04 · Support

Troubleshooting

Common errors and their exact fixes. If your issue isn't listed here, email [email protected] with the full error message and your Node.js version.

Licence Errors

LICENCE INVALID — Reason: KEY_NOT_FOUND

The key you entered was not found in Polar. Common causes:

You used a sandbox key — sandbox keys only work against the sandbox API, not production
The key was typed incorrectly — copy-paste directly from your Polar email
The key was revoked (e.g. after a refund)

FIX

Copy the key exactly from your Polar purchase email. Keys are UUID format: 0509B6D1-7D21-43E7-9840-F74A10207531. If you can't find your email, retrieve your key at polar.sh → Orders → License Keys.

ACTIVATION LIMIT REACHED

Your licence is already active on 3 machines (the maximum). To activate on a new machine, deactivate an old one first.

FIX — Option A: deactivate via CLI on the machine to remove

node -e "require('vektor-slipstream/vektor-licence').deactivateMachine(process.env.VEKTOR_LICENCE_KEY)"

FIX — Option B: manage activations at polar.sh

Go to polar.sh → your customer portal → License Keys → remove an activation manually.

Need more than 3 machines? Enterprise licences (10 seats) available — contact [email protected].

Licence prompt appears every run

The interactive prompt fires when no key is found in the cache or env var. This should only happen once per machine.

FIX

Set the VEKTOR_LICENCE_KEY environment variable so it's always available:

# Add to your .env file
VEKTOR_LICENCE_KEY=0509B6D1-7D21-43E7-9840-F74A10207531

# Or export in your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc)
export VEKTOR_LICENCE_KEY=0509B6D1-7D21-43E7-9840-F74A10207531

The cache file is at ~/.vektor/licence.json. If it's missing or corrupted, delete it and re-enter your key at the prompt.

Licence validation failed — could not reach Polar

Network error when contacting the Polar licence server. Slipstream uses a 30-day cache — if you've activated before, it will use the cached activation and continue working offline.

FIX

Check your internet connection. If you're in an air-gapped environment, ensure the machine was activated at least once while online. The 30-day cache covers offline use.

ERROR VEKTOR SLIPSTREAM — LICENCE REQUIRED

A valid licence key is required to use Vektor Slipstream.

Fix

You haven't passed a licence key to createMemory(). Either pass it directly or set the environment variable:

bash

export VEKTOR_LICENCE_KEY=VEKTOR-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

javascript

const memory = await createMemory({
  agentId:    'my-agent',
  licenceKey: process.env.VEKTOR_LICENCE_KEY, // ← add this
});

ERROR VEKTOR SLIPSTREAM — LICENCE INVALID · Reason: Key not found

Licence validation failed — key not found in Polar.

Fix

The key doesn't exist in Polar's system. Check three things:

1. You're using the key from your purchase confirmation email — not a placeholder like VEKTOR-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.

2. The key is complete — Polar keys are typically 36+ characters.

3. Your purchase was for Vektor Slipstream specifically. Keys are product-scoped.

If you believe your key is correct, email [email protected] with your order reference.

WARN Could not reach licence server — using cached validation

[SLIPSTREAM] Could not reach licence server — using cached validation (grace period).

This is not an error

Vektor couldn't reach the Polar API (no internet, firewall, etc.) but found a valid cached validation from a previous run. The engine will start normally. The cache is valid for 30 days from the last successful validation.

ONNX / Embedding Errors

ERROR model_quantized.onnx not found

[SLIPSTREAM EMBEDDER] model_quantized.onnx not found. Expected at: .../models/model_quantized.onnx

Fix

The ONNX model wasn't included in the install. This usually means the package was installed from a broken version. Reinstall:

bash

npm uninstall vektor-slipstream
npm install vektor-slipstream@latest

Verify the model is present after install:

bash

ls node_modules/vektor-slipstream/models/

You should see model_quantized.onnx (~23MB).

ERROR Failed to initialise ONNX session on any EP

[SLIPSTREAM EMBEDDER] Failed to initialise ONNX session on any EP.

Fix

The ONNX runtime couldn't load. This is usually a Node.js version issue. Verify you're on Node 18+:

bash

node --version  # must be ≥ 18.0.0

If on an ARM machine (Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon), try forcing CPU execution by setting the environment variable:

bash

ONNX_EP=cpu node your-agent.js

SQLite / Database Errors

ERROR SQLITE_BUSY: database is locked

SqliteError: SQLITE_BUSY: database is locked

Fix

Two processes are writing to the same .db file simultaneously. Common causes:

1. Two agent instances with the same dbPath running at once.

2. A previous process crashed mid-write and left a .db-wal lock file.

bash

# Remove stale lock files
rm memory.db-wal memory.db-shm

If running multiple agents, give each its own database file:

javascript

const agent1 = await createMemory({ agentId: 'agent-1', dbPath: './agent1.db' });
const agent2 = await createMemory({ agentId: 'agent-2', dbPath: './agent2.db' });

WARN sqlite-vec extension failed to load

[SLIPSTREAM DB] ⚠️ sqlite-vec extension failed to load. Semantic recall will be unavailable.

Fix

The sqlite-vec vector extension couldn't load for your platform. This is non-fatal — the engine will run without it, but vector similarity search falls back to JS-based cosine similarity (slower on large DBs).

To restore native vector support, ensure the platform package is installed:

bash

# Windows
npm install sqlite-vec-windows-x64

# macOS Apple Silicon
npm install sqlite-vec-darwin-arm64

# Linux
npm install sqlite-vec-linux-x64

General

ERROR Cannot find module 'vektor-slipstream'

Error: Cannot find module 'vektor-slipstream'

Fix

The package isn't installed in the current directory. Run:

bash

npm install vektor-slipstream

If you see Cannot find module 'vektor-memory' — that package name is deprecated. The correct package is vektor-slipstream.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with your full error output, Node.js version (node --version), and operating system. Response within 24 hours — 6 months support included with your purchase.

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