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When your AI Assistant isn't responding

Sidekick reached your AI Assistant, but didn’t get a reply. The AI Assistant is open, but the Sidekick extension inside it is stuck.

What to do:

  1. Quit your AI Assistant completely — this is the important bit, and closing the window usually isn’t enough:
    • Windows: closing the window leaves Claude Desktop running in the system tray. Right-click its icon down by the clock (you may need the ^ arrow to reveal hidden icons) and choose Quit. If it isn’t there, open Task Manager and end every Claude task.
    • macOS: press Cmd+Q, or right-click Claude in the Dock and choose Quit.
  2. Reopen it.
  3. Sidekick will reconnect on its own.

If you’re not sure whether it fully quit, restarting your computer settles it.

If restarting doesn’t help, the Sidekick extension may need to be reinstalled. See the install guide.

Less common cause: another app on your computer might be using port 6001 — the network port Sidekick relies on — without being your AI Assistant. This is rare but possible if you’re a developer running local services, or if a previous Sidekick process didn’t shut down cleanly. Restarting your computer is the simplest fix; if that’s not an option, contact support and we can help you identify the culprit.