🐛 Debugging & Logs
← Home
Log Files
| File | What's in it | How to read |
|---|---|---|
messenger_debug.log | Step-by-step automation trace | tail -50 messenger_debug.log |
| Live Feed tab | WebSocket stream during run | Visible in UI |
| Follow Up tab live feed | Follow-up specific stream | Visible in UI |
messenger_debug.log Structure
Each run starts with a header:
============================================================
FOLLOWUP RUN START 2026-02-21T13:57:07 cap=5 wait_days=0 speed=1.0
============================================================
Then per-person entries:
Processing Tomer Fuss Sanderovich | url=https://linkedin.com/in/tomer-...
Reply check: navigating to https://linkedin.com/in/tomer-...
Clicking Message button on profile page...
Found Message button via: main button:has-text('Message')
Clicked Message button — waiting for compose overlay...
Compose overlay appeared (selector: .msg-form__contenteditable)
Reply check: last_sender=unknown
Compose box found via .msg-form__contenteditable
AI follow-up full: Hi Tomer, I hope you're doing well!...
Clicked Send button
Follow-up sent and logged for Tomer Fuss Sanderovich
Common Issues & Fixes
Chrome doesn't open
Symptom: Button clicked, nothing happens, no log output. Fix: Restart uvicorn. Old process may still be running.
# Kill the old process
lsof -ti:8000 | xargs kill -9
# Restart
uvicorn main:app --reload --port 8000
"No messageable connections found"
Symptom: Run starts, Chrome opens connections page, exits immediately.
Fix: The scan didn't find [data-view-name="message-button"] elements. Try scrolling LinkedIn first, or increase scan_limit.
"All connections already messaged"
Symptom: Run starts, skips everyone, exits. Fix: Expected behavior — everyone in view has been messaged. Either wait for new connections or increase scan_limit.
Follow-up: "Nothing to follow up on yet"
Symptom: Follow-up run exits before Chrome opens. Fix: Either:
- Set days slider to 0 (test mode — messages all pending immediately)
- Or wait the required number of days since first messages
"Compose box not found"
Symptom: Chrome opens the right page but nothing is typed.
Fix: LinkedIn may have changed their DOM. Check messenger_debug.log for which selector failed. Share the Web Inspector HTML of the compose area.
CAPTCHA detected
Symptom: Run pauses, log shows "CAPTCHA detected". Fix: Solve the CAPTCHA manually in the Chrome window, then restart the run.
AI generates message with quotes
Symptom: Message starts with "Hi... or 'Hi....
Status: Fixed — both _generate_message and _generate_followup_message strip leading/trailing quotes with .strip('"').strip("'").
"Keyboard.type: Target page has been closed"
Symptom: Exception in log, Chrome window closes mid-run. Cause: User closed Chrome manually, or Chrome crashed. Fix: Let the automation finish before interacting with the Chrome window. Use Stop button to cancel cleanly.
Selector Reference
Selectors confirmed working as of 2026-02-21:
| Element | Selector | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Message button (connections list) | [data-view-name="message-button"] | /mynetwork/invite-connect/connections/ |
| Message link on card | a[aria-label="Message"] | Inside message-button wrapper |
| Message button (profile page) | main button:has-text('Message') | Profile page hero section |
| Compose text box | .msg-form__contenteditable | Messaging overlay |
| Compose text box (fallback) | div[role='textbox'] | Messaging overlay |
| Send button | button.msg-form__send-button | Messaging overlay |
| Send button (fallback) | button[aria-label='Send'] | Messaging overlay |
| Last msg (them) | .msg-s-event-listitem--other | Thread overlay |
| Last msg (us) | .msg-s-event-listitem--self | Thread overlay |
TIP — When selectors break LinkedIn occasionally updates their DOM. When something stops working, right-click the element in Chrome → Inspect → share the HTML with Claude to get the updated selector.
Key Bugs Fixed (Session History)
| Bug | Root Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| All 10 cards showed same person | JS walk-up overshot shared parent | Reduced from 5 to 3 levels + seenHrefs Set |
| Compose box "outside viewport" | Stale element handle after Ollama | Re-query compose box after AI call |
| 2nd+ messages never sent | Overlay state broke after first | Navigate directly to compose URL |
| Follow-up skipped everyone | <a> selector on profile page | Profile page uses <button> — click it directly |
| Follow-up jumped to messaging tab | navigating compose URL | Stay on profile, click Message button, overlay opens there |
| AI message wrapped in quotes | Ollama wraps output in "..." | Strip with .strip('"').strip("'") |
| Chrome never opened in follow-up | wait_days min was 1, blocked same-day messages | Lowered min to 0 |