfully
- Make sure your prompt doesn't include overly restrictive rules

### Bot is making things up

- Increase the document relevance threshold
- Lower the creativity/temperature slider
- Add to your prompt: "Only answer based on the provided context. If the answer isn't in the context, say you don't know."

## Widget issues

### Widget not appearing on my site

**Check these:**

- Is the script tag added correctly before `</body>`?
- Is the bot ID correct?
- Check browser console for JavaScript errors
- Check if Content Security Policy (CSP) is blocking the script
- Try in an incognito window (browser extensions can interfere)

### Widget styling looks wrong

- Check for CSS conflicts with your site's styles
- Use the CSS overrides to fix specific issues
- See [Widget customisation](https://chatthing.ai/docs/widget-customisation) for full control

## Channel issues

### Slack/Discord bot not responding

- Check the channel is connected in your bot's Channels tab
- Make sure the bot has been invited to the channel
- Check you haven't hit your message token limit

## Still stuck?

Chat with our support bot or join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/chatthing) for help.