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Bolt.new agent stuck, looping or not responding? How to get unstuck and save your project

You send a prompt and Bolt just sits there. Or it says "Let me take a quick look at the project so I know what's here" and never does anything, or it answers with garbled text like LSLSLSLS. During Bolt Builders Week (October 2026) we saw dozens of public posts like this, often from people racing the contest deadline. The good news: your project is almost never lost, and most of these freezes have a fix you can do in a few minutes. Work through the steps in order.

Updated October 19, 2026 · About 7 minutes to read

1. Save your work before you try anything

Before you clear, restore or duplicate anything, make a copy you control:

• Version history: click the clock icon in the top menu. Every change Bolt made is listed there, and you can preview any version and click Restore this version. Restoring code does not touch your Bolt or Supabase database.
• Download: export the project as a ZIP so you have the files locally.
• GitHub: if you connected a repo, make sure the latest changes are pushed. From there you can keep building and deploying even if the Bolt agent stays broken (step 9).

With a backup in hand, nothing below can cost you your app.

2. Check Bolt's status and rule out your browser

Open the Bolt status page first. If there's an active incident, stop prompting: retries during an outage just burn tokens. If status is green:

• Hard-refresh the tab (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R), or log out and back in.
• Temporarily disable browser extensions, especially ad blockers, and turn off any VPN.
• Use a Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave). Bolt warns that it works best there, and Code view is read-only in Safari.

3. Clear the context with /clear

The most common cause of a frozen or forgetful agent is an overfull context window: a long chat plus a big project. Bolt's own troubleshooting advice for a stuck or unresponsive agent is to clear it. Type /clear in the chatbox and click Clear context.

Clearing does not delete code. Bolt still sees your files but forgets the chat history, so start the next prompt with a short summary, for example: "Read README.md first. The app is a booking tool. Next task: fix the signup form only." Put things that always apply (goals, stack, rules) in Project settings → Knowledge, which survives a clear.

4. Switch the model if the replies are garbled

If the agent replies with repeated nonsense characters, echoes your message back, or stops after one line, the model itself is misbehaving, not your code. Open the model picker under the chatbox and choose a different model, then resend one small prompt.

During the October 17–18, 2026 free build weekend, several builders posted screenshots of the agent freezing or looping while on the free GLM 5.3 Flash model. That free window has ended, so if your project is still set to it, switching is the first thing to try. If your plan has tokens left, a different model in the picker often gets a stuck chat moving again.

5. Agent loops on "Let me take a quick look at the project"

If the agent keeps restarting its inspection and reports that src/ is empty or there's no package.json, it may be looking at an incomplete file tree. Open Code view (the <> icon) and check that your files are really there.

• Files are there: clear the context (step 3), then tell it exactly which file to work on.
• Files are missing: restore the last good version from version history (step 1).
• Still looping: duplicate the project. Bolt support suggests this for project-specific errors because the copy gets a fresh file tree.

6. "We failed to communicate with the agent": shrink the project

When this error appears on every prompt in one project but other projects work, the request is usually too big. Bolt sends your project files with each request, and large files push it over the limit. Look for:

• Big data files: SQL dumps, large JSON or CSV seed files, exported logs.
• Many old migration files you no longer need in the editor.
• Huge single components (a 2,000-line App.tsx). Ask Bolt to split them into smaller files one at a time.

Download a backup first, then remove or move the files you don't need and try again. If it still fails, email Bolt support with the project URL and a screenshot.

7. One small change per prompt

Big multi-part prompts ("add payments, fix login and redesign the dashboard") are the main reason the agent stalls halfway or drops features. Bolt recommends small steps:

• Use Plan mode to agree on the approach, then switch back to build.
• One feature or one bug per prompt. Check it works, then move on.
• In Code view, right-click the file to change and choose Target file; right-click files that must not change and choose Lock file. (The old .bolt/ignore file no longer applies to the current Bolt agent.)
• Paste the exact console error (Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows, Cmd+Option+J on Mac) instead of "it's broken".

8. Builders Week: "Too many entries from this connection"

If the contest submit button says "Too many entries from this connection. Try again in an hour.", the form is rate-limiting your network, not rejecting your project. Each entrant gets one entry, so:

• Stop clicking. Repeated attempts can keep the limit active. Wait the full hour, then submit once.
• On shared Wi-Fi (office, campus, co-working) or a VPN, other people's attempts count against the same connection. Turn off the VPN or submit from your phone's mobile data.
• Have everything ready before you click (published URL, description, screenshots) so one attempt is enough, and don't leave it to the final hour before the deadline.

9. Keep building without the agent if you have to

If the agent stays broken and you have a deadline, don't keep spending tokens on retries. Push the project to GitHub, connect the repo to Netlify or Vercel, and finish the last changes in an editor like Cursor or VS Code. Your live site keeps working while you wait for Bolt. If the deployed version shows a blank page or 404s, see Bolt.new app not working on Netlify.

Short on time? Send us the repo or project link and the last error you saw. We'll tell you what's wrong for free, and finish it at a flat price if you want.

Related guides: Bolt.new app not working on Netlify? Fix blank pages, 404s and build errors · Lovable app broken after publishing? A step-by-step fix checklist · App works locally but not on Vercel? Fixes for Cursor and AI-built apps · All VibeFix guides