Troubleshooting

Auth failures (401)

• Missing or wrong Authorization: Bearer …
• Expired or revoked principal
• Using bootstrap file vars incorrectly for HTTP clients — export the

plaintext as AUTOMATION_RUNTIME_TOKEN for the SDK

• MCP stdio needs all four AUTOMATION_RUNTIME_BOOTSTRAP_* vars (not token alone)

See Authentication.

missingCapability (403)

Principal lacks the capability for that operation (or nested command). Check the matrix in Capabilities. Default bobby init includes a full set; scoped issued principals do not.

Wrong path (404)

Use /v1/runtime, not /runtime. Catalog: HTTP API.

EventGap (409 on events)

Retention advanced past your cursor. Re-read durable state, then resume from earliestAvailable — Events and recovery.

MCP initialize order

Call initialize (protocol 2025-11-25) before tools/list or tools/call. After token rotate on HTTP MCP, re-initialize for that principal.

Chromium missing

Live browser work needs an installed Chromium. Set BOBBY_CHROMIUM_EXECUTABLE when not in a standard location. Gauntlet / championship tests are often --ignored until a browser is present — see Browser gauntlet.

Interface version

Send x-interface-version: 2026-07-23. Mismatch → unsupportedInterfaceVersion.

Error catalog (InterfaceErrorCode)