Skip to main content

Troubleshooting

Fixes for every error niftycli can show, grouped by when you'll hit them.

During niftycli init​

"Could not connect to SMTP server: ..."​

niftycli tries to verify your SMTP credentials as soon as you enter them. If verification fails you'll see the underlying error from your mail provider (auth failure, wrong host, connection timeout) and a prompt to save the configuration anyway.

  • Double-check host and port — smtp.gmail.com:587 (TLS) or smtp.gmail.com:465 (SSL) for Gmail; your provider's docs will list the correct values for anything else.
  • Gmail and Microsoft 365 usually reject your normal password. Both require an "app password" generated separately from your account settings — use that instead of your login password.
  • If you save the config anyway, re-run niftycli init later once the credentials are fixed; it will offer to overwrite the existing config at ~/.niftycli/config.json.

"Config already exists at ~/.niftycli/config.json. Overwrite it?"​

This just means you've already run niftycli init once. Answer y to reconfigure your SMTP account or first project from scratch, or Ctrl+C to keep your existing setup untouched.

When creating a task (niftycli new)​

"No configuration found. Run niftycli init first."​

niftycli looks for a config file at ~/.niftycli/config.json and hasn't found one — run niftycli init to create it before trying niftycli new again.

"No project named "X". Available projects: ..."​

You passed -p <project> with a name that doesn't match any saved project (matching is case-insensitive, but must otherwise be exact). The error lists every project name currently saved — run niftycli project list to see them, or niftycli project add if the one you want doesn't exist yet.

"Failed to send task email: ..."​

The SMTP connection that worked during niftycli init is now rejecting the send — usually because a password or app password was rotated/revoked since setup, or your provider is rate-limiting outgoing mail. Re-run niftycli init to refresh the credentials.

Task never arrives in Nifty​

  • Confirm the project's forwarding email is correct — see Finding your project's forwarding email. A typo here sends mail nowhere, with no error from niftycli since the send itself succeeds.
  • Nifty silently ignores duplicate tasks — if you sent the same task twice (e.g. after a retry), only the first one will appear.
  • Check your SMTP account's "Sent" folder — if the email isn't there, it never left niftycli; if it is there, the issue is on Nifty's forwarding side.

General​

  • Ctrl+C cancels any prompt cleanly — no partial config or task is saved.
  • Resetting everything: delete ~/.niftycli/config.json and re-run niftycli init.
  • Still stuck? Open an issue on GitHub with the exact error message.