Troubleshooting

Resolve common issues with Simili Bot

Troubleshooting Guide

Common issues and how to fix them.

Installation issues

”Configuration not found”

Error:

Error: Failed to load configuration: file not found

Solutions:

• Verify file path is correct
• Check file exists in repository
• For GitHub Actions, verify path relative to repository root
• Check YAML syntax: cat .github/simili.yaml

”API key is invalid”

Error:

Error: Invalid API key

Solutions:

1. Verify key from source (Qdrant Cloud, Google AI Studio)
2. Copy without extra spaces or newlines
3. For GitHub secrets, add to repository settings
4. Regenerate key if recently changed
5. Verify API is enabled in cloud console

”Cannot connect to Qdrant”

Error:

Error: Failed to connect to Qdrant: connection refused

Solutions:

• Check Qdrant is running: curl https://your-cluster.qdrant.io:6333
• Verify URL format: includes :6333 port
• Check API key is correct
• Verify firewall allows outbound HTTPS
• Try connecting from local machine first

Runtime issues

No comments posted on issues

Symptoms:

• Issue processed but no comment appears
• Check GitHub Actions shows success

Causes:

• GitHub token missing required permissions
• Repository is private and token lacks access
• Dry-run mode enabled

Solutions:

permissions:
  issues: write  # Required for posting comments
  contents: read

Verify token has issues: write scope.

Similar issues not found

Symptoms:

• No similar issues shown even when they exist

Causes:

• Threshold too high (needs to be raised to find issues)
• Issues not indexed yet
• Different terminology
• Issue is too unique

Solutions:

1. Lower threshold in configuration:

   defaults:
     similarity_threshold: 0.60  # More lenient
   

2. Bulk index all issues:

   simili index --repo owner/repo --since 2020-01-01
   

3. Improve issue descriptions

Duplicate detection not working

Symptoms:

• Duplicates not marked even when obvious

Causes:

• Gemini API key issues
• LLM errors (usually logged)
• Similarity threshold misses them

Solutions:

1. Check logs for LLM errors
2. Verify Gemini API key works
3. Try with --dry-run to see analysis
4. Lower similarity threshold first

GitHub Action issues

Workflow doesn’t trigger

Symptoms:

• No workflow runs when issue created

Causes:

• Trigger conditions not met
• Workflow file not on main branch
• Actions disabled

Solutions:

1. Check on: triggers:

   on:
     issues:
       types: [opened, edited]
   

2. Push workflow to main branch

3. Enable Actions in repository settings

Action times out

Symptoms:

• Workflow runs >30 minutes

Causes:

• Large repository (many similar issues)
• Slow API responses
• Network issues

Solutions:

• Increase Qdrant timeout
• Reduce max_similar_to_show
• Split processing across multiple workflows

”Permission denied” error

Symptoms:

• Action can’t post comments

Causes:

• Missing issues: write permission
• Token is restricted

Solutions:

permissions:
  issues: write
  contents: read

API rate limiting

Gemini rate limit

Error:

Error 429: Rate limit exceeded

Solutions:

• Free tier: 15 LLM requests/min, 50 embedding requests/min
• Add delays between requests
• Use smaller batch sizes
• Upgrade to paid plan

GitHub API rate limit

Error:

Error 403: API rate limit exceeded

Solutions:

• Use personal access token instead of GITHUB_TOKEN
• PAT has higher limits
• Batch operations when possible
• Check rate limit status

Qdrant timeout

Error:

Error: i/o timeout

Solutions:

1. Increase timeout:

   qdrant:
     timeout: 60  # Seconds
   

2. Check Qdrant health

3. For cloud: verify region

4. Reduce query complexity

Vector database issues

”Collection not found”

Error:

Error: Collection "issues" not found

Solutions:

• Simili Bot creates automatically - run again
• Verify collection name in config
• Check Qdrant is running
• Verify API permissions

”Out of storage”

Error:

Error: Storage quota exceeded

Solutions:

• Qdrant Cloud: Upgrade plan
• Self-hosted: Expand storage
• Delete old closed issues
• Implement retention policy

Poor similarity results

Symptoms:

• Wrong issues returned as similar
• Missing obvious matches

Causes:

• Low quality issue descriptions
• Insufficient historical data
• Poor threshold setting

Solutions:

1. Index more historical issues
2. Improve issue descriptions
3. Adjust threshold
4. Check vector quality (ensure Gemini API works)

Configuration issues

YAML parsing error

Error:

Error: Failed to parse configuration: yaml parsing error

Solutions:

1. Check indentation (use spaces, not tabs)
2. Validate YAML: use online validator
3. Check quotes and special characters
4. Look at line number in error

Invalid configuration values

Error:

Error: similarity_threshold must be between 0.0 and 1.0

Solutions:

• Check value types (number, boolean, string)
• Review configuration schema
• See Configuration Overview

Environment variable not expanding

Symptoms:

• Literal ${VARIABLE_NAME} in output instead of value

Causes:

• Variable not set in environment
• Typo in variable name
• Not running in correct shell

Solutions:

export QDRANT_API_KEY="your-key"
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
simili process --config simili.yaml --issue test.json

Testing issues

Dry-run shows different behavior

Symptom:

• Dry-run works but real run fails

Cause:

• Usually permissions or API keys

Solutions:

• Check actual error in logs
• Verify GitHub token has write permissions
• Verify all secrets are correct

Debugging

Enable verbose logging

Check logs at:

1. GitHub Action: Actions tab → workflow → step logs
2. Docker: docker logs <container>
3. CLI: Console output

Minimal reproduction

Test with single issue:

simili process --issue test.json \
  --config simili.yaml \
  --dry-run

Check external services

Test connectivity:

# Test Qdrant
curl https://your-cluster.qdrant.io:6333/health

# Test GitHub
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/user

# Test Gemini (via Simili Bot)
simili process --dry-run --issue test.json --config simili.yaml

Getting help

1. Check logs for exact error message
2. Review configuration for common mistakes
3. Try with --dry-run flag
4. Open issue on GitHub
5. Include:
   • Error message
   • Configuration (with secrets redacted)
   • Relevant logs
   • Steps to reproduce

Common success signs

✅ Working properly:

• Comments posted to issues
• Appropriate labels suggested
• Similar issues found
• No error messages
• GitHub Actions shows success

✅ Logs show:

• “Successfully processed issue”
• “Found 3 similar issues”
• “Posted comment to GitHub”
• No Error: messages