🔧 Troubleshooting

Common issues and the fastest fix. Read the diagnosis first — half the time you can fix it yourself.

I only see 2 Branch SOPs (Original Ranchy + Roman Garden)

Fix

1. Look at the top-right corner of RecipeHub.
2. If you don't see your avatar or initials, click Sign in with Google.
3. Use your @dailyfoodsa.com account (not a personal Gmail).
4. The full 140+ Branch SOPs should now appear.

"Production Plan is empty" / "I see no recipes"

Fix

Sign in with your @dailyfoodsa.com Google account.

"My edit disappeared after refresh"

Fix

1. Re-do the edit. The save should stick this time.
2. If it still doesn't stick, take a screenshot of what you typed AND the timestamp.
3. Send to Caterina with: the page, the record, the field, what you typed, and roughly when.
4. Hourly backups exist for 7 days, so the prior state can be recovered.

"My tab and a colleague's tab disagree about something"

Shouldn't happen since cross-tab sync went live (2026-06-08) — both tabs should converge within ~2 seconds of either save. If they don't:

1. Reload one tab (Cmd+R or Ctrl+R).
2. It will force-fetch fresh data from the server.
3. The other tab should match within 2 seconds via the live-sync push.
4. If still divergent: the live-sync (SSE) connection might be broken. Reload both. If you keep seeing it, ping Caterina.

"The page looks frozen / Saving… stuck on screen"

Fix

1. Wait 30 seconds — a slow network can delay the save indicator.
2. Check the sidebar: does it say Offline? If yes, your WiFi or VPN is the problem.
3. If still stuck after a minute, reload the page (Cmd+R or Ctrl+R).

"I keep seeing a red banner about stale data"

Rare since 2026-06-08 — staleness is checked at the per-record level now, so legit edits aren't blocked. If you do see the red banner:

1. Click Reload in the banner.
2. Your tab will get the latest server state.
3. Redo your edit.

"My tab auto-reloaded by itself"

Not a bug. After 30 minutes of no activity, RecipeHub auto-reloads to make sure you're on fresh data. It's tighter than before (was 6 hours) — temporary while the team gets used to the new architecture. Any click / keypress / scroll resets the timer.

"I had to sign in again even though I was signed in elsewhere"

Fixed 2026-06-09. Previously a localStorage cleanup could wipe your auth alongside old data. Now the cleanup preserves recipehub_auth_v1 across the wipe. If you still get prompted to sign in repeatedly, your browser may be set to "clear cookies on close" — check Chrome > Site Settings for recipehub.dailyfoodsa.com.

"I want to refresh my data without losing anything"

Click the ↻ Data button at the bottom of the sidebar. It re-pulls server data without clearing any in-flight work.

Don't clear browser cookies or "Site Data" on your own — that wipes your sign-in too and drops you into demo mode.

"I'm getting a 'newer version available' reload prompt repeatedly"

That used to loop if the build version meta tag wasn't stamped properly. Fixed June 2026. If it still happens to you:

1. Reload once.
2. If the prompt comes back within seconds, close ALL RecipeHub tabs.
3. Wait 10 seconds.
4. Open one tab fresh.

"I made a comment / flag / sign-off and it vanished"

Comments, flags, and approval signatures are now preserved server-side — a stale tab can no longer null them out by accident (Phase 2 protections went live 2026-06-08). If yours genuinely disappeared, ping Caterina with: what you wrote, on which record, roughly when. Backups exist.

"Where did Safety Icons go?"

Moved into the Pictures Library page (2026-06-09). Open Pictures Library and expand the "🪧 Safety Icons" section. Hazards / PPE / Signs / Custom all rendered there with edit buttons (admin / NPD / QA only). No more separate sidebar item.

"The Pictures Library search isn't finding what I expect"

Search now spans all 3 sections (Favorites · Safety Icons · All Pictures). Behaviors:

• Typing auto-expands every section so you can see matches.
• Sections with zero matches hide entirely.
• Safety Icons match by label, key, and group (e.g. "hazard").
• Clear the search → sections fold back to your saved collapse state.

Diagnostic shortcuts (Admin only)

↻ Data button — bottom of sidebar

Pulls fresh data from the server without losing anything you've typed but not saved.

Audit Log page — sidebar (Admin)

See exactly who did what, when. Also shows Online Now at the top — green dots = active in the last 5 min, yellow = idle.

DevTools console

Press Cmd+Opt+I (Mac) or F12 (Windows) → Console tab. Any red errors? Screenshot them and share with Caterina.

Last resort: full reload

1. Close all RecipeHub tabs.
2. Reopen recipehub.dailyfoodsa.com in a single tab.
3. Sign in.
4. You should see the full app.