# Troubleshooting Guide

> Comprehensive guide for diagnosing and resolving common issues with Skill Seekers.

- Skill: `tools-only/troubleshooting-guide-6` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tools-only/troubleshooting-guide-6`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tools-only/troubleshooting-guide-6/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner FAIL, skillspector FAIL)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: tools-only (https://skillmd.com/u/tools-only)
- Updated: 2026-09-29
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tools-only/troubleshooting-guide-6

---

# Troubleshooting Guide

Comprehensive guide for diagnosing and resolving common issues with Skill Seekers.

## Table of Contents

- [Installation Issues](#installation-issues)
- [Configuration Issues](#configuration-issues)
- [Scraping Issues](#scraping-issues)
- [GitHub API Issues](#github-api-issues)
- [API & Enhancement Issues](#api--enhancement-issues)
- [Docker & Kubernetes Issues](#docker--kubernetes-issues)
- [Performance Issues](#performance-issues)
- [Storage Issues](#storage-issues)
- [Network Issues](#network-issues)
- [General Debug Techniques](#general-debug-techniques)

## Installation Issues

### Issue: Package Installation Fails

**Symptoms:**
```
ERROR: Could not build wheels for...
ERROR: Failed building wheel for...
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Update pip and setuptools
python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

# Install build dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt install python3-dev build-essential libssl-dev

# Install build dependencies (RHEL/CentOS)
sudo yum install python3-devel gcc gcc-c++ openssl-devel

# Retry installation
pip install skill-seekers
```

### Issue: Command Not Found After Installation

**Symptoms:**
```bash
$ skill-seekers --version
bash: skill-seekers: command not found
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check if installed
pip show skill-seekers

# Add to PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

# Or reinstall with --user flag
pip install --user skill-seekers

# Verify
which skill-seekers
```

### Issue: Python Version Mismatch

**Symptoms:**
```
ERROR: Package requires Python >=3.10 but you are running 3.9
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check Python version
python --version
python3 --version

# Use specific Python version
python3.12 -m pip install skill-seekers

# Create alias
alias python=python3.12

# Or use pyenv
pyenv install 3.12
pyenv global 3.12
```

## Configuration Issues

### Issue: API Keys Not Recognized

**Symptoms:**
```
Error: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not found
401 Unauthorized
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check environment variables
env | grep API_KEY

# Set in current session
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# Set permanently (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Or use .env file
cat > .env <<EOF
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
EOF

# Load .env
set -a
source .env
set +a

# Verify
skill-seekers config --test
```

### Issue: Configuration File Not Found

**Symptoms:**
```
Error: Config file not found: configs/react.json
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check file exists
ls -la configs/react.json

# Use absolute path
skill-seekers scrape --config /full/path/to/configs/react.json

# Create config directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/skill-seekers/configs

# Copy config
cp configs/react.json ~/.config/skill-seekers/configs/

# List available configs
skill-seekers-config list
```

### Issue: Invalid Configuration Format

**Symptoms:**
```
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1
ValidationError: 1 validation error for Config
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Validate JSON syntax
python -m json.tool configs/myconfig.json

# Check required fields
skill-seekers-validate configs/myconfig.json

# Example valid config
cat > configs/test.json <<EOF
{
  "name": "test",
  "base_url": "https://docs.example.com/",
  "selectors": {
    "main_content": "article"
  }
}
EOF
```

## Scraping Issues

### Issue: No Content Extracted

**Symptoms:**
```
Warning: No content found for URL
0 pages scraped
Empty SKILL.md generated
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Enable debug mode
export LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --verbose

# Test selectors manually
python -c "
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import requests
soup = BeautifulSoup(requests.get('URL').content, 'html.parser')
print(soup.select_one('article'))  # Test selector
"

# Adjust selectors in config
{
  "selectors": {
    "main_content": "main",  # Try different selectors
    "title": "h1",
    "code_blocks": "pre"
  }
}

# Use fallback selectors
{
  "selectors": {
    "main_content": ["article", "main", ".content", "#content"]
  }
}
```

