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Troubleshooting Basics

Integrations are the always-on channel of [Senses](/docs/senses) — they're how the world flows into River as entities you can act on.

## The two patterns

- **Tool-based** — the AI calls the service on demand
- **Entity-based** — data syncs continuously into your tree

Pick tool-based for lightweight access; pick entity-based when you want continuous reasoning over the data. Most integrations support both.

## Setup, in three steps

1. **Connect** — Settings → Integrations → pick service → OAuth
2. **Verify** — ask SpaceChat to confirm ("show me my last 5 emails")
3. **Configure** — choose what syncs, where it lands

## Unblocking common issues

### "I connected, but no data is showing up"

- **Wait a minute** — initial sync can take time for active accounts.
- **Check the integration status** in Settings → Integrations.
- **Confirm the entity destination** — most integrations sync into a default Group; verify entities are landing there.

### "The integration says 'Disconnected'"

- Token probably expired or password changed. Click **Reconnect** in the integration card.
- Once reconnected, sync resumes. Already-synced entities are unchanged.

### "I want to limit what syncs"

Most entity-based integrations let you scope:

- Folders (Drive)
- Labels (Gmail)
- Calendars (Calendar)
- Channels (Slack)
- Specific accounts

Configure in the integration's settings panel.

### "My AI can't see this integration"

- Check that the integration is connected (and in the right Dataspace).
- Confirm the relevant Agent has access to its tools (Agent → Tools allowlist).
- For tool-based integrations, the AI may need to be told to use it: "use the Stripe integration to find…"

## Choosing the right integration first

The highest-leverage Senses for most teams:

1. **Gmail** — densest signal
2. **Google Calendar** — second-densest
3. **Slack** — if your team uses it
4. **Drive** — for shared docs
5. **Browser Extension** — for the open web

Connect those five and you have a workspace that feels intelligent within a day.

## Custom integrations

Don't see what you need? Three options:

- **MCP server** — if one exists for the service ([modelcontextprotocol.io](https://modelcontextprotocol.io))
- **Custom App with HTTP tool** — see [Custom Apps](/docs/custom-apps)
- **Workflow with `http_request` node** — for one-off integrations

How to think about connected services in River — and unblock the most common issues.

Integrations Basics

What River is, why it's structured the way it is, and where to start.

Welcome

Get from zero to a working River workspace in five steps.

Quickstart

Plans, AI usage budgets, and how billing works.

Pricing & Plans

The six layers that make River feel like an operating system, not an app.

How River Works

The rooms you work in — persistent, contextual, and returnable.

Spaces

Folders for the modern world — they hold anything, nest infinitely, and know what's inside.

Groups

What's open right now — your current working set on top of everything that's permanent.

Windows

The things themselves — every doc, file, email, task, agent, and artifact in River.

Entities

River's nervous system — every action, human or AI, recorded in real time.

Event Stream

The fastest way back — find any entity by title, content, or context.

Search

Your audit trail — what was created, edited, and produced, in human-readable form.

Activity

How River talks back to you when something matters.

Notifications

The ownership boundary — your personal world model and your team's shared one.

Dataspaces

How AI is layered into River — reactive, scheduled, triggered, and ambient.

Overview

The AI sidebar in every Space — the fastest way to do anything in River.

SpaceChat

The three SpaceChat modes — and what each one guarantees.

Edit, Plan & Ask

How AI acts on entities — the verbs every Agent and Workflow can use.

Tools & Commands

Run AI on your own hardware with Ollama — private, fast, and offline-capable.

Local Models

Reusable AI specialists that run on triggers, schedules, or demand — your autonomous workforce.

Agents

Create, configure, and deploy a River Agent in under five minutes.

Building an Agent

When Agents run — events, schedules, and manual invocation.

Triggers

Focused, single-shot AI capabilities — the specialized moves the AI uses inside larger tasks.

Skills

Deterministic visual graphs for processes that must run the same way every time.

Workflows

Every built-in Workflow node — triggers, data, River-native, and human/LLM-in-the-loop.

Node Types

Recurring automations — like cron jobs, but first-class entities.

Schedules

Every autonomous run, recorded — queued, running, succeeded, or failed.

