Troubleshooting: Michelle isn’t responding

You typed a question, hit send, and… nothing. Michelle, Coachful's built-in AI assistant, isn't responding — no reply, a spinning loader that never stops, or an error message you weren't expecting. This is frustrating, especially when you're mid-session or trying to get something done fast. The good news: most issues with Michelle not responding are quick to diagnose and fix.

This guide walks you through every known cause and its solution, from a simple browser refresh to account-level configuration issues. Work through the steps in order and you'll have Michelle back up and running in minutes.

Quick Answer (TL;DR)

• Hard-refresh your browser (Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R) — clears stale cache that blocks the chat interface.
• Check your internet connection — Michelle uses a live API call on every message.
• Confirm your role — Michelle is available to coach, editor, admin, and super_admin roles only.
• Check the Coachful status page — occasional maintenance windows affect the AI layer.
• Clear your browser cookies and local storage — corrupt session data is a common culprit.

What Is Michelle and How Does She Work?

Michelle is Coachful's AI co-pilot, embedded directly inside the coach dashboard. She can answer questions about your programs, clients, billing, and platform settings — and she can also execute actions on your behalf, like creating a program task, drafting a message, or summarizing a client's progress. Because she operates across your workspace, she requires an active, authenticated session and a stable connection to Coachful's backend services.

Understanding this architecture matters for troubleshooting. When Michelle doesn't respond, the failure can happen at any of three points: your browser or device, your network, or Coachful's server-side AI layer. Each has different symptoms and different fixes.

Step 1 — Check Your Connection and Browser First

Before assuming something is wrong with Michelle herself, rule out the basics. These account for the majority of "Michelle isn't responding" reports.

1. Test your internet connection. Open a new tab and load a different site. If pages are slow or not loading, your connection is the issue — not Coachful.
2. Hard-refresh the Coachful dashboard. Press Cmd+Shift+R on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows/Linux. This forces the browser to skip the cache and fetch fresh assets.
3. Disable browser extensions. Ad blockers, privacy shields (uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger), and VPN extensions can intercept or block the API requests Michelle relies on. Temporarily disable them and try again.
4. Try an incognito / private window. If Michelle responds normally in incognito mode, the issue is with your browser's stored data. Jump to Step 3 below.
5. Try a different browser. If you're on Firefox, try Chrome or Edge — or vice versa. This isolates whether the issue is browser-specific.

VPNs and corporate firewalls

If you're on a corporate network or using a VPN, outbound requests to Coachful's AI endpoints may be blocked by firewall rules. Try disabling your VPN temporarily. If Michelle responds immediately after, whitelist app.coachful.co and its API subdomains in your network settings, or contact your IT administrator.

Step 2 — Check Coachful's System Status

Coachful occasionally performs maintenance on its AI infrastructure, and brief service interruptions can prevent Michelle from responding. Before spending time debugging your own setup, verify that the platform itself is fully operational.

1. Visit the Coachful status page (linked in the dashboard footer or at the help center homepage).
2. Look for any incidents tagged "AI Assistant", "Michelle", or "API layer".
3. If there is an active incident, wait for the resolution notice. Subscribing to status updates means you'll get an email the moment service is restored.

If the status page shows all systems operational, the problem is specific to your account or device — keep going through this guide.

Step 3 — Clear Your Session Data

Corrupt or outdated session tokens are one of the most common reasons Michelle appears to "hang" — the chat interface loads, you send a message, but no reply ever comes. This happens because the dashboard can stay open in a tab for hours or days, and the authentication token it holds eventually expires or gets out of sync with the server.

1. Go to Coach dashboard → your profile avatar (top right) → Sign out.
2. In your browser, open Settings → Privacy → Clear browsing data. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files for the last 24 hours. Check that coachful.co is included.
3. Close and reopen the browser completely.
4. Sign back in to your Coachful workspace and open Michelle again.

If Michelle responds after this, great — you're done. If not, keep going.

Pro tip: If you leave the Coachful dashboard open overnight, refresh the tab when you come back in the morning. A quick Cmd+R re-establishes the session and prevents stale-token errors before they happen.

Step 4 — Verify Your Role and Permissions

Michelle is available exclusively to users with a coach-level role or higher in the Coachful dashboard. Specifically, she is accessible to users with the platform roles of coach, editor, admin, or super_admin. She is not available to user (client) accounts or to workspace members with the org role of member.

If you recently changed roles, were added to a workspace by someone else, or are testing a client account, this could explain why Michelle isn't appearing or isn't responding.

1. Go to Coach dashboard → Settings → My account.
2. Confirm your listed role. If it reads user or member, you don't currently have access to Michelle.
3. If you believe your role is set incorrectly, contact the workspace owner (the super_coach) to update your permissions.

