Why can I not open the session?

What it is

Loomcoding keeps the sessions in a local server, and the Loom client connects to it. When the connection fails, Loom shows one of the messages in the table below.

What it is for

• Matching a message to its cause.
• Starting cleanly after an upgrade, or with a separate test profile.

How

1. Note the message on screen.
2. Find it in the table and apply the fix.

Example

List the Loom processes that are running. Check them before you stop anything:

Get-Process loom, loomcoding -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Id, ProcessName, StartTime

Stop them only if you are sure they belong to the profile you want to use:

Stop-Process -Name loom, loomcoding -Force

Stopping a process ends any turn that it is running. Messages already saved stay in sessions.db.

Messages and fixes

Message or symptom	Cause	Fix
autenticación local rechazada	The running local server has a different key from this client. Usually a server from another profile is still running.	Close all Loom processes. Start Loom again, always with the same LOOMCODING_HOME.
protocolo local incompatible	The running server is from another version, usually an older one.	Close all Loom processes before you start the new version.
servidor Loomcoding incompatible (protocolo N)	The server answered with another protocol version.	Close all Loom processes, then start again.
el servidor local no está disponible	No server answered for about 10 seconds after Loom tried to start one.	Close any loom process that is still running, then start again. For the cause, see Measure with RUST_LOG.
sessions.db cannot be opened, or stays locked	A server from a --print run, or from a test profile, still holds the database.	Close that server process, then start again.

Use a separate profile

Loomcoding uses LOOMCODING_HOME as the profile folder when it is set. Use the same value in every terminal that starts Loom:

$env:LOOMCODING_HOME = "<empty-folder>"
loom

Before you upgrade

Close every loom and loomcoding process before you install a new version. The old server does not find the new profile folder.

Settings and defaults

Name	Default	Requires restart
LOOMCODING_HOME (environment variable)	Not set: your home folder	Yes. Set it before you start Loom.

Result

• When the session opens with your data, the connection works.
• Developers: a running server locks loomcoding.exe, so cargo test can fail with Acceso denegado. Stop the servers first.

Next steps

• Sessions
• Profile folders
• Environment variables
• Measure with RUST_LOG