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Troubleshooting

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tempus2016 edited this page Mar 25, 2026 · 5 revisions

Cards Show "Custom element doesn't exist"

The Lovelace resources haven't loaded yet.

Fix:

  1. Hard refresh the browser: Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows/Linux)
  2. If that doesn't work, check Settings → Dashboards → Resources — the /taskmate/*.js entries should be listed
  3. If the resources are missing, restart Home Assistant — they are registered automatically on startup

Cards Show "Entity not found: sensor.taskmate_overview"

The entity name is wrong or the integration isn't loaded.

Fix:

  1. Go to Developer Tools → States and search for taskmate — verify the entity exists
  2. Make sure you're using sensor.taskmate_overview (not sensor.pending_approvals)
  3. If the entity doesn't exist, check Settings → Devices & Services — is TaskMate listed?
  4. If TaskMate is listed but entities are missing, try reloading the integration

Cards Render as Empty Boxes

JavaScript is failing to parse. Usually caused by a corrupted or outdated JS file.

Fix:

  1. Open browser DevTools (F12) → Console tab — look for errors mentioning taskmate-*.js
  2. Check the error message — Unexpected token '}' indicates a JS syntax error
  3. Hard refresh after deploying new card files
  4. Verify the file sizes are correct — files under ~1KB are likely corrupted

Resources Keep Disappearing After Restart

This was a known issue that has been fixed across two releases:

v1.1.2 — The resource manager was accidentally deleting entries it couldn't match. The delete logic was removed entirely — the manager now only ever adds or updates, never deletes.

v1.1.6 — A deeper root cause was identified. ResourceStorageCollection is lazy and doesn't load from disk until forced. TaskMate was reading resources before the storage had loaded, getting an empty list, writing all 13 entries, and then having them wiped when Lovelace loaded its own storage file shortly after. The fix forces the storage to load before TaskMate touches anything — the same approach used by the WebRTC and Browser Mod integrations.

Fix: Update to v1.1.6 or later. If you are already on v1.1.6+ and resources are still disappearing, check Settings → System → Logs (filter by taskmate) for error messages from the resource manager.

Chore Description Not Showing

Checklist:

  1. The chore must have a description set — go to Manage Chores, edit the chore, check the Description field
  2. Show chore description must be enabled in the child card editor (it's off by default)

Points Not Updating After Completing a Chore

If the chore has Requires Approval turned on:

  • Points are held as "pending" until a parent approves
  • The child card header shows a "Pending" section with the held points
  • Approve the completion from the Parent Dashboard card or Approvals card

If the chore does not require approval and points still aren't updating:

  • Check Developer Tools → States → sensor.taskmate_overview → children array — is the child's points value changing?
  • The sensor updates every 30 seconds — wait a moment and refresh

Streak Not Incrementing

Things to check:

  • Streaks are updated at midnight — if you complete chores and check before midnight, the streak won't have incremented yet
  • The streak increments the next day when the overnight check confirms yesterday had a completion
  • If Streak Reset Mode is reset and a day was missed, the streak resets to 0

Streak Reset to Zero Unexpectedly

  • Check the Streak Reset Mode in Settings — if set to reset, any missed day resets the streak
  • Change to pause if you want streaks to be preserved across missed days
  • Streaks are based on the child's last_completion_date compared to today's date in the HA timezone — timezone issues can cause false resets

Wrong Timezone on Chore Completions

TaskMate uses the Home Assistant configured timezone for all date comparisons.

Fix:

  1. Check your HA timezone: Settings → System → General → Time Zone
  2. Ensure it matches your actual timezone
  3. The today_day_of_week attribute on sensor.taskmate_overview shows the current day in HA timezone — verify it's correct

Reward Cost Seems Wrong

All reward costs are fixed values set by the parent — there is no dynamic calculation.

Checklist:

  1. Go to Manage Rewards → edit the reward → check the Points Cost field
  2. Verify the child has enough points — check sensor.taskmate_overview → children → points for that child
  3. If the child has a pending reward claim, those points are committed and shown as committed_points — they can't be used for another claim until the first is approved or rejected

Fart Sounds Not Playing

Checklist:

  1. The .mp3 files must be in /config/www/taskmate/
  2. Files must be named exactly fart1.mp3 through fart10.mp3
  3. Try taskmate.preview_sound with sound: fart1 in Developer Tools to test
  4. Browser autoplay policies may block audio until the user has interacted with the page — tap something first

Integration Fails to Load

Check the logs:

Settings → System → Logs → search for taskmate

Common errors:

  • ImportError — a dependency is missing. Try restarting HA or reinstalling the integration
  • ValueError in storage — storage data may be corrupted. Check /config/.storage/taskmate.storage.*
  • Lovelace not available — the lovelace integration hasn't loaded yet. Usually resolves on next restart

Getting More Debug Information

Enable debug logging for TaskMate:

# configuration.yaml
logger:
  logs:
    custom_components.taskmate: debug

Restart HA and check Settings → System → Logs for detailed output from the coordinator, storage, and resource manager.

Notifications Not Working

Persistent notifications not appearing:

  • Check Settings → System → Logs for TaskMate: failed to send notification errors
  • Verify the chore has Requires Approval turned on — notifications only fire for approval-required chores
  • Chores that auto-approve (Requires Approval = off) never trigger a notification

Push notifications not arriving:

  • Go to Settings → Integrations → TaskMate → Configure → Settings and verify the Notification Service is set correctly
  • The format must be notify.service_name e.g. notify.mobile_app_johns_phone
  • Test the service directly: Developer Tools → Services → call notify.mobile_app_johns_phone with a test message
  • If you want to notify multiple people, create a notify group in configuration.yaml and use notify.group_name

Recurring Chore Not Appearing / Still Locked

Chore shows as dimmed or hidden after completing it:

  • This is correct behaviour for recurring chores — the window hasn't reset yet
  • The recurrence_done_mode on the child card controls whether it's dimmed or hidden
  • Check sensor.taskmate_overview → chores → find the chore → check is_available for your child's ID

Chore never becomes available:

  • If Wait for First Scheduled Occurrence is set, the chore is locked until the first scheduled day arrives
  • For Every 2 Days with a future start date, the chore is locked until that date

Window reset earlier than expected:

  • Check if the chore was completed and then undone — undo restores the previous completion as the anchor
  • The history_days setting does not affect recurrence — the last_completed store is separate and never pruned

Reporting a Bug

If you've confirmed it's a TaskMate bug, open an issue at: https://github.com/tempus2016/taskmate/issues

Include:

  • TaskMate version (visible in Settings → Devices & Services → TaskMate)
  • Home Assistant version
  • Relevant log output with debug logging enabled
  • Steps to reproduce

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