Privacy and help
Permissions and troubleshooting
Sloth needs a few macOS privacy permissions to hear meetings, catch your dictation key and paste text. Check them in Settings › General › Permissions, where each row shows Granted or a button to grant it.
Permissions
| Permission | Used for | Needed for |
|---|---|---|
| Microphone | Recording your voice. | Dictation and meetings |
| System Audio | Capturing the other people on a call. In System Settings this sits under Screen & System Audio Recording. | Meetings |
| Screen Recording | Reading on-screen text for Meeting context, if you turn it on. | Meeting context |
| Accessibility | Pasting dictated text into other apps, and dictionary suggestions. | Dictation |
| Input Monitoring | Noticing your dictation shortcut while you're in another app. | Dictation |
| Calendars | Reminders, Coming up and attendee names. | Calendar features |
| Contacts | Adding people from Contacts to a meeting. | Optional |
Setup walks you through the ones you need. To change one later, open System Settings › Privacy & Security.
A permission is on, but Sloth doesn't see it
This mostly affects people who build Sloth themselves. macOS ties a permission to the exact build of an app. A locally built copy of Sloth is signed without a developer certificate, so each rebuild looks like a different app to macOS. The switch in System Settings still shows on, but it belongs to the old build.
The fix is to remove Sloth's entry and add it again:
- In System Settings › Privacy & Security, open the permission (for example Accessibility).
- Select Sloth and click − to remove it.
- Add Sloth again and turn its switch on.
During setup Sloth does this for you. If Accessibility or Input Monitoring still isn't detected after about 5 seconds, it shows “Still not detected? Remove Sloth from the list with −, then add it again” with a Reset Sloth in the list button. The button resets only Sloth's own entry for that permission, then reopens the settings pane so you can add Sloth again.
Common problems
The dictation key does nothing
- Check Input Monitoring and Accessibility in Settings › General › Permissions.
- Check Push to Talk is on in Settings › Shortcuts.
- If two Sloth shortcuts use the same key, Sloth turns one off. Give each its own key.
The transcript only has my voice
Sloth can't hear the call. Grant System Audio in Settings › General › Permissions, then start a new meeting.
No calendar reminders
- Allow Sloth full Calendar access in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Calendars.
- Check Scheduled meetings is on in Settings › Meetings › Meeting notifications. Reminders only appear for meetings with a join link.
- Check the meeting's calendar is ticked under Calendars.
Apple Intelligence can't write notes
Apple Intelligence summaries need macOS 26 or later, a Mac that supports Apple Intelligence, and Apple Intelligence turned on in System Settings › Apple Intelligence & Siri. Right after you turn it on, macOS may still be downloading its model; try again later.
Claude Code problems
“Claude Code not found — install it or set the path”
Sloth looks for claude in this order:
- the path in Advanced › Claude Code path, if you set one;
~/.local/bin/claude/opt/homebrew/bin/claude/usr/local/bin/claude~/.claude/local/claude- wherever your login shell finds
claude(Sloth waits up to 5 seconds).
If it's installed somewhere else, run command -v claude in Terminal and paste the result into Claude Code path.
“Not logged in”
Run claude in Terminal, log in, then click Test again. If a stand-in provider wrote a meeting's notes in the meantime, they start with “Claude Code failed: not logged in”. Use Re-summarize once you're logged in.
A connector that needs signing in again doesn't count as “not logged in”. Reconnect that connector in Claude.
“Claude usage limit reached”
Your Claude subscription hit its usage limit. Sloth wrote the notes with a stand-in provider. Run Re-summarize with Claude Code after your limit resets, or pick another provider from the Re-summarize menu.
“timed out after 180 s” or “stopped at the turn limit”
The run took too long or used all its steps. Runs with lookups get 300 seconds and 8 steps. Turn lookups off, or pick a faster model, and run Re-summarize.
Lookups were off for a meeting
- Haiku can't use lookups. The notes say so; pick Sonnet, Opus or Fable.
- If Sloth finds Claude Code settings it can't check, it runs with lookups off and says so in the notes. See How Sloth keeps Claude Code safe.
Reporting a problem
Settings › About › Report a Problem builds an anonymized report: the app version, macOS version, the backend and model in use, and an error signature. No transcript, audio, meeting or calendar title, file path, raw error or log text is in it.
Sloth is in beta and has no public issue tracker yet, so the report isn’t filed automatically. Select the text in the report window, copy it, and send it to whoever shared Sloth with you.