# Error messages, and what each one means

> Every message CADABRA can put in front of you, with its cause and its fix: plan and mode refusals, credit and rate limits, mode routing, Drawings access, updates, session expiry, panel failures and drawing standard uploads.

URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/
Updated: 2026-08-28

---

- Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/)
- [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/)
- [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/)
- [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/)

### Modes

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/)
- [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/)
- [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/)
- [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/)
- [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/)
- [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/)
- [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/)
- [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/)

### Prompts

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/)
- [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/)
- [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/)
- [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/)
- [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/)

### Standards

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/)
- [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/)
- [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/)
- [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/)

### Account and plans

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/)
- [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/)
- [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/)
- [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/)
- [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/)
- [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/)

### Team

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/)
- [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/)
- [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/)
- [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/)

### Security and data

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/)
- [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/)

### Troubleshooting

- [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/)
- [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/)
- [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/)
- [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/)

# Error messages

The exact strings, with the cause beside each one. Search this page for the words you are looking at.

The panel shows the message in your interface language. The English wording below is what the panel prints when **Language** is English. Where the saved chat history carries a different wording from the line on screen, both are given.

## The mode is not on your plan

Two different messages, from two different points in the flow.

The first is the panel refusing before it calls anything. Sending in a mode your plan does not have never reaches the service, and the transcript answers with an **Upgrade** button beside it.

The second comes from the service, and appears when the panel believed the mode was allowed and the account said otherwise, for example while account status is still arriving after a plan change. The saved transcript for this one is worded differently from the line on screen.

Cause: `agentAllowed` covers Plan, Agent and Debug, and is true on every plan except Free. Imagine renders on every plan; only building the concept needs `agentAllowed`. `drawingsAllowed` covers Drawings and is Enterprise only. A paid plan whose subscription is not active is treated as Free, so every mode but Ask locks. See [what unlocks each mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/#entitlements) and [a subscription that is not active](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#lapsed).

On screen, then the wording saved to chat history.

```
Agent mode isn’t available on your current plan.

Agent mode is available on paid plans. Upgrade in your dashboard to build and edit models.

This mode is available on paid plans. Upgrade to Student or Professional in your dashboard to build and edit models.
```

## The credit allowance is exhausted

HTTP 429, and the turn does not run. The quota is checked before the turn starts and again before each model call inside it, so a long Agent run can stop part-way through with the same message it would have refused with at the start.

On screen you get one line naming your plan, with the reset appended as `Resets {date}.` in your locale.

The wording saved to chat history is per plan, and that is where the difference between plans shows: each one names the route out that actually exists for that plan.

- Free: upgrade. There is no top-up on Free.
- Student: upgrade to Professional, or turn on extra usage.
- Professional: turn on extra usage.
- Enterprise and any other plan: manage the plan, or turn on extra usage.

A third wording appears when the limit is hit mid-run rather than at the start. It opens `Credit limit reached for your 'professional' plan`, then gives the credits used against the limit, the reset date, and that retrying will not help.

Nothing is rolled back when a run stops there. What was already created is in your model. Buy extra usage, then tell it to continue in the same chat and it picks up from where it stopped, the same as [any unfinished run](#run).

Fix: buy extra usage for the current period from the dashboard **Billing** page, on Student, Professional and Enterprise. It is a one-off charge, it does not change your subscription, and it does not roll over. Minimum $10, maximum $10,000 a purchase, and the control is disabled until a card is on file. See [extra usage](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/#extra-usage) and [reaching the limit](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/#running-out).

One more place this surfaces: a reference drawing that runs out of allowance while it is being read is saved but not learned from. That message is in [drawing standards](#standards).

The line on screen, then the four wordings saved to chat history.

```
You’ve reached your credit limit on the Professional plan. Manage your plan in the dashboard to keep going. Resets {date}.

You've reached your free credit limit. Upgrade to a paid plan in your dashboard to keep going. Your limit resets on {date}.

You've reached your credit limit on the Student plan. Upgrade to Professional, or turn on extra usage in your dashboard to buy more. Your limit resets on {date}.

You've reached your credit limit on the Professional plan. Turn on extra usage in your dashboard to buy more. Your limit resets on {date}.

You've reached your credit limit. Manage your plan, or turn on extra usage in your dashboard to buy more. Your limit resets on {date}.
```

## Too many requests in the last minute

A separate limit of 120 requests a minute per account, which is not the credit allowance. It clears on its own within a minute. Switching level does not help, because the limit counts requests whichever model they go to, and buying extra usage does not help either, because no credit was involved.

