Troubleshooting

Use this page when a website feels wrong but you do not yet know whether the issue is in draft, Studio, plugins, publish, or access.

Collect this first

Write down the website name, the domain involved, whether the issue is in draft or live, and the exact step that failed. That usually cuts the troubleshooting time in half.

The live site does not match what I see in Studio

What this usually means

• The latest draft was never published.
• The wrong domain or version was used during publish.
• The change exists only in Studio and has not been promoted to live yet.

Check first

1. Confirm that the latest draft was actually published.
2. Re-check the target domain used during the publish step.
3. Verify that your changes were made in the version you intended to ship.
4. If your website uses plugins, confirm that the plugin configuration you expected is part of the published state.

The website thumbnail is outdated or looks broken

Open the website card menu and choose Regenerate thumbnail. Vivd captures the published site when available, otherwise the ready preview. The card shows progress until capture finishes, then reloads the image. A failed capture keeps the previous thumbnail and shows an error.

Studio asks me to reconnect ChatGPT

Your ChatGPT connection can expire even while you remain signed in to ChatGPT in another browser tab. You can reconnect in two places: in Studio, or in Account settings > Local agents, where the Use your own ChatGPT card carries the same buttons.

Select Reconnect ChatGPT, then select Copy code and open ChatGPT. Vivd takes you to ChatGPT with the code ready to paste. Paste it, finish signing in, and send your message again. If the connection dialog still shows Disconnect, disconnect that connection first, then connect ChatGPT again. Reconnecting does not remove your edits or your chat history.

Copy code copies the same code on its own and says Copied once it has. If ChatGPT does not open, the dialog shows the address to visit instead.

Restarting the preview or switching models does not renew this connection. A usage limit notice is different: wait for the allowance to reset instead of reconnecting.

I want to connect ChatGPT for the first time

Open Account settings > Local agents and find the Use your own ChatGPT card, or open a website in Studio and choose ChatGPT from your menu. Both lead to the same dialog. Select Connect ChatGPT, then Copy code and open ChatGPT, paste the code in ChatGPT and finish signing in. After that, pick a GPT model labeled Your ChatGPT in the chat model picker.

Can I connect ChatGPT on the Free plan?

Yes. Every plan, Free included, can connect a ChatGPT Plus or Pro account. GPT models labeled Your ChatGPT then run on your ChatGPT subscription instead of your Credits. Heavier models use up ChatGPT’s own usage limits faster; the model picker marks them with Uses ChatGPT limits fast. On Free, models on your ChatGPT are open at every thinking level.

Not every GPT model can run on a ChatGPT account. Those stay on Credits, and if one is sent to ChatGPT anyway, the chat says This model can’t run on your ChatGPT. Pick another model or use Credits.

The AI provider timed out loading an image

An image can finish uploading before the AI provider has downloaded it for inspection. Studio retries this specific OpenAI download timeout twice. If it still fails, the chat shows image download timed out.

Ask Vivd to continue in the same chat. You do not need to upload the files again. The earlier results remain available, so Vivd can check what was completed before continuing. If the error repeats, share the website name and the time of the failure with support.

Vivd stopped because you’re out of Credits

Vivd works in steps and charges Credits for each step as it finishes. When your Credits run out in the middle of a task, Vivd finishes the step it is on and stops before the next one. The chat shows out of Credits and a Buy Credits action. The last step is charged in full, so your balance can end slightly below zero; that small amount is taken from the Credits you add next.

Nothing that Vivd already changed is lost. After you buy Credits, ask Vivd to continue in the same chat. While you have no Credits, Studio does not start a new message with a model that needs Credits.

A first draft from Design Mode is the exception: once it has started, it keeps going even if your Credits run out, and the Credits it used are charged. Before it starts, Vivd checks that your Credits cover what the chosen model usually needs. Your organization’s spend limits still stop a first draft, and so does a safety limit of twice what the model usually needs at most. Then Vivd says “This draft used more Credits than expected and was stopped.” What it built so far is saved; open the project in Studio and ask Vivd to continue.

Vivd says the model is busy

The AI model sometimes gets more requests than it can take at once. Vivd waits and tries again on its own for a few minutes, so most of the time you only notice a short pause while Vivd keeps working. When the model stays busy longer than that, Vivd stops the task and the chat shows The model is busy right now.

Nothing Vivd already changed is lost. Wait a minute, then ask Vivd to continue in the same chat. On Pro you can also switch to another model in the chat model picker. If it keeps happening, share the website name and the time with support.

”This model is part of Pro”

On the Free plan, Credits run the recommended model at its recommended thinking level. Studio says This model is part of Pro when a message or first draft asks for another model or thinking level on Credits. Pick the recommended model, connect your ChatGPT to run GPT models on your subscription, or upgrade to Pro.

”This template is part of Pro”

Starting from Brewery & Beer Garden or Coffee Roastery, the two motion templates, with Use template is part of Pro. On Free you can still open their preview. Choose Upgrade to Pro to start from one, or pick any other template. If you started a design with one of them and your plan has since changed to Free, pick another template before continuing.

On any plan you can ask the Vivd team to build such a website for you. Choose Have one built for you under the card. See Have the Vivd team build it.

”Video clips are part of Pro”

Video clips are part of Pro. On the Free plan, Vivd makes no clip and charges nothing. It offers a version with still images instead. Choose Upgrade to Pro to make video clips.

Studio shows zero Credits

Your ChatGPT connection and your Credit balance are separate. When the selected model needs Credits, Studio explains the restriction and offers a connected ChatGPT model when available. Select Use [model] with ChatGPT to switch and continue chatting.

Studio remembers your explicit model choice for that chat in this browser, including after a reload. New chats use your last selected model. While using ChatGPT, the composer shows a quiet Using your ChatGPT status with your Credit balance when available. Buying Credits does not switch an existing chat away from your chosen ChatGPT model.

Other models and tools, including image generation, may still require Credits. If you cannot manage billing for your organization, Vivd asks you to have an organization owner or admin buy Credits instead of sending you to a billing screen you cannot open. You can keep drafting a message while sending is blocked; switching models keeps your draft. If ChatGPT expires or reaches its own allowance, follow the separate reconnect or usage-limit notice.

The first draft feels incomplete

Check first

1. Review the business brief and reference URLs in Design Mode.
2. Check whether the draft covers the pages, content, and structure you described.
3. Use Studio to add missing content and refine the design.

I published, but the launch still feels unfinished

What this usually means

• The site is technically live, but launch-ready details were skipped.
• Plugin setup, contact details, or legal/copy review did not happen before publish.
• The final polish pass in Studio was not complete.

Check first

1. Revisit the pre-publish checklist.
2. Check plugin configuration, especially form recipients and analytics expectations.
3. Review missing assets, CTA wording, and contact/legal details.
4. If the site structure is correct, use Studio for a focused polish pass and republish.

Form submissions or analytics do not look right

What this usually means

• The plugin is not fully configured for your website’s current state.
• The live launch happened before the plugin setup was verified.
• Expectations around recipients or traffic data do not match the current configuration.

Check first

1. Revisit Plugins Overview.
2. Verify the Forms setup and each form’s recipients if submissions are missing. Submissions under Removed form come from a page that still contains a removed form.
3. Verify the Analytics setup if traffic is not appearing as expected.
4. Republish if the plugin configuration was corrected after the last launch.

Content entries do not appear on the site

Check first

1. Ask Vivd to run vivd cms validate. It checks the content collections and entry files and reports type, required-field, enum, localized-field, reference, and asset-shape errors. Treat a failure as blocking rather than publishing through it.
2. Run vivd cms helper status. If the CMS toolkit files are missing or stale, vivd cms helper install refreshes them.
3. If the text renders but clicking it in the preview does nothing, the value is probably interpolated directly instead of going through CmsText, CmsImage, or VivdImage. Ask Vivd to bind it.

GitHub Sync will not pull

Check first

1. Open the GitHub Sync panel and refresh the status. When Pull or Force sync is disabled, the panel prints the reason directly under the buttons.
2. If it says the sync is disabled in this Studio environment, or asks for GITHUB_ORG and GITHUB_TOKEN, the install has not been configured for it. That is an admin change.
3. If the panel reports that the repository was not found for this version of your website, or shows a fetch error, share that message with your administrator.
4. Use Force sync only when you accept losing local work. It overwrites your website’s files with GitHub’s main and removes files deleted there. Vivd writes a local backup tag first, including any uncommitted changes.

I can see the website but cannot work where I expect

What this usually means

• You are in the wrong organization, or looking at the wrong website.
• Your role is narrower than expected.
• A handoff happened, but access was not reviewed afterward.

Check first

1. Confirm that you are in the expected organization and on the expected website.
2. Re-check your role and website access if you are a client editor or collaborator.
3. Ask the website’s owner whether access changed during a recent handoff or launch cycle.

When to ask for help

If Studio shows a Preview error notification, use Copy details to copy the full message and share it with support or paste it into Studio chat. The notification shows a short summary and can be dismissed while you keep editing.

Collect these details before escalating:

• The website address or its name.
• Whether the issue is in draft, Studio, or live.
• The domain involved.
• The exact step that failed and what you expected instead.

A custom font falls back to a different font

Fonts stored in Vivd’s media library work in Studio previews and on your published domains without any extra configuration. After a font loading fix, hard-refresh the preview to clear an older cached response. If the font still fails, check that the uploaded file is a valid font. An HTML error page saved with a .woff or .woff2 filename must be replaced with the actual font.