Troubleshooting

Most problems have a quick fix. Find what you’re seeing below.

Panel not in the Extensions menu

What you see: Window ▸ Extensions ▸ Cue isn’t there, or the Extensions menu is greyed out.

Why: After Effects only looks for extensions when it starts, or the installer didn’t finish, or your version of After Effects is too old.

Fix:

1. Quit After Effects completely and open it again. On a Mac, use After Effects ▸ Quit, not just closing the window.
2. Check your version under Help ▸ About After Effects. You need After Effects 2024 (24.0) or newer.
3. Run the installer again from the download page. It’s safe to install over an existing copy.
4. On Windows, if you have several versions of After Effects installed, make sure you’re opening a supported one.
5. Restart your computer, then open After Effects again.

“Editing engine could not start”

What you see: The panel opens but shows “The editing engine could not start”.

Why: The panel runs a small helper program on your computer that does the actual editing. Something stopped it from launching. Most often that’s security software, a blocked first run on macOS, or an incomplete install.

Fix:

1. Click Try again in the panel.
2. Quit and reopen After Effects.
3. On a Mac: open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll down. If there’s a message about Cue being blocked, click Allow Anyway, then reopen After Effects.
4. On Windows: if your antivirus quarantined a file from Cue, restore it and add an exception, then reinstall from the download page.
5. Reinstall from the download page.

If it still won’t start, use Copy diagnostics in the panel’s menu and email it to support@cue.example.

Out of credits

What you see: “You’re out of credits. Top up to keep going.”

Why: Your balance can’t cover the next step of the request. Anything already done stays in your project.

Fix:

1. Click Top up in the panel, or go to your account and buy credits or a plan.
2. Credits usually arrive within a few seconds of paying. The panel picks them up automatically.
3. Say “continue” to carry on where it stopped.

If you paid and the balance hasn’t changed after a few minutes, email support@cue.example with the email address on your receipt.

AE busy or dialogs open

What you see: The panel says After Effects is busy, or a request seems stuck at “Waiting for After Effects…”.

Why: After Effects can’t accept changes while a dialog is open (Composition Settings, Render Queue settings, a save prompt, an error message), while it’s rendering, or while you’re typing in a text field.

Fix:

1. Look for an open dialog. It may be hidden behind another window. Close it or click OK.
2. Click once on the Timeline or Composition panel so you’re not editing a text field.
3. Wait for any render to finish, or stop it.
4. The request continues on its own. If it doesn’t within a minute, press stop in the panel and send the request again.

Slow responses

What you see: Requests take a long time, or the panel sits on “Thinking…”.

Why: Big requests involve many steps, and each step may render frames to check the result. Tutorial links take longer, because the whole video has to be watched first. Heavy comps also take longer to render preview frames.

Fix:

1. Break big requests into smaller ones (see Writing good requests).
2. For tutorials, ask for a specific section: “do the part from 2:00 to 4:30”.
3. Start a new chat for a new task. Very long conversations are slower.
4. Lower the comp’s preview resolution to Half or Quarter while working.
5. Check your internet connection.

Still stuck?

Email support@cue.example and tell us what you were doing, what you expected, and what happened. Include Copy diagnostics from the panel’s menu if you can. It contains your versions and recent errors, but no project content.