You will only meet it by sending in bursts, usually from several machines on one account or from a script. A single person prompting normally does not reach it.

The opening of the message. Search on this.

```
Too many requests in the last minute
```

## That would change your model

Only Agent and Drawings can change the model. A mutating request sent in Ask, Plan, Debug or Imagine is refused before anything is touched.

Fix: switch the mode pill to **Agent** and send it again. Ask Mode also offers a **Run in Agent** handoff under the answer, which does the switch for you, and a Plan can be handed to Agent from the plan card.

On a drawing the refusal is worded differently, because the routing is different: an active drawing sends every prompt through Drawings Mode regardless of the pill, and a read-only mode there can review but not edit.

```
That would change your model. Switch to Agent mode to build or edit it.

Ask mode can review this drawing but not change it. Switch to Agent mode to edit it.
```

## Drawings refusals

### Drawings access is required

A drawing as the active document routes every prompt through Drawings Mode, whatever the mode pill says. Without Drawings access the turn is refused. `drawingsAllowed` is Enterprise only today. The saved transcript wording differs from the line on screen.

### Approvals block Drawings

Drawings Mode has no approval step. If **Approval preference** is set to **Always ask**, drawing generation and drawing edits are refused rather than run unapproved, and nothing is created or changed. The message opens `Your permission setting requires you to approve every change, and drawing generation has no approval step yet`, and the edit path says the same about drawing edits.

Fix: set **Approval preference** to **Ask for large tasks** or **Never ask** in the task pane Settings, then send it again. The refusal text says "in the composer", which is where the control used to live; it is in Settings now. See [preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/#agent) and [approvals in Drawings](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/#approvals).

### SOLIDWORKS is not running

Drawings Mode reaches SOLIDWORKS directly, so it refuses rather than falling back when SOLIDWORKS is not there.

### There is no model to draw

A drawing request with no part or assembly to work from opens `Open the part (or assembly) you want a drawing for`, and tells you to open it or attach its `.SLDPRT` file and ask again.

### A drawing already exists

Generating a drawing for a model that already has one asks before overwriting, with **Overwrite** and **Keep existing**. On a batch it counts how many of the models already have one and offers the same choice for all of them.

On screen, then the wording saved to chat history, then the rest.

```
Reviewing and editing drawings needs Drawings access.

Drawing review and editing require Drawings access.

Drawings mode needs SolidWorks running. Open SolidWorks and try again.

A drawing named "<name>" already exists. Overwrite it, or keep the existing one?
```

## CADABRA cannot reach SOLIDWORKS

The panel is alive and the service answered, but the add-in could not get a document out of SOLIDWORKS.

- No document is open. Open a part or an assembly and send it again.
- The active document is a type the request does not apply to.
- SOLIDWORKS is busy in a modal dialog. Close the dialog.
- The COM connection was lost, usually after a SOLIDWORKS crash or a recovery restart. Restart SOLIDWORKS.

A separate message covers the case where the model inspection tools themselves could not run.

```
Couldn’t reach SolidWorks. Make sure a part or assembly is open, then try again.

CADABRA couldn’t inspect the model. Make sure a SolidWorks document is open, then try again.

CADABRA couldn’t reach the model. Check your connection and try again.
```

## Your session expired

The saved session could not be validated, so the turn was not sent. Sign in again in the panel and send the message again; nothing was consumed.

This is also the message you get on a machine with no connectivity, because the session cannot be checked. Confirm `accounts.cadabrai.com` is reachable before assuming the account is at fault: [the hosts to allow](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#network).

A device released from the dashboard, or an account activated on another machine, produces the workstation messages instead: [sign-in is refused](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/#sign-in).

```
Your session expired. Sign in again, then retry.

Signed in, but your account didn’t load. Try again.

Sign-in failed. Check your email and password.
```

## Update messages

### An optional update

A dismissible notice reading `Version {x} is available.` with **Update now**. Nothing is blocked.

### A required update

A non-dismissible overlay titled **Update required**, with the version in the body and a single **Update now** button. It cancels in-flight requests and blocks the panel until the update is installed.

Installing downloads the installer, verifies its SHA-256, closes SOLIDWORKS and runs setup elevated, so a UAC prompt appears.

### SOLIDWORKS stayed open

If SOLIDWORKS is still open 120 seconds after the update asked it to close, the update is abandoned and nothing was installed. Save or close your open documents and press **Update now** again. An unsaved-changes dialog is the usual reason SOLIDWORKS did not close.

