Why Isn't My AI Assistant Working?

Short Answer

When an AI assistant cannot read your Dashboardly data, the cause is usually one of: a revoked OAuth connection, a missing or revoked API key, the wrong shop scope, an outdated AI assistant version that does not support the Model Context Protocol, or a shop that has been disconnected on the TikTok side. Each has a quick fix below.

This article covers both Dashboardly account sign-in (OAuth) and API-key connections. If you have not connected an assistant yet, start with Connecting AI Assistants to Dashboardly.

"I don't see the API Keys tab in Settings"

The API Keys feature is part of Dashboardly's AI Integrations and is only available on Brand Growing and higher plans.

What to do

1. Go to Settings > Subscriptions and check your current plan.
2. If you are on Brand Starter, upgrade to Brand Growing or higher to unlock API Keys.
3. After upgrading, refresh the Settings page. The API Keys tab should appear at the right end of the tab row.

If you are already on Brand Growing or higher and still don't see the tab, log out and log back in. Browser tabs sometimes cache an old plan state.

"Failed to load API keys" appears on the page

This means your browser reached Dashboardly but could not load the list of keys.

What to do

1. Refresh the page. A temporary network blip or a recent deployment can cause a transient failure. Refreshing usually fixes it.
2. Log out and back in. Your session token may have expired. After logging back in, navigate to Settings > API Keys again.
3. Check your TikTok Shop connection. Some account types require an active TikTok Shop to load Dashboardly. Go to Settings > Shops and confirm that at least one shop shows "Active" or "Connected".
4. Try a different browser or incognito window. Browser extensions sometimes interfere with secure requests.

If the message persists in two different browsers after logging out and back in, contact support with a screenshot of the error and the browser console (open developer tools, Console tab).

"My AI assistant says it can't connect to Dashboardly"

The most common reasons:

The endpoint URL is wrong

Each AI assistant needs the exact endpoint URL Dashboardly provides when you create the key. The URL is shown in the post-creation panel and on the Connectors examples in the API Keys page. A common mistake is to paste only the domain without the path.

What to do

Open Settings > API Keys, click + New API key, and after creating it, look at the configuration snippets shown for your assistant. Copy the URL exactly. If you have the key already, you can find the URL by creating a throwaway key (and then revoking it) just to view the snippet.

Your AI assistant version doesn't support MCP

Older versions of Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor do not support the Model Context Protocol.

What to do

Update your AI assistant to the latest version:

• Claude Desktop: Open the app menu and check for updates.
• Claude on the web: Check that your account is on the version that shows "Connectors" or "Integrations" in settings.
• ChatGPT: Make sure your subscription tier includes "Apps & Connectors" (some free tiers do not).
• Cursor: Update to the latest release.

After updating, restart the app and try the connection again.

"Authentication failed" or "Invalid API key"

Your assistant reached Dashboardly but the key was rejected.

What to do

1. Confirm the key is still active. Go to Settings > API Keys and look for the key in the list. If it shows "Revoked", you (or someone on your team) revoked it. Create a new key.
2. Confirm the key has not expired. The list shows the expiry date. If the date is in the past, the key has expired automatically. Create a new key.
3. Check for accidental whitespace. When pasting the key into your assistant's settings, make sure there are no spaces or line breaks before or after it. Re-copy and re-paste from a clean source.
4. Make sure you copied the full key. Keys start with dk_live_ followed by a long random string. If you only copied part of it, the key will not match. The full key is shown in Dashboardly only at the moment of creation -- if you no longer have it, create a new key.
5. Verify you're on the right account. If you are part of an agency or use multiple Dashboardly logins, the key must be created in the same account whose data you want to read.

If a freshly created key is rejected immediately, log out and back in to refresh your session, then create a new key.

"AI assistant returns no data" or "I can't find any orders"

The connection works, but the assistant says there is no data for your question.

What to do

1. Confirm the key is bound to the right shop. On the API Keys page, find the key in the list and check the Shop column. If it shows the wrong shop, revoke the key and create a new one with the correct shop selected. Or use a key bound to "All shops" if you want the assistant to see everything.
2. Check your date range. The assistant uses the date range you mention in your question. If you ask for "last week" but your shop has been quiet, there genuinely may not be data. Try asking about a longer period like "this month" or "this year".
3. Confirm data is loaded for that period. Open Dashboardly in your browser and check that the metric you asked about appears in the same time range. If Dashboardly itself shows no data, the issue is upstream (TikTok hasn't sent the data yet) -- see Why is my data delayed?.
4. Some metrics need active TikTok ads or live streams. Asking about "ROAS last week" when you didn't run any ads will correctly return zero or nothing. The assistant is honest about empty data, which can look like an error but isn't.

"AI assistant only sees one shop, but I have several"

The fix depends on whether the assistant uses Dashboardly account sign-in or an API key.

What to do

For a ChatGPT or Claude Desktop OAuth connector:

1. Open Settings > API Keys and find the assistant under Connected Apps.
2. If it says Current shop only, revoke the connection and reconnect Dashboardly from the assistant.
3. On the new consent screen, choose All shops I can access (recommended) or Selected shops only and check the shops you want.

One connector can then work across the authorized shops. Dashboardly automatically removes a disconnected shop or a shop you can no longer access. An OAuth connection created before multi-shop selection keeps its original one-shop scope until you revoke and reconnect it.

For an API key, you have two options:

• Create one key per shop. Name each key after the shop ("Claude Code -- US Shop", "Claude Code -- UK Shop") and tell your assistant which key to use for each conversation.
• Create one key for all shops. When creating the key, select All shops from the Shop dropdown (or leave it empty). This single key gives the assistant access to every shop you have connected. The assistant will let you ask things like "compare my US shop and my UK shop" in a single conversation.

You cannot change a key's shop binding after creation. To switch a key from one shop to another, revoke it and create a new one.

"Some questions take a long time to answer"

Most questions return in under a second. A few can take longer:

• Profit & Loss for a long range. A full year breakdown involves lots of numbers and may take 5-10 seconds.
• Top products across all shops. When the key has access to multiple shops, the assistant queries each one in turn.
• Customer lifetime value. This involves looking at every customer's repeat purchase history.

If response times are consistently over 30 seconds for simple questions, contact support with the timestamp of the slow request so we can check the logs.

"I revoked a key by accident"

Revoked keys cannot be restored. There is no "undo" because the key's secret is permanently invalidated on the Dashboardly side.

What to do

1. Go to Settings > API Keys and click + New API key.
2. Recreate the key with the same name and shop.
3. Update your AI assistant with the new key.

The new key will work exactly like the old one. Any usage history shown in Dashboardly is per-key, so the new key starts fresh.

"I see a connection in Connected Apps that I don't recognize"

The Connected Apps section at the bottom of the API Keys page lists AI assistants that signed in with your Dashboardly account. If you see a connection you don't recognize:

What to do

1. Click Revoke next to the connection. This immediately invalidates its access and refresh tokens and prevents future use.
2. Change your Dashboardly password if you suspect your account itself has been compromised.

If you recognize the assistant but need a different shop scope, revoke it and reconnect it from the assistant.

When to Contact Support

Reach out to support if:

• You followed every step above and your assistant still cannot connect.
• A key shows usage activity but you do not recognize the user or device that is using it.
• You see API Keys behavior that contradicts what this article describes (for example, a key that was revoked still seems to work).
• You are on Brand Growing or higher and the API Keys tab is not visible after logging out and back in.

When contacting support, please include: the name of the key (not the key itself), the AI assistant you are using, the exact error message, and a screenshot of the API Keys page if relevant.

Never share the full API key in a support message. Treat it like a password.