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Troubleshooting

daemon not running

The refractions task pane shows Helper not running.

Check it from Terminal:

curl http://localhost:27832/api/status

If you get a connection error, restart it:

launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.refractions.daemon.plist 2>/dev/null
launchctl bootstrap gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.refractions.daemon.plist

Logs:

  • stdout → /tmp/refractions.log
  • stderr → /tmp/refractions.err

If those say macOS blocked execution, allow the binary in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Prism not found

refractions looks for GraphPad Prism.app in /Applications. If you installed Prism somewhere else, create a symlink:

ln -s "/path/to/GraphPad Prism.app" "/Applications/GraphPad Prism.app"

Or open the refractions daemon config at ~/.refractions/config.json and set "prismPath": "/path/to/GraphPad Prism.app".

File locked

PowerPoint holds a file lock on the open .pptx. refractions writes the updated file to <file>.pptx.tmp and atomically renames it. If you see File locked errors, close the file in PowerPoint, run Update slide again, then reopen.

OLE truncated

If you see Truncated OLE stream — open in Windows PowerPoint and Save As to repair, the PPTX has a malformed OLE container that pre-dates refractions. Open it once on Windows, run Save As, and refractions will work on the saved copy.

License invalid

If refractions reports the license is invalid:

  1. Make sure the daemon can reach https://refractions.app/. Try curl -I https://refractions.app/.
  2. Confirm the key in the post-purchase email matches what you entered.
  3. Check whether you've used all your seats — see Activation → How seats work.

If the problem persists, email support@refractions.app with the daemon log (/tmp/refractions.log).