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Troubleshooting

Christian Relf edited this page Jul 16, 2026 · 1 revision

Troubleshooting

Known issues, with workarounds. If your problem isn't here, please open an issue.

Sites think I'm logged out

This is a known bug, and it's on by default.

Dandelion's "Block third-party cookies" setting currently strips cookies from the first request of a cross-site navigation. Because that request is what carries your session, sites you're logged into can appear logged-out when you navigate to them from somewhere else — including from the new tab page. It isn't specific to any one site.

Workaround: go to Settings → Privacy and turn off Block third-party cookies.

This is a genuine defect rather than a design decision, it's tracked, and it's being fixed. Note that the feature currently blocks third-party cookies from being sent but doesn't stop them being stored, so turning it off costs you less privacy than it sounds like.

Google sign-in fails with an "embedded user-agent" error

This one can't be fixed from here, and it isn't a bug.

Google refuses to authenticate inside applications that embed a browser engine, and classifies Dandelion as one. By Google's own published definition, an embedded user-agent is any app that can "insert arbitrary scripts, alter the default routing of a request to the Google OAuth server, or access session cookies" — and Dandelion does all three by design: that's reader mode, HTTPS-upgrade redirects, and the cookie manager.

Things that will not fix it:

  • Switching to a Chromium fork. Electron already ships real Chromium. Google's own error page names other real-Chromium embedders too.
  • Changing the user agent. Dandelion already presents a Chrome user agent; this is not a UA sniffing check.

This affects every Electron-based browser. Use a different sign-in method where a site offers one.

If you hit this and sites look logged-out, they're unrelated — see the cookie bug above.

The app doesn't open / no window appears

Some CI and sandbox environments export ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1, which turns Electron into a plain Node runtime — it starts, prints nothing useful, and never opens a window.

env -u ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE npm run dev

A normal desktop session is unaffected.

NODE_MODULE_VERSION error on launch

Something like:

Error: The module '...better_sqlite3.node' was compiled against a different Node.js version

Dandelion stores its data in SQLite through better-sqlite3, a native module that must be compiled against Electron's ABI rather than your system Node's. Run:

npm run rebuild

You need this once after npm install, and again after any Electron version bump.

The AI assistant does nothing

No API keys ship with Dandelion, by design. Add your own under Settings → AI for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or a local provider. Keys are encrypted with your OS keychain via Electron's safeStorage.

Note that the summarise / explain / translate page actions currently use the provider's first model rather than the one selected in the model picker.

Web pages have square corners inside the rounded frame

Known cosmetic issue. Tab content is a native view layered into the window, and it isn't clipped to the chrome's rounded corners yet.

My split view disappeared when I clicked another tab

That's intended: activating a tab that isn't part of the split exits split view.

Reporting something else

Please include your OS, how you launched it (npm run dev or a packaged build), and anything in the terminal. Open an issue →