### Issue: Scraping Takes Too Long

**Symptoms:**
```
Scraping has been running for 2 hours...
Progress: 50/500 pages (10%)
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Enable async scraping (2-3x faster)
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --async

# Reduce max pages
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --max-pages 100

# Increase concurrency
# Edit config.json:
{
  "concurrency": 20,  # Default: 10
  "rate_limit": 0.2   # Faster (0.2s delay)
}

# Use caching for re-runs
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --use-cache
```

### Issue: Pages Not Being Discovered

**Symptoms:**
```
Only 5 pages found
Expected 100+ pages
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check URL patterns
{
  "url_patterns": {
    "include": ["/docs"],  # Make sure this matches
    "exclude": []          # Remove restrictive patterns
  }
}

# Enable breadth-first search
{
  "crawl_strategy": "bfs",  # vs "dfs"
  "max_depth": 10           # Increase depth
}

# Debug URL discovery
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --dry-run --verbose
```

## GitHub API Issues

### Issue: Rate Limit Exceeded

**Symptoms:**
```
403 Forbidden
API rate limit exceeded for user
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check current rate limit
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/rate_limit

# Use multiple tokens
skill-seekers config --github
# Follow wizard to add multiple profiles

# Wait for reset
# Check X-RateLimit-Reset header for timestamp

# Use non-interactive mode in CI/CD
skill-seekers github --repo owner/repo --non-interactive

# Configure rate limit strategy
skill-seekers config --github
# Choose: prompt / wait / switch / fail
```

### Issue: Invalid GitHub Token

**Symptoms:**
```
401 Unauthorized
Bad credentials
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Verify token
curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.github.com/user

# Generate new token
# Visit: https://github.com/settings/tokens
# Scopes needed: repo, read:org

# Update token
skill-seekers config --github

# Test token
skill-seekers config --test
```

### Issue: Repository Not Found

**Symptoms:**
```
404 Not Found
Repository not found: owner/repo
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check repository name (case-sensitive)
skill-seekers github --repo facebook/react  # Correct
skill-seekers github --repo Facebook/React  # Wrong

# Check if repo is private (requires token)
export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_...
skill-seekers github --repo private/repo

# Verify repo exists
curl https://api.github.com/repos/owner/repo
```

## API & Enhancement Issues

### Issue: Enhancement Fails

**Symptoms:**
```
Error: SKILL.md enhancement failed
AuthenticationError: Invalid API key
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Verify API key
skill-seekers config --test

# Try LOCAL mode (free, uses Claude Code Max)
skill-seekers enhance output/react/ --mode LOCAL

# Check API key format
# Claude: sk-ant-...
# OpenAI: sk-...
# Gemini: AIza...

# Test API directly
curl https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"claude-sonnet-4.5","max_tokens":1024,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hello"}]}'
```

### Issue: Enhancement Hangs/Timeouts

**Symptoms:**
```
Enhancement process not responding
Timeout after 300 seconds
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Increase timeout
skill-seekers enhance output/react/ --timeout 600

# Run in background
skill-seekers enhance output/react/ --background

# Monitor status
skill-seekers enhance-status output/react/ --watch

# Kill hung process
ps aux | grep enhance
kill -9 <PID>

# Check system resources
htop
df -h
```

### Issue: API Cost Concerns

**Symptoms:**
```
Worried about API costs for enhancement
Need free alternative
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Use LOCAL mode (free!)
skill-seekers enhance output/react/ --mode LOCAL

# Skip enhancement entirely
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --skip-enhance

# Estimate cost before enhancing
# Claude API: ~$0.15-$0.30 per skill
# Check usage: https://console.anthropic.com/

# Use batch processing
for dir in output/*/; do
  skill-seekers enhance "$dir" --mode LOCAL --background
done
```

