This guide covers the most common reasons why your content might not be displaying and provides practical solutions.
Quick Troubleshooting Checks
Before diving into technical debugging, try these quick checks:
Hard Refresh - Use Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac) to perform a hard refresh that bypasses the cache. This completely reloads the Candu SDK.
Check that content is published - Verify that your content shows "Published" (green) in the upper right corner of the Candu Editor
Verify user segment targeting - Confirm that your user is in the target segment for the content with our segment user lookup.
Using the Candu Chrome Extension
The Candu browser extension is your first line of defense when troubleshooting:
Navigate to the page where your content should appear
Click the Candu extension icon in your browser toolbar
Check the "Current page status" section to confirm:
"SDK installed" shows a green checkmark
"Is SDK up to date" shows a green checkmark
Current SDK version matches the Installed version
Taking a New Snapshot
If your content isn't showing up, it might be because your selector is no longer present on the page. The easiest way to check this is to update your snapshot:
Pull open the placements tab in the editor
Click to edit or add a new snapshot
When prompted, take a new snapshot with Candu's Chrome Extension
Return to the Candu dashboard
Choose a new selector to place your content.
This is especially helpful when your page layout has changed since the original content was created.
1. Installation-Related Publishing Issues
If any piece of content has successfully appeared, skip this section.
If this is your very first time setting up Candu or adding content to a new site, you may encounter these issues:
CORS Errors: If you see CORS errors in the console, there are two potential causes:
Domain not whitelisted in Candu: Go to Settings in the Candu dashboard and add all domains where your content will be embedded. By default, Candu includes a wildcard, so unless modified, this is unlikely to be the culprit.
Your site is blocking Candu: Your site's security settings may be preventing Candu from loading - you'll need to work with your IT/development team to whitelist Candu domains in your security settings:
https://api.candu.ai/https://cdn.candu.ai/https://media.candulabs.com/
Installation for Wrong Workspace: Candu has a workspace model. Content won't appear if published from one workspace but installed for another
Check: Open the Chrome extension to see which workspace is installed. You'll want to ensure the the workspace ID in your installation code matches the workspace where content was created.
Solution: Update your installation code with the correct workspace ID or republish content to the correct workspace
Missing Script Installation: The Candu script may not be properly installed
Check: Open the Chrome extension to see if Candu has been installed successfully on the page where you want Candu content to appear.
Solution: Reinstall the script following the installation guide.
2. Segment Targeting Issues (Most Common)
Before Starting: Find Your User ID
When troubleshooting segment or targeting issues, you may need to determine your own user ID. To identify your user ID from the browser:
Open the browser console (F12 or right-click > Inspect)
Type `Candu.providerProps` in the console
Look for the `userId` field, which will display your user ID (e.g., "1-3924293-production")
Use this ID when checking segment memberships or contacting support
Issue: You're not in the target segment for the content
Quick Check: Use the Segment User Lookup feature
Go to your Candu dashboard
Navigate to the relevant Segment in the Segments list.
Click into the "Segment User Lookup" tab
Enter the user's email or ID
View all segments the user belongs to
Debugging Segment Membership: For more detailed user information:
Go to Analytics > Users
Search for the specific user
View all traits and user information sent to Candu to understand whether they do or do not fall into the segment
Solution: For testing purposes, you can open the console and override segment membership:
Candu.init({ ...Candu.providerProps, options: { overrideSegmentMemberships: { "SEGMENT_ID": "MEMBERSHIP" } }})
3. Selector Issues
Issue: Selector Not Visible on Page (Most Common)
Issue: The HTML element your content targets doesn't exist or isn't visible. This could be because the underlying page structure has changed or because the original selector was auto-generated (not stable).
Quick Solution: Retake the snapshot and use the element picker to select a more stable selector.
Technical Check: If you're comfortable with developer tools, you can verify if the selector exists on the page:
Right-click on the page and select "Inspect"
In the console tab, type:
document.querySelector("div.my-selector")If these returns
null, the selector may not exist on the page.
Issue: Multiple Competing Placements
Content with multiple placement definitions may display inconsistently or not at all
Why This Happens: The system will match the first available placement, and if one placement is a match but the select or is not visible on the page, your content won't display properly
Solution:
Maintain only one placement per content piece
In the placements tab, remove any duplicate or extra placements
For critical content, verify it has only a single, well-defined placement
If there's no stable available selector, in some cases, you may need to ask your engineering team to add one. Our guide on managing Candu Divs.
4. URL Rules Preventing Display
Issue: Misconfiguration with Content URL Rules
Your content is configured to appear only on specific URLs, but the current URL doesn't match
Common Problem: URL patterns with dynamic user IDs or account IDs are particularly susceptible to mismatches!
Quick Check: Confirm you're on a page that matches your URL rules exactly.
Solution:
Adjust the URL rules in your Candu dashboard (Content Settings > Placements) to match the current page
For dynamic URLs, use more flexible patterns that account for variables like workspace IDs, see our guide on Dynamic URLs
5. Content Was Never Published or Not Updated
Issue: Content is in the wrong publishing state
Issue: Content that has been created but not published won't appear to users. If you've edited the content but not published the update, your updates won't appear.
Check: In the Candu dashboard, look for the "Published" button in the upper right corner of the Candu editor.
6. Cache Issues
Issue: Cached versions of pages can prevent new content or content changes from appearing
Why This Happens: Candu serves content through a CDN to improve loading speeds.
Solution:
Try opening the page in an incognito window
Perform a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R or Cmd+Shift+R)
Checking the Console for Errors
If you're still having issues after trying the steps above, check for errors in the browser console:
Right-click on the page and select "Inspect" or use keyboard shortcuts:
Chrome (Windows): Ctrl+Shift+J
Chrome (Mac): Cmd+Option+J
Firefox: Ctrl+Shift+K (Windows) or Cmd+Option+K (Mac)
Navigate to the Console tab
Look for any error messages, particularly those mentioning "Candu" or "CORS"
If you see CORS errors, your domain may not be properly whitelisted in the Candu settings. See First Time Installation Issues.
Need More Help?
If you've gone through these steps and are still experiencing issues:
Take screenshots of your console output
Note any error messages
Document the steps you've taken
Contact Candu support at [email protected] with a link to your content.
Our team is happy to help troubleshoot any specific implementation issues you may have.