Troubleshooting

Common problems and how to fix them.

"rdk: command not found"

The binary isn't in your PATH. Verify the install location:

which rdk
# Should print /usr/local/bin/rdk

If nothing prints, re-run the install command.

Claude Desktop shows "MCP rdk: Unexpected token..."

The MCP server is writing non-JSON to stdout, which breaks the JSON-RPC protocol. Verify your version is up to date:

rdk --version

If you're on an old version, reinstall:

brew upgrade rdk

"Server disconnected" in Claude Desktop

The rdk mcp:serve process exited. Check the terminal where it was running for an error. Common causes:

• Embedding model not installed → run rdk network:join
• Port 3000 in use → kill the process on port 3000 or change port
• Config file corrupt → run rdk account:login to repair

Vault content not appearing in queries

Run rdk vault:status to confirm files are indexed. If file count is 0, run rdk vault:index. If chunks are still missing, check the file extensions — only .md, .txt, and .mdx are indexed by default.

"Insufficient balance" on network queries

Your balance is below the credit limit. Top up:

rdk account:topup 20

Or skip the network and search only locally with --no-network.

Email verification email not received

Resend it:

rdk account:resend-verification

Check spam folder. If you're using a Gmail address with a +filter, make sure the filter isn't catching it.