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Troubleshooting & Tips

This section contains solutions to common issues and optimization tips to help you get the most out of Wallu.

Quick Troubleshooting​

Wallu Isn't Responding at All​

  1. Test basic functionality: Type !wallu in the channel - it always replies if it can, and tells you what's blocking it (channel disabled, paused, escalated, ignoring you as staff, outside working hours)
  2. Check permissions: Ensure Wallu has "Read Messages" and "Send Messages" permissions in that channel - see required permissions
  3. Verify configuration: Check the channel is enabled on the Channels page, see channel settings
  4. Check knowledge sources: Ensure you have at least some FAQs or documents added
  5. Check your credits: a server that has used its monthly credits stops answering until they reset
  6. Contact support if the issue persists after checking !wallu

Wallu Gives Wrong or Outdated Answers​

  1. Review knowledge sources: Check your knowledge sources for outdated or contradictory information
  2. Update and clarify content: write full and clear sentences. Having tons of random knowledge or too short keywords is not usually helpful
  3. Prioritize FAQs: Ensure your most important answers are in FAQs (they have higher priority than documents)
  4. Check Advanced Insights (Professional plan) to see what people actually asked and what to improve
  5. Raise "Document Search Depth" or switch the AI model to Advanced in settings - both make Wallu work harder on each question, and both use more credits

Wallu Responds Too Often or Not Enough​

  1. Adjust how likely the bot is to respond in the settings - a higher percentage means fewer responses (only applies when monitoring a channel for questions, not in tickets or #ask-ai channels)
  2. Switch modes: Consider switching between "Answer in all channels" and "Ticket automation" modes
  3. Control who it answers: skip staff, ignore specific roles or require a mention per channel - see Who & When Wallu Answers
  4. FAQs threshold: FAQs have a separate threshold setting in the admin panel - adjust this to control how close a match must be to trigger a response
  5. Wrong channel entirely? "Answer every message" belongs only in a dedicated support channel, see channel settings

Staff Response Control​

Stop Wallu from answering staff members to avoid disrupting natural conversations.

How to Configure​

  1. Go to Settings in the admin panel
  2. Enable "Avoid answering staff messages unless Wallu is mentioned"
  3. Optionally add specific user IDs or roles to avoid answering

How It Works​

  • Staff recognition: By default, users with "Manage Messages" permission are considered staff
  • Custom roles: You can specify additional roles or users to avoid
  • Mention override: Staff can still get help by mentioning Wallu directly
  • Debug command: The !wallu command always works regardless of this setting

Screenshot of Wallu admin panel settings page showing the Avoid answering staff messages unless Wallu is mentioned option enabled with additional user ID and role configuration fields

Pro tip: This is especially useful for ticket automation where you want Wallu to help users but not interfere with staff assistance.

There are more ways to control who Wallu talks to - blocking roles, requiring a role, or capping heavy users - in Who & When Wallu Answers.

Date & Time Awareness​

Make Wallu aware of current dates and times for better context about events and schedules.

The Problem​

AI models don't automatically know the current date, which causes issues when users ask about:

  • Whether events are in the past or future
  • What day of the week it is
  • When upcoming server events are scheduled

The Solution: Date Placeholders​

Add special placeholders to Wallu's global instructions - new servers already have a line like this by default, so check before adding a second one:

Available placeholders:

  • {current_date} - Current date in YYYY-MM-DD format (e.g., "2025-04-21")
  • {week_day} - Current day of the week (e.g., "Monday")

Where to Add​

Go to Settings and add these to the global instructions:

Screenshot of Wallu admin panel global instructions section showing example configuration with current_date and week_day placeholders added to make the bot aware of current time and date

Example Configurations​

# Basic time awareness
Today is {current_date}, and it's {week_day}.

# For event scheduling  
Current date: {current_date}. Our weekly events are every Monday (today is {week_day}).

# For seasonal content
Today is {current_date}. Our winter event runs from December 1-31, 2025.

Benefits: Wallu can now correctly identify past vs. future events, give timely information, and avoid recommending expired promotions.

For the full list of placeholders, see Prompt Placeholders.

Optimization Tips​

Improve Answer Quality​

  • Natural language: Write FAQs using how users actually ask questions, not formal language
  • Include examples: Provide specific examples rather than vague instructions
  • Keep current: Regularly update knowledge sources and remove outdated information
  • Test regularly: Ask questions yourself to verify Wallu's responses

Reduce False Responses​

  • Higher confidence: Use higher confidence thresholds for "Answer in all channels" mode
  • Specific FAQs: Create detailed FAQs for edge cases and common variations
  • Clean content: Remove vague or contradictory information from documents
  • Monitor results: Check the admin panel analytics to see what questions Wallu is missing

Advanced Configuration​

Knowledge Source Troubleshooting​

#1 Solution for Document Issues

Write LONGER, more detailed sentences and paragraphs. AI works best with complete, descriptive content rather than short, fragmented text. Add more relevant words to your short sentences/bullet points to improve results!

Documents Not Working​

  • Check processing status: Ensure documents show as "Processed" in the admin panel
  • Verify content: Make sure the content is readable and relevant
  • Check document structure: Use complete sentences and paragraphs - one paragraph per topic
  • Avoid outdated information: Link to external sources for frequently changing info (prices, dates)
  • Test with FAQs: Create FAQs for critical information to ensure it's found
  • Review imports: For web documents, check that the URL is accessible
  • Increase search depth: Raise "Document Search Depth" in settings
  • Use a stronger model: Switch "AI Model" from Lite to Advanced (or Auto) in settings - both this and the setting above use more credits

FAQs Not Matching​

  • Question variations: Add multiple ways users might phrase the same question
  • Natural phrasing: Write questions as users would ask them, not how you would describe the topic
  • Test different wordings: Ask questions in different ways to see what works
  • Check confidence levels: Adjust FAQ confidence settings if needed

Website Import Issues​

  • Complex elements: Some website content (videos, images, interactive elements) may not import properly
  • Missing context: Human-visible context might be lost during import
  • Video/image references: Describe and link to multimedia content in text
  • Follow links option: Enable "follow links on first page" for comprehensive coverage
tip

Did the website import fail? Firewalls are a common cause of failed imports. Ensure the user agent WalluBot/1.0 (+https://wallubot.com) is allowed. Our crawler's IP address may change, so do not rely on IP whitelisting.

Discord Import Issues​

  • Quality control: Filter by user or role so only trusted answers (e.g. your staff role) are imported
  • Time filtering: Set "Import last X days of messages" to skip outdated conversations
  • Missing context: Enable "Include referenced messages" so a staff reply is imported together with the question it answers. In private or ticket channels this can also pull in whatever the user wrote, so weigh it against what those channels contain
  • Review regularly: Check imported content periodically for quality

Need More Help?​