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Sorcha Troubleshooting Guide ​

Common Issues and Solutions ​

1. Port Already in Use Errors ​

Symptoms:

error: could not start the proxy for the service: listen tcp [::1]:8080: bind:
Only one usage of each socket address is normally permitted.

Cause:

  • Previous dotnet processes didn't shut down cleanly
  • Ports are still bound from previous run

Solutions:

Quick Fix - Use Cleanup Script (Easiest) ​

powershell
# Windows PowerShell
.\scripts\cleanup-ports.ps1

# Or Git Bash/Unix/Mac
bash scripts/cleanup-ports.sh

Manual Fix - Kill Specific Process ​

powershell
# Windows - Find process on port
netstat -ano | findstr ":8080"

# Kill the process (replace PID with actual number)
taskkill /F /PID 12345
bash
# Unix/Mac - Find and kill process
lsof -ti:8080 | xargs kill -9

Nuclear Option - Kill All .NET Processes ​

powershell
# Windows
taskkill /F /IM dotnet.exe

# Unix/Mac
killall -9 dotnet

2. Aspire DCP Timeout Errors ​

Symptoms:

fail: Aspire.Hosting.Dcp.dcpctrl.dcpctrl.ServiceReconciler[0]
      Service status update failed
      error": "Timeout: request did not complete within requested timeout"

Causes:

  • Services taking longer than expected to start
  • Docker Desktop resource constraints
  • First-time container image downloads

Solutions:

  1. Open Docker Desktop
  2. Go to Settings → Resources
  3. Increase:
    • CPUs: At least 4 cores
    • Memory: At least 8 GB
    • Swap: At least 2 GB
  4. Click "Apply & Restart"

B. Wait Longer ​

  • These are warnings, not errors
  • Services often start successfully despite timeouts
  • Wait 2-3 minutes and check the Aspire dashboard
  • Dashboard URL is shown in console: https://localhost:17256

C. Start Services Individually ​

bash
# Start just the backend services first
cd src/Apps/Orchestration/Sorcha.AppHost
dotnet run

# Wait for all services to show "Running" in dashboard
# Then access:
# - Gateway: Check dashboard for port
# - Blazor: Check dashboard for port

D. Clean Docker State ​

bash
# Stop all containers
docker stop $(docker ps -aq)

# Remove Aspire containers
docker rm $(docker ps -aq -f name=redis)
docker rm $(docker ps -aq -f name=rediscommander)

# Restart AppHost
cd src/Apps/Orchestration/Sorcha.AppHost
dotnet run

2. Port Conflicts ​

Symptoms:

Error: Failed to bind to address https://localhost:7082

Solutions:

Check Ports in Use ​

bash
# Windows
netstat -ano | findstr "8050 8060 8070 8080"

# Kill process (replace PID)
taskkill /F /PID <PID>

Use Different Ports ​

Edit launchSettings.json for each service or let Aspire assign dynamic ports.

3. Build Errors with File Locks ​

Symptoms:

error MSB3027: Could not copy "Sorcha.ServiceDefaults.dll"
The file is locked by: "Sorcha.Blueprint.Api (12345)"

Solutions:

Stop All Running Services ​

bash
# Windows - Stop all dotnet processes
taskkill /F /IM dotnet.exe

# Or use Task Manager to end dotnet.exe processes

Clean and Rebuild ​

bash
dotnet clean
dotnet build

4. Redis Connection Errors ​

Symptoms:

StackExchange.Redis.RedisConnectionException: No connection is available

Solutions:

Verify Docker is Running ​

bash
docker ps | grep redis

Restart Redis via AppHost ​

The AppHost will automatically start Redis. Just restart the AppHost.

Manual Redis Start (if needed) ​

bash
docker run -d -p 6379:6379 redis:8.2

5. Blazor Client Not Connecting to Gateway ​

Symptoms:

  • Blazor app loads but API calls fail
  • CORS errors in browser console
  • 404 errors when calling /api/* endpoints

Solutions:

Check ApiConfiguration ​

File: src/Apps/UI/Sorcha.Blueprint.Designer.Client/Services/ApiConfiguration.cs

csharp
public static string GatewayBaseUrl { get; set; } = "https://localhost:8061";

Update the port to match what Aspire assigned to the gateway.

Check Aspire Dashboard ​

  1. Open dashboard: https://localhost:17256
  2. Find api-gateway service
  3. Note the HTTPS endpoint (e.g., https://localhost:8061)
  4. Update GatewayBaseUrl to match

6. Integration Tests Failing ​

Symptoms:

Test run failed: DistributedApplication could not start

Solutions:

Stop Running Services First ​

Integration tests start their own services:

bash
# Stop AppHost if running
# Then run tests:
dotnet test tests/Sorcha.Gateway.Integration.Tests

Check Docker Resources ​

Tests need Docker for Redis:

  • Ensure Docker Desktop is running
  • Ensure at least 4GB RAM allocated

Increase Test Timeout ​

Edit test if needed:

csharp
[Fact(Timeout = 300000)] // 5 minutes
public async Task MyTest() { ... }

7. OpenAPI/Swagger Not Loading ​

Symptoms:

  • /scalar/v1 returns 404
  • /openapi/v1.json returns 404

Solutions:

Check Environment ​

OpenAPI is only enabled in Development:

bash
# Set environment variable
$env:ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT="Development"

# Or in launchSettings.json:
"environmentVariables": {
  "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
}

Verify Gateway is Running ​

bash
curl https://localhost:8061/api/health

8. Peer Service Not Discovering Peers ​

Symptoms:

  • /api/peer/peers returns empty list
  • Peer dashboard shows no connections

Solutions:

This is expected in development - peer discovery requires:

  1. Multiple peer service instances running
  2. Network configuration for peer-to-peer communication
  3. Production deployment for actual peer network

For development, the service will run but show no peers.

Diagnostic Commands ​

Check All Services Status ​

bash
# Via Aspire Dashboard
# Open: https://localhost:17256

# Via curl
curl http://localhost:8061/api/health
curl http://localhost:8061/api/stats

Check Logs ​

bash
# Logs are in Aspire dashboard
# Or check individual service logs in bin/Debug/net10.0/

Verify Docker ​

bash
docker ps
docker stats

Verify .NET ​

bash
dotnet --info
dotnet --list-sdks

Performance Tuning ​

Reduce Startup Time ​

  1. Disable Unused Services Comment out services in AppHost.cs if not needed

  2. Use Release Build

    bash
    dotnet run -c Release --project src/Apps/Orchestration/Sorcha.AppHost

  3. Increase Docker Resources More RAM/CPU = faster startup

Reduce Memory Usage ​

  1. Stop Services When Not Needed Don't leave AppHost running when not developing

  2. Use Minimal Configuration Only run services you're actively working on

Getting Help ​

If issues persist:

  1. Check Logs: Look in Aspire dashboard for detailed error messages
  2. GitHub Issues: https://github.com/yourusername/sorcha/issues
  3. Aspire Docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire/
  4. Clean Slate: Delete bin/, obj/, restart Docker, rebuild

Known Limitations ​

  • First Run Slow: Initial Docker image download takes time
  • Windows Defender: May slow file access - add exclusions for project folder
  • VPN Issues: Some VPNs interfere with Docker networking
  • WSL2 Performance: File I/O in WSL2 can be slower than native Windows

Released under the MIT License.

Copyright 2026 Sorcha Contributors