# Worker not ready / not connecting

If a worker doesn't appear, shows no **ready** badge, or runs fail to spawn, work
through these.

## Worker doesn't appear in the Workers tab

- Confirm the service is running on the host:
  ```bash
  systemctl --user status am-cloud-worker   # or: systemctl status am-cloud-worker
  ```
- Check the `--panel` URL and `--token` are correct.
- For a **user** service that should survive logout, enable linger:
  ```bash
  sudo loginctl enable-linger "$USER"
  ```

## "probing…" right after connect

Immediately after a worker connects (or reconnects) you may briefly see a neutral
**probing…** badge instead of ready/no‑key. That's expected — the panel hasn't
received the first liveness probe yet, so it shows last‑known state rather than
falsely alarming "no AI key". It settles within a few seconds; **Resync** forces
it. Only a *persistent* **no AI key** badge is a real problem.

## Connected, but no "ready" badge

The worker has no harness with a working provider key. Check the harness chips for
the reason and fix per [provider errors](/docs/provider-errors). After setting a
key, **restart the worker** so it re‑probes.

## Spawns fail / "no capable worker"

A spawn needs the bus tools. Confirm `a2a` and `a2a-spawn` are installed and on
the worker's `PATH` (shown in the worker's infra deps row).

## Permission error as root

Some harnesses refuse to bypass approval prompts when running as **root**. AM
handles claude automatically by setting `IS_SANDBOX=1` alongside
`--dangerously-skip-permissions`. If you see *"--dangerously-skip-permissions
cannot be used with root/sudo privileges"* in a run:

- Make sure the worker's `a2a-spawn` is up to date (this handling lives there).
- Or run the worker as a non‑root user.

## Harness installed but probe says "not installed"

The worker resolves harness binaries by `PATH` and common locations. Ensure the
binary is on the service's `PATH` (a user service inherits a login‑shell PATH;
a system service may need an explicit `Environment=PATH=...`).

## Related

- [Add a worker](/docs/add-worker) · [Verify readiness](/docs/verify-readiness)
- [Provider & model errors](/docs/provider-errors)