As Triliumis currently in beta, encountering bugs is to be expected.
The first step in troubleshooting is often a restart.
If you experience an UI issue, the frontend may have entered an inconsistent state. Reload the application by pressing CTRL-R. This will reload the frontend.
If the issue persists or appears to be a backend problem, restart the entire application. For the desktop (Electron) build, simply close and reopen the window. If you’re using a Docker build, restart the container.
Certain problems, such as rendering a note with a faulty script, can cause Trilium to crash. If Trilium attempts to reload the problematic note upon restart, it will continue to crash.
To resolve this, use the TRILIUM_START_NOTE_ID environment variable to reset the open tabs to a single specified note ID (e.g., root). In Linux, you can set it as follows:
TRILIUM_START_NOTE_ID=root ./trilium
If a custom script causes Triliumto crash, and it is set as a startup script or in an active custom widget, start Triliumin “safe mode” to prevent any custom scripts from executing:
TRILIUM_SAFE_MODE=true ./trilium
Depending on your Trilium distribution, you may have pre-made scripts available: trilium-safe-mode.bat and trilium-safe-mode.sh.
Once Trilium starts, locate and fix or delete the problematic note.
Trilium periodically verifies the logical consistency of the database (e.g., ensuring every note has a parent). If inconsistencies are detected, you will be notified via the UI.
In such cases, file a bug report and attach an anonymized database if necessary.
Trilium makes regular automatic backups. If issues become severe, you can restore from a backup.
If you forget your password:
Access the database file in the data directory. Open the document.db file with an SQLite client (e.g., DB Browser) and execute the following queries:
UPDATE options SET value = '77/twC5O00cuQgNC63VK32qOKKYwj21ev3jZDXoytVU=' WHERE name = 'passwordVerificationSalt';
UPDATE options SET value = '710BMasZCAgibzIc07X4P9Q4TeBd4ONnqJOho+pWcBM=' WHERE name = 'passwordDerivedKeySalt';
UPDATE options SET value = 'Eb8af1/T57b89lCRuS97tPEl4CwxsAWAU7YNJ77oY+s=' WHERE name = 'passwordVerificationHash';
UPDATE options SET value = 'QpC8XoiYYeqHPtHKRtbNxfTHsk+pEBqVBODYp0FkPBa22tlBBKBMigdLu5GNX8Uu' WHERE name = 'encryptedDataKey';
After executing the changes, commit/write the changes. This sets the password to “password,” allowing you to log in again.
For pre-existing protected notes (now unrecoverable), consider deleting them or exporting the unprotected notes. Then, delete document.db and start fresh.
If you continue using the existing document file, change your password (Options -> Change Password).
Reporting bugs is highly valuable. Here are some tips: