Troubleshooting by symptom
Find the symptom you are seeing, its likely cause, and the safest fix before contacting support.
This page is organised by what you can see rather than by subsystem. Find your symptom, check the likely cause, and try the safest fix first. Before deleting anything, read and keep the exact error text — RoughCut names the cause in almost every failure, and the message is the fastest route to a fix. Never delete your original media or Keychain items as a first step. Most problems fall into a small number of families: the speech model is not installed, an API key is missing or unbilled, the source file moved after processing, or a job-level setting is cutting more or less than you expected. Each row links to the article with the full explanation.
On this page
Before you start
- Read the exact error text and keep it. RoughCut names the cause in nearly every failure. Screenshot or copy it before you delete the job — deleting the job deletes the message with it.
- Never delete your original media as a troubleshooting step.
- Never delete Keychain items as a first step. Use
Replace…on a key field instead. - Try a short synthetic clip. Thirty seconds of the same kind of footage tells you quickly whether the problem is the file or the setup.
Setup and startup
| Symptom | Likely cause | First fix | If that fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| App will not open | Unsupported hardware | Confirm the Mac is Apple Silicon — see system requirements | Reinstall from the Mac App Store |
Process is disabled | No video, a validation error, no model, or trial exhausted | Check each in that order; the screen shows which | Create your first rough cut |
Download the Whisper model in Settings first. | The speech model is not installed | Settings → Models & Data → Download from Hugging Face | Use Copy download link and Import model file… — see speech model |
| Model download stuck at 0% | Network or host issue | Cancel and retry | Download in a browser and import the file |
Whisper model missing at <path>. | Wrong custom path, or a deleted file | Clear Whisper model path in Settings | Download or import the model again |
AI provider
| Symptom | Likely cause | First fix | If that fails |
|---|---|---|---|
No API key for provider '<provider>'. Add it in Settings, or disable bad-take removal for a silence-only cut. | No key saved for the selected provider | Save a key, or turn Bad-take removal off | Choose a provider |
| Quota or billing error | Billing not enabled on the key's project | Enable billing at the provider | Gemini key · OpenAI key |
| Invalid or unauthorised key | Wrong value, or the key was revoked | Create a new key and use Replace… | Check you pasted the raw value with no whitespace |
Cloud transcription needs your OpenAI API key. | Cloud selected without a key | Add the key, or switch the job to On-device | Transcription options |
| Timeout | Very long transcript or slow connection | Retry; raise the provider timeout in Settings | Split the recording |
Running a job
| Symptom | Likely cause | First fix | If that fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job seems stuck | Transcription is simply the longest stage | Watch the percentage; it advances slowly during transcription | Job progress |
transcription produced no words — cannot build a cut | Silent, music-only, or unintelligible audio | Confirm the file has speech; try a separate mic track | File inputs |
| Variable frame rate warning | Source is VFR | Transcode to constant frame rate before importing to Final Cut Pro | Job progress |
cut plan kept nothing — refusing to export an empty timeline | Threshold far too loose, or the audio is almost all silence | Use a stricter environment such as Quiet room, or raise Min silence (sec) | Recording environments |
Second Look could not run — this cut is the standard single-pass result. | The refine pass failed and was isolated | Nothing required — your standard cut is intact | Second Look |
| Job failed with another message | Named in the message | Fix the named cause and create the job again | Error reference |
Cut quality
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Too many pauses remain | Threshold too strict for the recording | Move to Standard, or Noisy for background rumble |
| Speech is being clipped | Threshold too loose | Move to Quiet room, or set a lower custom dB |
| Background noise treated as speech | Noisy recording | Use Noisy, or Smart Silence if you have Pro |
| Pacing feels too tight | Min silence (sec) too low | Raise it to keep breathing room |
| Good takes removed | Aggressiveness too high | Set Bad-take aggressiveness to Conservative, then flip decisions in review and recompute |
| Bad takes left in | Aggressiveness too low, or no AI key | Set Aggressive, or confirm Bad-take removal is on with a working key |
Every proposed cut is reversible in review — see Review the cut on the timeline.
Export and Final Cut Pro
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Media offline or missing after import | The source file moved, was renamed, or was deleted | In Final Cut Pro use File → Relink Files and point at the source |
| Export menu disabled | The job is not finished | Wait for the job to complete |
| Exported file does not reflect my review changes | You did not recompute, or did not re-export | Click Recompute Cuts, then export again — see Recompute |
| Captions land at the wrong time | The SRT was made from a differently trimmed export | Transcribe the same file the captions will sit against — see SRT captions |
Lost access to the source video. Re-add the file and process again. | The stored file permission is gone | Re-add the file and process again |
Purchases
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase not recognised | Different Apple Account, or entitlement not synced | Settings → License → Restore Purchases |
The App Store returned no products for this app right now. Please retry in a moment. | Temporary App Store issue | Retry; it is not a purchase failure |
| Pro features still locked after subscribing | Entitlement not yet applied | Restore purchases; confirm the subscription is active in App Store settings |
| Free cuts did not reset after reinstalling | By design — the counter is in the Keychain | See plans and purchases |
Evaluation and tracing
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Golden-set folder not connected. | Access was never granted | Settings → Models & Data → Choose golden-set folder… |
| Clips skipped | Missing media or missing gold | The skip reason is listed per clip — see golden set |
| Langfuse traces missing | Toggle off, wrong base URL, mismatched keys, or no run since enabling | Check all four — see Langfuse |
When to contact support
Contact support once you have tried the fix for your symptom and it did not work, or the error is not listed here. Include the exact error text and what you already tried — see Contact support.
A Debug Bundle helps support a great deal, but it contains your transcript and the cut decisions for that job. Review it before sending, and only send it when asked or when the problem needs deeper investigation.
Still stuck?
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