Troubleshooting

"Backend unavailable" / stuck on "Starting engine…"#

The app shell starts a local analysis engine and waits for it to respond. If it doesn't come up:

1. Quit and relaunch. The engine can take ~30 seconds on a cold first launch; a slow disk may need a second try.
2. Check for an orphaned engine process (Activity Monitor on macOS, Task Manager on Windows) — look for a leftover vsb-api process, kill it, relaunch.
3. Security software — antivirus, Gatekeeper, or SmartScreen may quarantine the engine. Allow the app and reinstall.

The engine binds 127.0.0.1 only — it is never exposed off your machine.

Log file#

Everything the engine does — startup, requests, job errors, crashes — is appended to vsb-api.log:

• macOS: ~/Library/Logs/com.verdictstrategybuilder.app/vsb-api.log
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\com.verdictstrategybuilder.app\logs\vsb-api.log

Attach it (or the relevant tail) when reporting a bug — Report a bug in the sidebar files a report from inside the app, or email support@verdictstrategybuilder.com.

Import errors#

• Header mismatch — the import expects exactly timestamp_utc;open;high;low;close;volume (semicolons). Re-export with the bundled BarsExporter; don't hand-build CSVs, and don't re-save them in Excel (it swaps separators and mangles timestamps).
• Skipped rows — malformed lines are skipped and counted in the import warnings. A handful is harmless; thousands means the file is damaged — re-export it.
• Resample refuses a size — targets must be strict multiples of the source (1m → 5m works; 5m → 7m doesn't). See Resampling.

Runs#

• Start Run is disabled — the build spec is incomplete. Press Validate for the exact list (usually: no dataset picked, or an empty canvas).
• Run seems stalled — early generations are the slowest (cold caches). The run screen streams every generation; if it's truly dead, Cancel and restart with a smaller population.
• Leaderboard is all Kill — the gates are doing their job. Widen parameter ranges, add blocks, or give the search more generations; relax a gate only deliberately. If you optimized raw net profit, read why that overfits.

NinjaTrader compile errors#

• Compile errors after copying — almost always a partial copy. Re-save the full generated .cs into Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Strategies\ and press F5 again. The standalone export needs no other files.
• Strategy compiles but takes zero trades — instrument or bar-size mismatch. Attach it to the same instrument and bar size it was built on; a mismatch shows no error, just silence. See Installing in NinjaTrader.

Licensing#

• "Both seats in use" — the activation form lists your devices; deactivate one from that device's Help → License dialog or the account portal, then activate. See Seats.
• Chip reads Expired — the token lapsed. If your subscription is current, just get the machine online briefly — the heartbeat renews silently. If it isn't, renew from the account portal.
• Working offline — normal for about three weeks at a stretch; see the silent heartbeat.

Where your data lives#

Everything is local, in the OS app-data directory:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/com.verdictstrategybuilder.app/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\com.verdictstrategybuilder.app\

It holds the catalog/results database (vsb.db), the instrument registry, and the license token. Deleting the directory is a full reset — the first-run wizard reappears on next launch. Deactivate the device first if you're retiring the machine.

Still stuck?#

Report a bug from the sidebar (attaches diagnostics automatically) or email support@verdictstrategybuilder.com.