Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

macOS will not open Tessera

macOS says it cannot verify Tessera is free from malware, because the build is not notarised by Apple. One line clears it, once Tessera is in Applications:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Tessera.app

That removes the flag a browser puts on a download, which is the whole reason for the warning, and is what Homebrew does for you. The same line fixes "Tessera is damaged", which is the same flag reported differently.

Without Terminal: press Done, then open System Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and press Open Anyway beside Tessera. Confirm with Touch ID or your password, then press Open. Only the first time. On macOS 14 and earlier, right-click Tessera and choose Open instead. See Installing.

A pack shows no pictures

Previews are drawn in the background and cached; a big pack takes a while. Settings, Previews and index shows how far it has got. Some files have nothing to draw, a .blend for instance, and still search and copy correctly.

Search is not finding something I know is there

• Review is separate from the library: a pack waiting there does not appear in search.
• Archived packs are out of browsing on purpose. The Archive in the sidebar lists them.
• Failing that: Settings, Previews and index, Read the library again.

The library will not open

• Moved or on a drive that is not connected: the welcome screen says so and offers to find it.
• The index is broken: Tessera throws it away and builds it again by itself. If you want to force it, delete the library's folder inside Tessera's data folder; nothing is lost.

Things changed outside the app are not showing

Tessera watches the library folder. On some systems, and on network drives, watching does not work: Settings, Previews and index, Read the library again does it by hand.

A download will not start

Some sites hand out a page rather than a file. Tessera says so rather than saving the page. Open the link in a browser, start the download, and bring the address it actually fetches.

An agent cannot connect

• Is Tessera open? The door is only open while it is.
• Home, AI agents: does it say answering? If something else has the port, it says which program and offers to move or to stop it.
• Is the tool switched on? A call to a tool that is off is answered with a line saying so.

Something went wrong and I want to report it

Help, then Report a problem. It gathers what happened, this session's errors and the recent log, shows you the lot, and sends nothing until you say so. Names of files, packs and folders are taken out first.

The log folder is under Help, About, Show the log folder.