### It keeps failing

A required update that fails three times stops blocking the panel. Settings then tells you to install the latest version from the website, and the fix is to download the installer from [the download page](https://cadabrai.com/download/) and run it with SOLIDWORKS closed.

```
Update required
You must update to {version} before continuing.

SolidWorks stayed open, so the update wasn’t installed. Save or close your open documents, then try again.

A required CADABRA update is waiting. Install it and restart SolidWorks to continue.

The update isn’t ready yet. Restart SolidWorks and try again.

This update failed to install repeatedly, so it is no longer required. Install the latest version from the CADABRA website.

Couldn’t reach the update service. The channel is saved and applies at the next check.
```

## The panel itself failed

### Disconnected

The chat interface loaded but the add-in behind it stopped answering. The status line reads **Disconnected** over `Cadabra isn’t responding. Restart SolidWorks to reconnect.` A transient drop shows **Connection lost** instead and recovers on its own. Restarting SOLIDWORKS is the fix for the first; the second needs nothing.

### The chat panel crashed

The interface caught its own error and replaced itself with **The chat panel crashed.** over "Your saved chats are safe. Retrying rebuilds the panel and clears the open chat." **Retry** rebuilds it. **Copy error details** puts an error id and the stack on your clipboard and sends nothing, so paste it into a message to us.

### The pane never loaded

These come from the add-in rather than the interface, and appear as a plain Windows label filling the pane. All three mean the installation is damaged, and all three are fixed by closing SOLIDWORKS and running `Cadabra.Bundle.exe` again.

The first opens `Failed to load the CADABRA pane.` and its second line says the installation may be incomplete and to reinstall CADABRA. The other two are quoted in full below.

If a reinstall does not fix it, `%ProgramData%\CADABRA\install.log` is the artifact to attach: see [uninstall, repair and reinstall](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/#repair).

### SOLIDWORKS crashed during a run

On the next start the panel shows **SolidWorks stopped unexpectedly** and tells you unsaved changes from that session are not in your file, with the date of the crash when it has one. It points at **Tools**, then **Options**, then **Backup/Recover** for the auto-recover copies. A crash log is written to `%APPDATA%\Cadabra\logs\crash_<date>_<time>.txt`, and only then.

```
Failed to load the CADABRA pane.

CADABRA is not installed correctly.
Reinstall from cadabrai.com.

Failed to load CADABRA pane.
See log for details.

Cadabra isn’t responding. Restart SolidWorks to reconnect.

This version of CADABRA doesn’t handle "<messageType>". Update the plugin.
```

## A run that started and did not finish

These are answers, not refusals: the turn ran and the model may already have changed.

- `The build didn’t finish this turn.` What was created is in your model, any failed step was reverted, and telling it to continue picks up from there.
- `the plan produced no steps to run`, under a line saying nothing was changed. The request was too thin to plan against. Add the dimension, the face, or the feature name.
- `There’s no drawing to build from.` A drawing-to-CAD request with nothing attached and no drawing active. Open the drawing, or attach a PNG or JPG of the print. A PDF does not work here: it is classified as a reference drawing and learned from, and nothing is built. See [entry paths](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/#entry-paths).
- `Couldn’t confirm this change. Check your model.` The operation reported success and the verification could not prove it. Look at the feature tree.
- `The generated macro didn’t pass validation, so nothing was run.` The fallback VBA path produced something that failed the checks. Nothing was executed.
- `CADABRA didn’t respond in time. Try again.` The turn exceeded its timeout.
- `Earlier steps only`, followed by a note that the run was too long to save in full. The chat history entry is truncated. The model is unaffected.

What CADABRA verifies after each operation, and what it cannot verify, is in [how CADABRA works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/#rebuild-check).

## A file would not attach

10 files per prompt. 5 MB an image, 4.5 MB a PDF or text file, 20 MB a CAD file, and 20 MB total per prompt across images, PDFs and text, with CAD files outside that total. Word and Excel files are rejected outright.

The messages name the limit they hit: an unsupported type lists the formats the model can read, a file over the size limit names the limit, and too many files names the maximum. A set that is individually fine but too big together reads "Those files are too large to send together."

A document too large for the model’s context is reported with an approximate page count and told to split. Full detail in [attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/).

## A drawing standard upload failed

Each file in a standard carries its own status: **Uploading**, **Reading the drawing**, **Saved**, or **Not saved**. **Not saved** is followed by one of the lines in the table, which names the cause.

Limits behind several of these: at most 5 standards, at most 10 reference drawings each, and at most 25 MB a file. Only `.slddrw` and `.pdf` are learned from. Drawing standards need Drawings access, which is Enterprise today. See [drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/#limits).