Virtual assistants and editors

If you're a virtual_assistant org role, check with the workspace owner about whether Michelle access has been granted to your account. Access permissions for supporting roles can be configured at the workspace level.

Step 5 — Check for Message Input Issues

Sometimes Michelle is working, but the message isn't being submitted correctly. This sounds obvious, but it trips people up more than you'd expect.

• Press Enter to send (or click the send arrow). On some browsers, autocorrect or accessibility tools intercept the Enter key.
• Check for a character limit warning. Very long prompts (thousands of characters) may fail silently. Try a shorter, more focused question.
• Avoid special characters in bulk. Pasting large blocks of text with special formatting characters (from Word documents, for example) can occasionally cause the input to fail. Paste into a plain-text editor first, then copy into Michelle's chat.
• Scroll the chat panel up. If you're in a long conversation thread, Michelle's reply may have appeared above the visible area. Scroll up to check.

Step 6 — Try the Mobile App

If Michelle isn't responding in the desktop browser, try accessing your Coachful workspace through the mobile app. Coachful's progressive web app and native iOS/Android shell (available via app.coachful.co/mobile) run on a different rendering path, which means a desktop-specific bug won't affect mobile — and vice versa.

If Michelle responds normally on mobile, the issue is isolated to your desktop browser environment. At this point, reinstalling the browser or trying a full OS restart on your desktop machine usually resolves it.

Not yet using Coachful's mobile app? It gives you full access to your coach dashboard, including Michelle, programs, client messaging via Stream Chat, and bookings — all from your phone. Download it through Coachful.co or search for Coachful in the App Store or Google Play.

Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting

Mistake 1 — Expecting Michelle to respond in a client-facing view

Michelle lives in the coach dashboard, not in the client portal. If you're previewing your workspace as a client (e.g., using the "View as client" mode), you won't see the Michelle panel. Switch back to your coach view by clicking Back to coach dashboard in the top navigation bar.

Mistake 2 — Confusing Michelle's chat with the Stream Chat inbox

Coachful has two distinct chat interfaces: Michelle (your AI co-pilot, accessed via the sparkle/bot icon in the dashboard sidebar) and Stream Chat (real-time messaging with clients and squad members). If you're looking at Stream Chat and waiting for an AI response, you're in the wrong panel. Michelle has her own dedicated drawer in the coach dashboard — look for the AI icon in the left or bottom navigation.

Mistake 3 — Sending overly vague prompts

Michelle is designed to act on your workspace data, but she needs enough context to give a useful reply. Prompts like "help me" or "what should I do?" without any context can result in generic, unhelpful responses that feel like no response at all. Be specific: "Summarize the last 7 days of activity for client Jane Smith in the 12-week fitness program" gives Michelle everything she needs.

Mistake 4 — Not waiting long enough for complex actions

For straightforward questions, Michelle replies in 2–5 seconds. For complex, multi-step actions — like generating a full program outline or pulling data across many clients — she may take 10–20 seconds. If you see the typing indicator (animated dots), she is working. Don't close the drawer or send the message again; duplicate submissions can cause mixed results.

Mistake 5 — An active incident you missed

If everything on your end looks fine but Michelle still won't respond, double-check the status page one more time. Incidents sometimes take a few minutes to be logged after they're first detected. Refreshing the status page gives you the most current picture.

Mistake 6 — Cached service worker blocking requests

Because Coachful is a progressive web app (PWA), it uses a service worker to cache assets for offline performance. Occasionally an outdated service worker intercepts API requests before they reach the server, causing Michelle to appear offline. To clear it: open Chrome DevTools → Application → Service Workers, find the Coachful entry, and click Unregister. Then hard-refresh and sign back in.

When to Contact Coachful Support

If you've worked through every step above and Michelle still isn't responding, it's time to get the support team involved. When you reach out, include:

• Your workspace URL (e.g., yourname.coachful.co)
• The browser and OS version you're using
• A screenshot or screen recording of the issue
• The exact time the problem started (helps the team correlate with server logs)
• Any error messages shown in the browser console (press F12 → Console tab)

The more detail you provide, the faster the support team can pinpoint the cause. You can submit a ticket directly from inside the dashboard under Help → Contact support, or browse additional guides at help.coachful.co.

Ready to Get More Out of Michelle?

Once Michelle is responding again, take a few minutes to explore what she can actually do. Beyond answering platform questions, she can draft program content, pull client insights, help you set up automations, and execute multi-step tasks across your Coachful workspace — all in plain language, no clicking required. Coaches who use Michelle regularly report saving hours of admin time every week.

If you're not yet on Coachful or you're still on the free trial, Michelle is one of the features that makes the platform genuinely different from basic coaching tools. Start your free trial and see how much faster you can run your coaching business when you have an AI co-pilot built for coaches — not a generic chatbot bolted on as an afterthought.