## Docker & Kubernetes Issues

### Issue: Container Won't Start

**Symptoms:**
```
Error response from daemon: Container ... is not running
Container exits immediately
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check logs
docker logs skillseekers-mcp

# Common issues:
# 1. Missing environment variables
docker run -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY ...

# 2. Port already in use
sudo lsof -i :8765
docker run -p 8766:8765 ...

# 3. Permission issues
docker run --user $(id -u):$(id -g) ...

# Run interactively to debug
docker run -it --entrypoint /bin/bash skillseekers:latest
```

### Issue: Kubernetes Pod CrashLoopBackOff

**Symptoms:**
```
NAME                    READY   STATUS             RESTARTS
skillseekers-mcp-xxx    0/1     CrashLoopBackOff   5
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check pod logs
kubectl logs -n skillseekers skillseekers-mcp-xxx

# Describe pod
kubectl describe pod -n skillseekers skillseekers-mcp-xxx

# Check events
kubectl get events -n skillseekers --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'

# Common issues:
# 1. Missing secrets
kubectl get secrets -n skillseekers

# 2. Resource constraints
kubectl top nodes
kubectl edit deployment skillseekers-mcp -n skillseekers

# 3. Liveness probe failing
# Increase initialDelaySeconds in deployment
```

### Issue: Image Pull Errors

**Symptoms:**
```
ErrImagePull
ImagePullBackOff
Failed to pull image
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check image exists
docker pull skillseekers:latest

# Create image pull secret
kubectl create secret docker-registry regcred \
  --docker-server=registry.example.com \
  --docker-username=user \
  --docker-password=pass \
  -n skillseekers

# Add to deployment
spec:
  imagePullSecrets:
  - name: regcred

# Use public image (if available)
image: docker.io/skillseekers/skillseekers:latest
```

## Performance Issues

### Issue: High Memory Usage

**Symptoms:**
```
Process killed (OOM)
Memory usage: 8GB+
System swapping
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check memory usage
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -10
htop

# Reduce batch size
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --batch-size 10

# Enable memory limits
# Docker:
docker run --memory=4g skillseekers:latest

# Kubernetes:
resources:
  limits:
    memory: 4Gi

# Clear cache
rm -rf ~/.cache/skill-seekers/

# Use streaming for large files
# (automatically handled by library)
```

### Issue: Slow Performance

**Symptoms:**
```
Operations taking much longer than expected
High CPU usage
Disk I/O bottleneck
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Enable async operations
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --async

# Increase concurrency
{
  "concurrency": 20  # Adjust based on resources
}

# Use SSD for storage
# Move output to SSD:
mv output/ /mnt/ssd/output/

# Monitor performance
# CPU:
mpstat 1
# Disk I/O:
iostat -x 1
# Network:
iftop

# Profile code
python -m cProfile -o profile.stats \
  -m skill_seekers.cli.doc_scraper --config config.json
```

### Issue: Disk Space Issues

**Symptoms:**
```
No space left on device
Disk full
Cannot create file
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check disk usage
df -h
du -sh output/*

# Clean up old skills
find output/ -type d -mtime +30 -exec rm -rf {} \;

# Compress old benchmarks
tar czf benchmarks-archive.tar.gz benchmarks/
rm -rf benchmarks/*.json

# Use cloud storage
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json \
  --storage s3 \
  --bucket my-skills-bucket

# Clear cache
skill-seekers cache --clear
```

## Storage Issues

### Issue: S3 Upload Fails

**Symptoms:**
```
botocore.exceptions.NoCredentialsError
AccessDenied
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check credentials
aws sts get-caller-identity

# Configure AWS CLI
aws configure

# Set environment variables
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1

# Check bucket permissions
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket/

# Test upload
echo "test" > test.txt
aws s3 cp test.txt s3://my-bucket/
```

### Issue: GCS Authentication Failed

**Symptoms:**
```
google.auth.exceptions.DefaultCredentialsError
Permission denied
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Set credentials file
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/key.json

# Or use gcloud auth
gcloud auth application-default login

# Verify permissions
gsutil ls gs://my-bucket/

# Test upload
echo "test" > test.txt
gsutil cp test.txt gs://my-bucket/
```

