Tracking issues

Most tracking problems are permission, pause, or classification-route issues. The capture pipeline itself is local.

The timeline is empty

1. Confirm drifty is running and tracking is not paused in the menu bar.
2. Confirm Accessibility is enabled for drifty.
3. Switch to another app for a few minutes. Blocks appear after capture, not instantly at launch.
4. If you just installed, give the first session time to become a three-minute block.

Window titles are missing

App-level tracking can work without Accessibility. Window titles cannot. Re-enable Accessibility, then switch windows once so a fresh title can be captured.

Idle time looks wrong

Idle detection uses macOS system idle. If the system idle reader cannot start, tracking continues and idle detection is marked unavailable. In that state, a long stretch away from the Mac may still look active.

Classification is late or missing

• Cloud and OpenRouter need a network connection.
• Local AI needs a finished model download and enough free disk.
• A quota or key error shows in the AI connection status. Open AI settings from that status control and retry.
• Tracking does not stop because classification is delayed. Labels catch up later.

The companion card feels wrong

Use Not a drift when the surface was actually work. If alerts are too frequent, switch the nudge setting to Just record. If they never appear, confirm Notifications and that the nudge setting is Alert me or Automatic close.