# When Willo's chat isn't responding

> Why Willo might answer but not act, or not answer at all, and what to check first, from a waiting approval card to credits, roles and connection errors.

Last updated: October 16, 2026

Source: https://www.willo.ai/docs/troubleshooting/chat-not-responding

When Willo seems to be doing nothing, there's usually a plain reason on the screen. Check these in order.

## 1. Is a card waiting for you?

Willo stops before anything that can't be undone, such as sending email, writing to your database or deleting something, and shows an approval card. Until you answer, it waits. Scroll up in the chat: the card may be above the last message. See [What stops for your approval](https://www.willo.ai/docs/chat/what-stops-for-approval).

A card waits for up to seven days. If it expired, the action didn't run: ask Willo again.

## 2. Is Willo still working?

A long job, such as a redesign or a coding session, can run for several minutes. The chat shows each step as it happens. A message you send meanwhile is queued and runs after the current reply. See [How a turn runs](https://www.willo.ai/docs/chat/how-a-turn-runs).

## 3. Are you out of credits?

With no credits left, Willo can still answer questions and read your business, but it can't do billed work: no edits, builds or campaigns. The credits chip at the bottom of the left rail shows your balance. Buy a top-up, wait for your monthly refresh (paid plans), or change plan. If your plan is paused or has ended, a top-up won't help: resume it or choose a plan. See [Out of credits](https://www.willo.ai/docs/troubleshooting/billing#out-of-credits).

## 4. Are you a viewer?

A viewer's chat is read-only by role: Willo answers and looks things up but won't change anything. Someone with the editor role or higher has to make the change, or an admin can change your role. See [Roles](https://www.willo.ai/docs/team/roles).

## 5. Is it a connection problem?

- **"Willo is still finishing your previous message"**: wait a moment, then send again.
- **"Willo is experiencing unusually high demand right now"** or **"Server busy, please try again shortly"**: wait a minute or two and try again.
- **"Something went wrong connecting to your assistant"**: usually brief. Refresh the page, wait half a minute, and try again.

If it keeps happening, contact support from the **?** menu.

## Willo did something but I can't see it

Some work produces nothing visible in the chat, such as research, planning or a roadmap update. Look in **Business → Activity**, or ask "what did you just do?".

## Willo keeps asking me to approve the same thing

Some actions never take Always allow: anything that emails other people, deleting member accounts, changing Stripe products, running SQL, publishing the draft and redirects. See [the actions Always allow never covers](https://www.willo.ai/docs/chat/what-stops-for-approval#always-allow). If one of these used to run straight through for you, it asks now because of that rule, not because a setting was lost.

## Willo can't do what I asked

Some things aren't Willo features on any plan, such as posting to social media or generating images. Others are on higher plans. Willo says which, and for a plan feature it names the plan. See [What Willo does and doesn't do](https://www.willo.ai/docs/start-here/what-willo-does).

## Ask, Plan or Act modes

Willo has no modes to switch. It does reversible work straight away and stops only for the actions on the approval list.

Related: [Get help](https://www.willo.ai/docs/start-here/get-help).