Docs

Troubleshooting

Most hiccups come down to the extension not finding the desktop app. Here's how to check, and what the popup's messages mean.

The popup doesn't find the desktop app

When the extension can't reach the app within a few seconds, the popup quietly falls back to working on its own, with the Choose project folder or Create Project buttons. If you expected the app's Open with choices instead, work through these in order.

Open the Bitling app once. Each start registers the helper with your browsers (and repairs the registration if you moved the app). It doesn't need to stay open afterwards. If it's already running, opening it again only brings its window forward, so quit it first.
Installed your browser after Bitling? The app only registers with browsers it finds when it starts. Quit Bitling completely (not just its window), then open it again.
Check the browser. The app registers with Chrome, Chromium, Microsoft Edge, and Brave. Other browsers won't find it.
Try the popup again. Close it and click the Bitling icon on the problem page. The popup checks for the app each time it opens.
Look for the registration file (below). If it's missing, quit Bitling completely (not just its window) and open it again: registration happens when the app starts.

Where the registration lives

The registration is a small JSON file named dev.bitling.native_host.json. Its path points at the bitling-native-host program inside the app, and allowed_origins lists the extension that may connect.

macOS

One file in each installed browser's folder:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/
~/Library/Application Support/Chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/NativeMessagingHosts/
~/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/NativeMessagingHosts/

Linux

~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/
~/.config/chromium/NativeMessagingHosts/
~/.config/microsoft-edge/NativeMessagingHosts/
~/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/NativeMessagingHosts/

With the AppImage, the helper is copied to ~/.local/share/bitling/bin/ so the registration doesn't point inside the AppImage's temporary mount.

Windows

One file, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Bitling\dev.bitling.native_host.json, which each browser finds through a registry key:

HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\dev.bitling.native_host
HKCU\Software\Chromium\NativeMessagingHosts\dev.bitling.native_host
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Edge\NativeMessagingHosts\dev.bitling.native_host
HKCU\Software\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\NativeMessagingHosts\dev.bitling.native_host

Uninstalling on Windows removes the registration. To remove it yourself on any system, run the app's bitling-desktop program from a terminal with --unregister-native-host. It removes only registrations Bitling wrote and leaves anything else alone.

Messages from the desktop app

Bitling found your desktop app, but it's a different version.: The extension and the app speak different versions of their protocol. Update the app, or the extension if the app is the newer one. Until then, the popup keeps working with folder access.
Set up your project folder in the Bitling app: Open the Bitling app and choose where your practice projects live, then click the Bitling icon again.
Lost touch with the Bitling app: The app stopped answering partway through. Click the Bitling icon again to check. If the project wasn't created yet, the popup offers folder access for your next step. If it says your project was created but didn't open, it's already in your project folder: click Bitling again to open it. Either way, the popup never quietly redoes the failed action another way.
The Bitling app is still working: Creating the project took longer than expected and may still finish. Close the popup and click the Bitling icon again in a moment.
Bitling kept that folder closed: The project's location isn't safely inside your project folder (for example, it leads out through a symlink), so nothing was written or opened.
That app isn't available: The editor may have been moved or uninstalled. Pick another one under Open with, or check the launchers in the Bitling app.
Bitling can't find this project anymore: It was moved or deleted outside Bitling. You can create it again.