Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Windows says "Windows protected your PC". Is the installer safe?

The Windows installer is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen warns about every download. Check the file against SHA256SUMS first (see Installation). If the hashes match, click More info, then Run anyway.

macOS says it cannot verify the app

Releases are ad-hoc signed until a Developer ID is set up, so Gatekeeper blocks the first launch. After you have checked the hash, open System Settings, Privacy & Security, and choose Open Anyway for JobniacFast. Or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/JobniacFast.app. The release notes say whether a release is signed with a Developer ID.

The window is blank on Linux (NVIDIA or Wayland)

On some NVIDIA and Wayland setups the web view draws nothing. Start the app with the DMA-BUF renderer turned off:

WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 ./JobniacFast_<version>_amd64.AppImage

For the .deb, set the same variable in the environment that starts the installed app.

The AppImage or .deb does not start on Linux

The packages are built on Ubuntu 24.04, so the system needs Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, or a distribution with an equal or newer glibc. Make an AppImage executable with chmod +x.

PDF import, preview or generation fails

If the PDF library is missing, a PDF action fails with a general error, and a terminal launch logs the warning "the PDF library is not available". The app looks for the PDFium library in its install folder (on macOS, in Contents/Frameworks of the app). It is part of every release. If it is missing, the install is incomplete or damaged: check the download against SHA256SUMS and reinstall. JOBNIAC_PDFIUM_DIR, when set, overrides the location, so unset it if it points to the wrong folder.

If you build from source, fetch PDFium first with scripts/fetch-pdfium.sh (see Development Setup).

A screen says a feature is not configured or unavailable

The desktop app turns these features on by default. Open Settings > Optional features to check the switch of the feature, and restart the app after you change one. A switch is disabled when an environment variable sets the feature; a value other than 1 turns it off, so remove the variable or set it to 1. See the table in Data and Privacy.

• Generate: JOBNIAC_GENERATED_ENABLED, which the app sets up itself unless the variable is 0 or another value. If the output folder could not be set up, the log says so and generation stays off.
• Arbeitnow: JOBNIAC_ARBEITNOW_ENABLED. The app creates the keys it needs; a JOBNIAC_CURSOR_HMAC_SECRET or JOBNIAC_ARBEITNOW_CANDIDATE_KEY that you set must be valid, or the feature stays off.
• Add from link: JOBNIAC_LINK_FETCH_ENABLED.
• Delete: JOBNIAC_DELETION_ENABLED.
• scan_arbeitnow_jobs, import_arbeitnow_job, add_job_from_link, delete_profile or delete_job missing from your MCP client: these are off by default for MCP clients, and setting a JOBNIAC_*_ENABLED=1 variable does not turn them on for the app's MCP server. Turn on Let MCP clients scan Arbeitnow, Let MCP clients add a job from a link or Let MCP clients delete profiles and jobs in Settings > Optional features, then restart the app. If the switch is disabled, a variable set to something other than 1 refuses the feature; remove it or set it to 1.
• Settings says the MCP server "could not be confirmed stopped": after you turned a switch off, the old server did not exit in time or could not be killed, so a copy of it may still be running. The tool is already off for any new server, and no new server starts until the old one is gone. The same warning appears with the MCP capabilities, and a tool you turned off is marked as possibly still served until the old server is gone; Settings checks again every few seconds and the warning goes away on its own when the process has exited. Close and reopen the app; if the status stays Failed, end the jobniac-cli process in the Task Manager (Windows) or with kill (macOS and Linux).
• An MCP client lost its connection after you turned one of those switches off: this is expected. The MCP server restarts without the tool and issues a new access token; copy the connection details again in Settings > MCP server. A tool you turned off does not come back until you turn it on and restart the app.
• Save PDF (export): JOBNIAC_DOCUMENT_ARTIFACTS_ENABLED.
• Import PDF: in the desktop app nothing to set; with JOBNIAC_DOCUMENT_IMPORT_ROOT set, the file must be inside that folder.

The app shows a startup message and exits, or Health reports DOWN

The message is "Jobniac could not start. Check local configuration." The text never names the setting. Check the variables you set, in particular JOBNIAC_DB_PATH, which must be a clean absolute file path.

If the database file cannot be opened, the server still starts but database calls fail and health reports DOWN. Common causes are a relative JOBNIAC_DB_PATH and a file written by a newer version of the app.

The database file was written by a newer version

A database file written by a newer version of the app is refused. Update the app to the newer version. Do not copy the file back to an older version.

The HTTP MCP server does not start

jobniac-cli http exits with code 1 if the port or token is invalid: the port must be 1024 to 65535, and the token 43 to 128 characters from A-Z a-z 0-9 - _. It exits with code 3 if the port is in use. See MCP Server.

The Arbeitnow scan finds nothing

The status says "No matches in the postings checked so far" when older postings remain. Choose Load more results to read older postings. If the board is rate limited or unavailable, try again later.

"Check for updates" does nothing, or says updates are unavailable

A development build and a .deb install cannot update themselves. For a .deb, download the new package from the releases page. See Updates.

Where are the logs?

On a terminal launch the app writes warnings to stderr (RUST_LOG changes the level). A Windows release build has no console. To keep a log file, set JOBNIAC_LOG_FILE=1. The app writes jobniac.log in its application log folder. The file is emptied at startup once it grows past 256 KiB.

Still stuck

Search the issues. Report a security problem privately, as described in SECURITY.md.