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Why Won't an AI Agent Set Up or Connect?

Every step of an agent's setup on the AI agents screen says in a sentence, under its box, what it asked and what came back. When a step fails, nothing is saved by that step, the box keeps what you typed, and you can correct it and press the button again. This page explains the sentences you are most likely to meet. Open the menu and choose AI agents under Administration to get to the setup.

Why does Check the address or Check the widget fail?​

Check the address on the API URL step of an agent's setup, and Check the widget on the Widget URL step, ask AgentDesk whether it is really at the address in the box. They fail when:

  • "Invalid URL format. Please enter a valid URL." — what is in the box is not a web address. Check for a typing mistake or a missing part.
  • "Cannot connect to AgentDesk API. Please check the URL and your internet connection." or "Cannot reach the specified URL. Please check the URL is correct and accessible." — nothing answered at that address. Check the address, and that your ABM Service server can reach the internet.
  • A sentence asking you to "check this is a valid AgentDesk API URL", or "The service is not healthy. Please check the URL and try again." — something answered, but not AgentDesk as expected.
  • "Cannot validate the widget URL. Please check the URL and try again." — the widget address did not answer as expected.
  • A sentence saying AgentDesk answered with a redirect, which is not followed — use the address it names instead.

The address is always checked over https, whatever you type. Unless your supplier gave you different addresses, the boxes start with the right ones: if you have changed them, put back what your supplier gave you.

Why is the key refused on the API Key step?​

Save connection on the API Key step of an agent's setup checks the key with AgentDesk before it saves anything, and refuses it with a sentence when:

  • "Type or paste the key first." — the box is empty.
  • The step says it is not a project key — what you pasted is not an agent's key at all, perhaps the wrong thing from the clipboard. It is refused before anything is sent.
  • "Invalid API key. Please check the key and try again." — AgentDesk does not know the key. Paste it again with nothing missing at either end.
  • "This API key belongs to a" followed by the kind of project, "Please use" the right kind — the key is for a different kind of agent; for example a call-logging key was pasted into ABM Service AI's setup.
  • A sentence asking you to rotate the API key — the key is an old kind that cannot be used.

In each case, check that you are using the key your supplier gave you for this particular agent, and ask your supplier for it again if in doubt. Nothing is saved, and an agent that was on stays as it was.

Why does Register with AgentDesk fail?​

Register with AgentDesk on the Base Path step of an agent's setup asks AgentDesk, on the internet, to call your ABM Service server back at the address in the box. It fails when that call does not arrive or is not answered:

  • "AgentDesk could not reach this server at this address. Please check the address is publicly accessible and correct." — the address is not one the internet can reach. Use the address your server is reached by from outside your office, over https. The warning on the Base Path step says when the address looks like plain http, this machine's own address, a private address on your network, or a name only your network knows.
  • A sentence starting "Base path must end with" — the end of the address was changed. Keep the ending the box started with, and change only the start.
  • A sentence saying AgentDesk reached this server but "the signature did not match" — go back to the API Key step, paste the key your supplier gave you again, press Save connection, and then register again. It also happens when your server's clock is more than five minutes out; ask whoever looks after your server to check it.
  • A sentence saying AgentDesk reached this server but got an unexpected response, ending "Please check the base path is correct." — something answered at that address, but not in the way ABM Service answers. Check the whole address, including its ending.

The agent stays Incomplete until registering works; for Victoria and Fiona, that means their Log by voice button is not shown meanwhile. Whoever looks after your ABM Service server can help make it reachable from the internet.

Why does the AI agents screen say somebody else changed the agent?​

Two people, or you in two windows, changing the same agent on the AI agents screen at once could otherwise overwrite each other, so the second change is refused and nothing is saved:

  • On Save settings: the agent "was changed by somebody else since this screen read it. Nothing was saved: reload it and make the change again."
  • On Save connection: the agent "was changed (turned off, or set up again) while AgentDesk was being asked about this key. Nothing was saved: set it up again."
  • On Register with AgentDesk: the connection "was saved again while AgentDesk was checking this address", so nothing was saved: register the address again.

Reload the page, look at the agent as it now is, and make your change again. Turn off is never refused this way: it always takes effect.

Why does the AI agents screen say it cannot keep an agent's key?​

A line at the top of the AI agents screen saying "This build cannot keep an agent’s key, so nothing can be set up:" means the installed version of ABM Service is missing what it needs to store the agents' keys safely. No agent can be set up or used until it is put right, and nothing on the Administration screens can do that. Contact your software supplier.

A different sentence on one agent's page, saying the key saved for it "cannot be read by this server: set it up again.", affects only that agent: run its setup again with Update configuration and press Save connection with the key your supplier gave you.