FAQ & troubleshooting

Using TaskForge

Is the web app free to use? Yes. taskforge-app-869.netlify.app is open; create an account or use the demo credentials.

Do web and desktop share data? Yes. Both talk to the same API with the same account, a card you move on desktop is moved on the web instantly.

Why are my dashboard charts empty? The dashboard is computed from task data: the timeline needs tasks with start/due dates, velocity needs a week or two of completed work, and the donut needs open tasks with priorities set. New projects start dark, see feeding the dashboard. To preview a fully lit dashboard, open the demo project.

Why can't I edit anything in an organization? You're probably a Viewer there. Roles are per-organization, ask an Admin to bump you to Member.

Can I move a project to another organization? Export it as JSON from the actions menu, switch organizations, and import it, columns, labels, tasks and dates all travel. Assignees are matched by email. See Import & export.

Windows says the desktop installer is unrecognized. The installers aren't code-signed. SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway.

Self-hosting

The frontend loads but every request fails. Almost always one of three things: the backend isn't running, NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL points to the wrong origin, or CORS, add your frontend origin to CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS in the backend environment.

Login returns 401 with correct credentials. Did you run python manage.py seed? The demo users only exist after seeding. For your own account, register first via the UI or POST /api/v1/auth/register/.

The API returns 429 Too Many Requests. Anonymous traffic is rate-limited. Authenticate for a higher budget, and honor the Retry-After header. If your platform's health checker is what's being throttled, point it at /health/, that endpoint is exempt from throttling by design.

WebSocket updates don't arrive in production. Serve the backend with an ASGI server (Daphne is configured). A plain WSGI deployment silently drops the Channels layer. Also check that NEXT_PUBLIC_WS_URL uses wss:// behind TLS.

Port 3000 or 8000 is already taken.

# Frontend on another port
bun run dev -- -p 3001

# Backend on another port
python manage.py runserver 127.0.0.1:8001

Where do I report bugs? Open an issue on the matching repository: backend, frontend or desktop, with steps to reproduce and a screenshot where it helps.