## Drawing standard upload messages

The line shown under the file that would not save.

| Message | Cause and fix |
| --- | --- |
| Too large to upload. | Over 25 MB. Split the drawing or export fewer sheets. |
| This file type is not accepted. | Not one of the 13 accepted extensions. See [accepted files](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/#accepted-files). |
| You are signed out. Sign in and try again. | The session expired mid-upload. Nothing was stored. |
| Your account cannot change this standard. | The plan has no Drawings access. A standard belongs to your own account, so that is the only cause. |
| Too many uploads at once. Try again in a moment. | Add the files in smaller batches. |
| The service could not store it. Try again. | A server-side failure. Retry; if it repeats, [contact us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/). |
| No connection to the service. | Check `accounts.cadabrai.com` and `api.cadabrai.com`. |
| The file is no longer at that path. | It moved or was deleted between picking it and uploading. |
| You have reached the limit on standards. Delete one first. | 5 standards is the ceiling. |
| This standard has all the references it can hold. Delete one first. | 10 reference drawings per standard is the ceiling. |
| Your credit allowance ran out before this drawing could be read, so nothing was learned from it. Raise or reset your limit, then add it again. | The file is stored but nothing was learned. Buy extra usage or wait for the reset, then re-add it. |
| This is a drawing CADABRA generated, not one of your own. Upload the original hand-made drawing instead. | Generated drawings are stamped and refused as references. Nothing would be learned from your own output. |
| Select a standard first. | Files are added into a standard, so one has to be open. |
| That name cannot be used. | A standard name is 2 to 60 characters. |
| Nothing can be learned from the files you picked. | Every file was a type that is stored but not learned from, such as `.dwg` or `.dxf`. |
| Stored, but nothing can be learned from this file type. | The same, on a single file. It stays in the standard as a reference for you. |
| The files were saved, but learning from them failed. | The upload worked and the read did not. Retry from the standard. |
| Some of the files did not upload. | A partial batch. The saved ones are in the standard; re-add the rest. |
| The template was saved but not switched on. | The `.drwdot` is stored. Select it under Templates to make it active. |

## When the standards screen itself fails

These replace the content of the panel rather than sitting under a file, and each offers **Try again**.

- `Drawing standards are unavailable.` and `Drawing-standard files are unavailable.` The list could not be read.
- `That change to the standard did not go through.` A create, rename or delete failed.
- `The reference files could not be added.`, `The template could not be uploaded.`, `The template could not be selected.`, `The file could not be deleted.`
- `CADABRA couldn’t learn from those reference drawings.` The files are stored and the learning pass failed.

A standard whose last learning pass failed shows a badge on the dashboard Standards page. The only three badges are **Learning failed**, **Needs review** and **Updating**: see [status](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/#status).

## The message is not on this page

There is no button in the product that opens or exports a log. These are the files you can attach by hand.

- `%TEMP%\Cadabra\reports\cadabra-build-<date>.jsonl`, every modeling and drawing action CADABRA ran. Always written. It is a temp folder, so a disk cleanup deletes it.
- `%APPDATA%\Cadabra\logs\crash_<date>_<time>.txt`, only if CADABRA crashed SOLIDWORKS.
- `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Cadabra\logs\update_<date>_<time>.log`, only when an update ran.
- `%ProgramData%\CADABRA\install.log`, the installer trace, and the only artifact when the panel never appears.

Include your version number. The person icon at the top right of the panel opens Settings, and the last line reads `Version 1.3.46`, or `Version 1.3.46 Build 0007` on an early access build. It is readable before you sign in. Then [contact us](https://cadabrai.com/contact/): Email and the contact form, on every plan including Free. We answer within one business day. There is also the [Discord](https://discord.gg/AdBQFZJps).

Thumbs down under an answer is not a support ticket. It sends what you type with the request id and your version, and no logs, chat or model data.

On this page

- [The mode is not on your plan](#plan)
- [The credit allowance is exhausted](#credits)
- [Too many requests in the last minute](#rate-limit)
- [That would change your model](#wrong-mode)
- [Drawings refusals](#drawings)
- [CADABRA cannot reach SOLIDWORKS](#solidworks)
- [Your session expired](#session)
- [Update messages](#updates)
- [The panel itself failed](#panel)
- [A run that started and did not finish](#run)
- [A file would not attach](#attachments)
- [A drawing standard upload failed](#standards)
- [Drawing standard upload messages](#standards-table)
- [When the standards screen itself fails](#standards-actions)
- [The message is not on this page](#not-here)