jano

Troubleshooting

When something doesn't work, jano usually tells you why. Here is where to look and what to do.

A plugin doesn't load

jano shows a banner on startup when a plugin fails. Run:

jano plugin list

Every broken plugin is listed with what went wrong, why, and how to fix it:

  ✗ my-plugin failed to load
      why:  The plugin's bundle calls require("fs"), which doesn't exist in ES modules.
      fix:  Plugin author: rebuild with esbuild --platform=node, or mark "fs" as external.

The common cases:

  • needs a newer jano: the plugin uses a newer plugin API. Run jano update.
  • is too old for this jano: the plugin uses an API this jano no longer supports. Update the plugin with jano plugin install <name>.
  • calls require(...) or imports a module that isn't bundled: a build problem of the plugin. Its author has to bundle it with esbuild --bundle --format=esm --platform=node, see Writing plugins.
  • two plugins claim the same file extension: only one of them is used. Remove the one you don't want.

Copy and paste with other apps

Ctrl+C in jano also copies to the system clipboard. If that doesn't reach other apps on Linux, install xsel or xclip (X11) or wl-clipboard (Wayland). Copy and paste inside jano always work.

To paste text from another app, use your terminal's paste: Ctrl+Shift+V on Linux, Cmd+V on macOS, right-click on Windows.

Keys that do nothing

Some terminals keep key combinations for themselves. If a shortcut does nothing, check your terminal's own shortcuts first. On macOS, Alt only reaches jano when the Option key is set up as Meta, see Shortcuts on a Mac.

Getting lost text back

While you type, jano keeps a backup of unsaved changes. When jano is killed or the terminal closes, the next start shows a banner. Press Ctrl+R, pick the file and press Enter.

The backups are in ~/.local/state/jano/backups/ on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/jano/backups/ on macOS and %LOCALAPPDATA%\jano\backups\ on Windows. jano deletes a backup only after you saved, discarded or restored it.

Debug logs

Start jano with --debug:

jano --debug notes.md

A red DEBUG badge in the title bar shows it is on. jano then writes what it does into the logs folder of its cache (~/.cache/jano/logs/ on Linux, ~/Library/Caches/jano/logs/ on macOS), one file per day, as JSON lines: plugin errors with stack traces, saves, settings, recovery. Logs are kept for 7 days.

Attach the log of the day to a bug report. It usually says enough to find the bug without reproducing it.