---
title: "Troubleshooting"
description: "Almost every failure is one of four things."
canonical: https://past.dev/docs/mcp/troubleshooting
last-updated: 2026-08-26
---
# Troubleshooting

> Almost every failure is one of four things.

Product: past.dev MCP Server. Source: https://past.dev/docs/mcp/troubleshooting

| What you see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| **“Couldn't register” or the connector won't add** | Check the URL is exactly `https://api.past.dev/mcp`, with the `api.` host, no trailing slash, no path after `/mcp`. Leave the advanced client ID and secret fields empty. |
| **It connects, but there are no tools** | Your account resolved but holds no permissions, usually a workspace membership that was removed, or a sign-in under a different email than the one on your past.dev account. Check your workspace membership in the past.dev app, then sign out of the connector and reconnect. |
| **The assistant cannot search or answer questions** | Expected. This server exposes two memory tools and no retrieval tool. Ranked retrieval and grounded answers are `POST /api/v1/recall` and `POST /api/v1/answer` on the Memory API, and section 04 shows how to put them in front of an assistant. |
| **Suddenly unauthorized mid-session** | The token expired and the refresh failed, or your workspace membership changed. Reconnect the connector. |
| **Results are from the wrong workspace** | The connection follows your account's active workspace. Switch it in the past.dev app; the change applies from the following call. |

#### Confirming the server itself is healthy

```
curl -i -X POST https://api.past.dev/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize"}'
```

A healthy server answers `401` with a `WWW-Authenticate` header pointing at its discovery document. That is the correct response to an unauthenticated call: it's how your client learns where to sign in. Anything else (a 403, a 404, a timeout) means you have the wrong address.