1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
|
#+TITLE: Chime Troubleshooting
#+AUTHOR: Craig Jennings
Debugging guide for common Chime setup issues.
[[file:../README.org][README]] | [[file:CONFIGURATION.org][Configuration]] | [[file:ARCHITECTURE.org][Architecture]] | [[file:INTEGRATIONS.org][Integrations]] | [[file:../TESTING.org][Testing]]
* Validate Configuration
Start with:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
M-x chime-validate-configuration
#+END_SRC
Interactive validation prints a checklist in =*Messages*= showing whether =org-agenda-files= is set, whether files exist, whether org-agenda is loadable, and whether modeline support is available.
* Enable Debug Mode
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: enable-debug-mode
:END:
Enable debug mode before loading chime:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
(setq chime-debug t)
(require 'chime)
#+END_SRC
This loads =chime-debug.el= and provides:
- =M-x chime-debug-dump-events= — show stored upcoming events
- =M-x chime-debug-dump-tooltip= — show tooltip content
- =M-x chime-debug-config= — dump complete configuration
- =M-x chime-debug-show-async-stats= — show async success/failure stats
- =M-x chime-debug-force-check= — force an immediate diagnostic check
Debug mode also logs event loading and async process timing to =*Messages*=.
* No Notifications Appearing
Check these in order:
1. Verify a notification daemon is running on your system.
- Linux examples: =dunst=, =mako=, =swaync=
- macOS and Windows have built-in notification support.
2. Verify =chime-mode= is enabled:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
M-: chime-mode
#+END_SRC
3. Check alert.el style configuration:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
(setq alert-default-style 'libnotify)
#+END_SRC
4. Run =M-x chime-check= manually.
5. Check =*Messages*= for errors.
6. Enable [[#enable-debug-mode][debug mode]] for more detail.
* No Sound Playing
1. Verify a sound file is configured:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
M-: chime-sound-file
#+END_SRC
2. Check that the file exists:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
M-: (file-exists-p chime-sound-file)
#+END_SRC
3. Test sound directly:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
M-: (play-sound-file chime-sound-file)
#+END_SRC
4. Ensure your system has audio support configured.
Set =chime-sound-file= to nil to disable sound.
* Events Not Being Detected
Common causes:
1. The org file is not in =org-agenda-files=.
2. The timestamp is all-day and you expected it in the modeline. All-day events do not appear in the modeline.
3. The timestamp is a diary sexp such as =<%%(...)>=. Chime does not support those as event timestamps.
4. Filters are excluding the event.
5. The event is outside the modeline or tooltip lookahead window.
Chime supports timed 24-hour and 12-hour timestamps:
#+BEGIN_SRC org
* 24-hour event
<2026-05-10 Sun 14:00>
* 12-hour event
<2026-05-10 Sun 2:00pm>
#+END_SRC
* Modeline Is Empty
Check:
1. =chime-enable-modeline= is non-nil.
2. =chime-modeline-lookahead-minutes= is greater than zero.
3. There is a timed event inside the modeline lookahead.
4. Events are visible to =org-agenda-files=.
All-day events may appear in the tooltip, but never in the modeline itself.
* Tooltip Has Too Many or Too Few Events
Relevant settings:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
(setq chime-tooltip-lookahead-hours 168)
(setq chime-modeline-tooltip-max-events 5)
(setq chime-tooltip-show-all-day-events t)
#+END_SRC
If you increase =chime-tooltip-lookahead-hours= a lot, async checks can take longer because chime fetches a wider agenda span.
* Multiple Emacs Instances Produce Duplicate Notifications
If you receive duplicate notifications for every event, you likely have multiple Emacs processes running with =chime-mode= enabled.
Check running Emacs processes:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
ps aux | grep emacs
#+END_SRC
Common scenario:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
emacs --daemon
emacsclient -c
emacs &
#+END_SRC
The final command starts a second standalone Emacs process, so chime runs twice.
Choose one approach:
- Use daemon + emacsclient consistently.
- Use standalone Emacs processes only.
To stop a daemon:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
emacsclient -e "(kill-emacs)"
#+END_SRC
* Startup Validation Fails Before org-agenda-files Loads
If your configuration populates =org-agenda-files= asynchronously, chime may validate before those files are ready.
Options:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
;; Give startup more time before first check.
(setq chime-startup-delay 20)
#+END_SRC
or ensure =org-agenda-files= is set before enabling =chime-mode=.
* Async Check Failures
Chime warns after repeated async failures. Tune or disable those warnings:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
;; Default
(setq chime-max-consecutive-failures 5)
;; Disable warnings
(setq chime-max-consecutive-failures 0)
#+END_SRC
For custom predicate functions, ensure any variables they depend on are available in the async subprocess:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
(setq chime-additional-environment-regexes '("my-custom-var"))
#+END_SRC
* Modeline Frozen on a Stale Countdown
If the modeline shows a countdown that never advances past an old event,
the background fetch process likely hung, blocking every later check.
Chime's watchdog interrupts a fetch after =chime-async-timeout= seconds
(default 120) and logs "Async watchdog" to =*Messages*=, so a hang heals
itself within one timeout plus one check interval.
If you see repeated "Async watchdog" log lines, something in the fetch is
consistently hanging or too slow:
- A very large agenda can legitimately exceed the timeout — raise it:
=(setq chime-async-timeout 300)=
- An entry in =org-agenda-files= pointing at a deleted file used to hang
the fetch on org's recovery prompt; chime now skips missing files, but
cleaning up stale entries keeps the agenda scan honest.
|