Jobs

Purpose-built environments for specific kinds of work — all sharing the same entity system and AI.

Apps

Email with AI-powered triage, smart folders, one-click composition, and multi-account support.

Mail

Task management with AI extraction, smart views, and keyboard shortcuts.

Tasks

Fast capture and long-form notes — always in the entity system, always reasonable-over by AI.

Notes

Rich document editing — multiplayer, AI-native, designed for the things people read.

Pages

Reference documents, knowledge bases, and the long memory of your team.

Docs

Spreadsheets with formulas, live data, and AI inside every cell.

Sheets

Your relationship graph — people, companies, and the connections between them.

Contacts

In-workspace web browsing — research, clip, summarize, and save to entities.

Browser

AI image generation and editing with cloud and local providers.

Image Studio

An AI video pipeline — ingest, analyze, edit, and generate.

Video Studio

The control center for Agents, Workflows, and Schedules.

Automations

View, annotate, and extract from PDFs — fully indexed and AI-readable.

Audio and video transcription with speaker detection — searchable, AI-readable, link-ready.

Transcripts

How the world gets in — integrations, the browser extension, the desktop watcher, and direct ingestion.

Senses & Connections

What the River Desktop App unlocks — native files, screen access, and AI that operates your machine.

Desktop & Computer Use

How River connects to the rest of your stack — 100+ services, two patterns.

Integrations

Connect Gmail for full-inbox sync, AI triage, and one-click composition.

Gmail

Sync your calendar as entities the AI can reason over and act on.

Google Calendar

Browse Drive, ingest files as entities, and reason over the contents with AI.

Google Drive

Search Slack, post from River, and receive notifications in your channels.

Slack

Connect any Model Context Protocol-compatible tool server to River.

MCP Servers

Clip any web page, selection, or screenshot from anywhere into River.

Browser Extension

How organizations, dataspaces, and member access fit together.

Orgs & Members

How access works at the Org, Dataspace, Space, and entity level.

Roles & Permissions

Share individual entities, Groups, or whole Spaces — internally or with guests.

Sharing

Real-time co-editing, cursor presence, and CRDT-based sync that never conflicts.

Multiplayer & Presence

Set your identity, preferences, and AI personalization.

User Profile

Ask the AI for a dashboard, a tracker, or any new view of your data — and have it built on the spot.

Custom Views

Build full applications inside River — your own entity types, UI, data, and AI.

Custom Apps

Pre-configured Spaces for common workflows — one click to spin up a working environment.

Space Templates

Move through River with your hands on the keyboard.

Keyboard Shortcuts

What stays on your machine, what flows to River's cloud, and how you control both.

How Privacy Works

Run the full River stack on your own infrastructure — no cloud dependency.

Self-Hosted River

How team Dataspaces, shared agents, and collaborative workflows work in practice.

Teams Overview

Usage metrics, member management, and org-level controls.

Admin Dashboard

Plans, seats, AI usage budgets, and invoice management.

Billing & Usage

A friendly walkthrough of the six layers and how a single email becomes work.

How River Fits Together

When to use each SpaceChat mode — and what each mode guarantees.

Edit, Plan, and Ask

Why integrations, the browser extension, and computer use are River's perception layer, not just data sources.

The Senses — Perception as a Layer

A practical way to decide between SpaceChat, Skills, Agents, and Workflows.

Automation Mental Model

How information moves from the outside world into River, and where it lands.

Data Flow Basics

How River decides what deserves your attention — before you ask.

Signal Intelligence Basics

How River turns 'I wish I had a tool for this' into 'here, the AI just built it.'

Build Anything — Views, Dashboards, Custom Apps

A compact checklist to orient a new River workspace.

Getting Started

Common questions about River, what it is, and how to use it.

Simple checks when behavior doesn't match expectations.

Fast ways to move through Docs, Learn, and Help.

Integrations Basics

The two patterns#

Setup, in three steps#

Unblocking common issues#

"I connected, but no data is showing up"#

"The integration says 'Disconnected'"#

"I want to limit what syncs"#

"My AI can't see this integration"#

Choosing the right integration first#

Custom integrations#