SLChat Known Issues & Limitations

Occasionally, SLChat may appear visually broken or certain interface elements may not be functioning as expected.

This issue is most commonly caused by frequent code changes combined with client-side caching and does not indicate permanent data loss or server malfunction.

When updated CSS or JavaScript files are deployed, some clients may continue using cached versions of incompatible, older assets, resulting in mismatched or broken rendering.

In most cases, this can be resolved by performing a hard refresh or clearing the browser cache.

SLChat currently has limited support for file uploads, particularly for large images, videos, and other attachments.

At present, SLChat does not have access to a dedicated content delivery network or a first-party media hosting solution, and instead relies on free third-party hosting services.

The current media hosting service also does not support streaming uploads.

As a result, files must be fully transferred in a single request.

This constraint, coupled with SLChat's current architecture, makes large file uploads unfeasible.

The error message "Connection to upstream failed: connection failure" typically indicates that SLChat is starting from an idle state.

SLChat is hosted on a free platform that automatically shuts down the application after a period of inactivity.

This behavior is partially intentional and serves two purposes:

• To avoid unnecessary resource usage and prevent abuse of free hosting resources.
• To allow SLChat to recover from occasional, rare issues that causes the application to become unresponsive.

When a new request is made after inactivity, SLChat must perform a cold start, which prevents connections until the startup is complete.

This behavior is expected under the current hosting constraints and usually resolves itself after a short delay.

The issue does not indicate permanent data loss or server malfunction.

In most cases, refreshing the page after a few seconds is sufficient to restore the connection.

Some SLChat features rely on external services for functionality, most notably media hosting.

If these third-party services are unavailable, rate-limited, or change their behavior, the affected SLChat features may degrade or stop functioning.

Efforts have been made to reduce reliance on third parties where possible.

Most recently, link preview rendering was previously handled by an external service, but has since been replaced by Metafetcher, a first-party service developed and operated alongside SLChat.

SLChat relies heavily on modern web technologies.

Some older browsers may not fully support certain CSS or JavaScript features, which may result in visual or functional inconsistencies.

For the best experience, a modern and up-to-date browser is recommended.

Some features may behave inconsistently or change over time as SLChat continues to evolve.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Markdown rendering
• Link previews
• Experimental features

Features may be removed, adjusted, disabled, or reworked without notice during development.

Due to hosting constraints and ongoing architectural changes, message retention and server uptime are not guaranteed.

Storage optimizations or migrations may occasionally result in temporary data loss or missing history.

These events are rare but possible while SLChat remains in active development.