## Network Issues

### Issue: Connection Timeouts

**Symptoms:**
```
requests.exceptions.ConnectionError
ReadTimeout
Connection refused
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Check network connectivity
ping google.com
curl https://docs.example.com/

# Increase timeout
{
  "timeout": 60  # seconds
}

# Use proxy if behind firewall
export HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080

# Check DNS resolution
nslookup docs.example.com
dig docs.example.com

# Test with curl
curl -v https://docs.example.com/
```

### Issue: SSL/TLS Errors

**Symptoms:**
```
ssl.SSLError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED]
SSLCertVerificationError
```

**Solutions:**

```bash
# Update certificates
# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install --reinstall ca-certificates

# RHEL/CentOS:
sudo yum reinstall ca-certificates

# As last resort (not recommended for production):
export PYTHONHTTPSVERIFY=0
# Or in code:
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --no-verify-ssl
```

## General Debug Techniques

### Enable Debug Logging

```bash
# Set debug level
export LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG

# Run with verbose output
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json --verbose

# Save logs to file
skill-seekers scrape --config config.json 2>&1 | tee debug.log
```

### Collect Diagnostic Information

```bash
# System info
uname -a
python --version
pip --version

# Package info
pip show skill-seekers
pip list | grep skill

# Environment
env | grep -E '(API_KEY|TOKEN|PATH)'

# Recent errors
grep -i error /var/log/skillseekers/*.log | tail -20

# Package all diagnostics
tar czf diagnostics.tar.gz \
  debug.log \
  ~/.config/skill-seekers/ \
  /var/log/skillseekers/
```

### Test Individual Components

```bash
# Test scraper
python -c "
from skill_seekers.cli.doc_scraper import scrape_all
pages = scrape_all('configs/test.json')
print(f'Scraped {len(pages)} pages')
"

# Test GitHub API
python -c "
from skill_seekers.cli.github_fetcher import GitHubFetcher
fetcher = GitHubFetcher()
repo = fetcher.fetch('facebook/react')
print(repo['full_name'])
"

# Test embeddings
python -c "
from skill_seekers.embedding.generator import EmbeddingGenerator
gen = EmbeddingGenerator()
emb = gen.generate('test', model='text-embedding-3-small')
print(f'Embedding dimension: {len(emb)}')
"
```

### Interactive Debugging

```python
# Add breakpoint
import pdb; pdb.set_trace()

# Or use ipdb
import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace()

# Debug with IPython
ipython -i script.py
```

## Getting More Help

If you're still experiencing issues:

1. **Search existing issues:** https://github.com/yusufkaraaslan/Skill_Seekers/issues
2. **Check documentation:** https://skillseekersweb.com/
3. **Ask on GitHub Discussions:** https://github.com/yusufkaraaslan/Skill_Seekers/discussions
4. **Open a new issue:** Include:
   - Skill Seekers version (`skill-seekers --version`)
   - Python version (`python --version`)
   - Operating system
   - Complete error message
   - Steps to reproduce
   - Diagnostic information (see above)

## Common Error Messages Reference

| Error | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| `ModuleNotFoundError` | Package not installed | `pip install skill-seekers` |
| `401 Unauthorized` | Invalid API key | Check API key format |
| `403 Forbidden` | Rate limit exceeded | Add more GitHub tokens |
| `404 Not Found` | Invalid URL/repo | Verify URL is correct |
| `429 Too Many Requests` | API rate limit | Wait or use multiple keys |
| `ConnectionError` | Network issue | Check internet connection |
| `TimeoutError` | Request too slow | Increase timeout |
| `MemoryError` | Out of memory | Reduce batch size |
| `PermissionError` | Access denied | Check file permissions |
| `FileNotFoundError` | Missing file | Verify file path |

---

**Still stuck?** Open an issue with the "help wanted" label and we'll assist you!