Troubleshooting AI assistants
Find the message you’re seeing below. Your AI assistant usually repeats OnStage’s message word for word.
Who can do this: Org admins who use an AI assistant with OnStage.
Where: Your AI assistant, the OnStage dashboard page it opens, and the AI access page (account menu → AI access & two-step)
Connecting
Section titled “Connecting”| What you see | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| “This connection request has expired. Start again from your AI app.” | The connect page works for 15 minutes after your AI assistant opens it, and only once. Start connecting again from your AI assistant. |
| “This connection request is invalid” or “was issued for a different server” | The link was changed or isn’t for this OnStage. Start connecting again from your AI assistant, and let it open the page itself. |
| “Only an org admin can connect an AI app to OnStage” | Your role isn’t Admin in the organisation shown. Click Switch organisation to pick one where you’re an admin, or ask an admin to change your role. |
| “AI apps can’t be connected to this organisation” | Click Switch organisation and pick another of your organisations. |
| “You’re signed in with a temporary password” | Choose your own password (the dashboard asks you when you sign in), then connect again. |
| “Invalid email or password” | Check your email and password. They’re the ones you use for the dashboard. |
| “That code is wrong or has already been used” (when creating a token) | Enter the current code from your authenticator app, or an unused recovery code. Check the time on your phone is right. |
| New token is greyed out | Two-step verification is off. Turn it on, then create the token. |
Signing in or using a token, by assistant
Section titled “Signing in or using a token, by assistant”| Assistant | What you see | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Any assistant other than Claude or ChatGPT | An OnStage page saying OnStage connects to Claude and ChatGPT | Sign-in with OnStage is only for claude.ai, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT and Claude Code. Nothing was shared with the app that sent you there. Connect it with a personal access token instead. |
| ChatGPT | There’s no way to add a token, or the connector won’t create | ChatGPT can’t use a token. Turn on Developer mode, create the connector with OAuth chosen, and sign in with OnStage. See ChatGPT. |
| claude.ai or Claude Desktop | Add custom connector is missing | On a Team or Enterprise plan, an owner of that plan may need to add the connector first. |
| Claude Code | OnStage is listed but not connected | Type /mcp in Claude Code, choose onstage and sign in. |
| Any token-based assistant | It can’t connect, or every request is refused as unauthorised | Check the header is exactly Authorization: Bearer <your token>: the header name Authorization, the word Bearer, one space, then the whole token starting osm_. Also check the token hasn’t expired or been revoked on the AI access page. |
| Gemini CLI | OnStage doesn’t connect, though the token is right | Gemini CLI needs httpUrl, not url, for this server. See Gemini CLI. |
| Windsurf | OnStage doesn’t connect | Windsurf needs serverUrl for the address. See Windsurf. |
| Codex CLI | It can’t connect, though the token is right | Codex reads the token from ONSTAGE_TOKEN. Set it in the terminal you start Codex from (or your shell profile), then start Codex again. |
| VS Code | It never asks for the token | Check the inputs entry’s id matches the ${input:…} name in the header, then restart the server from the MCP list. |
Your AI assistant stops working or asks you to sign in again
Section titled “Your AI assistant stops working or asks you to sign in again”The connection has expired (30 days for an assistant that signed in with OnStage; the length you chose for a token) or it was ended: you changed your password, were deactivated, or someone revoked it. A token also ends when you turn off two-step verification. Sign in again, or create a new token and put it in your assistant’s settings in place of the old one.
To see why one stopped, open Connections and tokens on the AI access page and click Show revoked and expired. Each row says why, such as “two-step verification was turned off”.
If your AI assistant says “MCP access needs the org admin role”, you’re no longer an admin in that organisation. Ask an admin to restore your role, then connect again. Your old connections stay revoked.
Publishing and codes
Section titled “Publishing and codes”| What your AI assistant says | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| “That confirm code has expired” | Codes last 5 minutes. Ask your AI assistant to ask for a new one, then check your notifications. |
| “That confirm code is wrong, or the changeset changed after it was issued” | A typo, or your AI assistant changed the draft after the code was sent. Ask for a new code. A code from a different connection won’t work either. |
| “No confirm code is outstanding for this changeset” | The code was already used or replaced. Ask your AI assistant to ask for a new one. |
| “This changeset conflicts with the live event” | Someone changed the same thing in the dashboard after your AI assistant drafted it. Nothing was applied. Ask it to discard the draft and prepare it again from the current values. |
| “This MCP token doesn’t have the ‘publish’ scope” | You connected without permission to publish. Publish from the event’s Pending changes page, or connect again with publishing allowed. |
| “This MCP token isn’t allowed to act on that event” | The token is limited to other events. Create a token that includes this one. |
| “Over MCP, only whoever created a changeset can change, discard or publish it” | Another admin’s AI assistant drafted it. They can finish it, or any admin can review it on the Pending changes page. |
| “This event already has 20 pending changesets” or “already has 10 pending changesets” | Too many unfinished drafts, for the event or for one connection. Ask your AI assistant to list them, then publish or discard the old ones. |
| “Nothing to publish” | Every change was taken out of the draft. Discard it, or ask your AI assistant to add the changes again. |
Other problems
Section titled “Other problems”| What you see | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| A draft you left has disappeared | Drafts nobody touches for 14 days are discarded automatically. Nothing in them was applied. Ask your AI assistant to prepare it again. |
| The event is live but participants can’t find it in the app, or a tab is missing | Ask your AI assistant to “run the launch check”. It reports the usual causes, such as the event not being listed in your app or a tab that needs a module that’s off. See also Troubleshooting. |
| “Too many requests” | Each connection can make 120 requests a minute. Wait a minute and carry on. |
| “Internal error … nothing was changed; request id …” | Nothing was changed. Try again. If it keeps happening, send the request id to OnStage support. |
| Your AI assistant can’t use an image you attached | It needs a public web link to the image (JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 MB). Or upload it in the dashboard. |