> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://orbit-dev.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# FAQ and troubleshooting

> Common questions and setup issues

## Conceptual questions

<Tip>
  Several common "can I do X?" questions come down to something not being built yet — see [Known Limitations](/reference/known-limitations) for the full list in one place.
</Tip>

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does Orbit have a public API?">
    Not today — see [Known Limitations](/reference/known-limitations#no-public-or-programmatic-api).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What's the difference between the admin role and being a member?">
    Less than you'd expect — see [Known Limitations](/reference/known-limitations#roles-dont-gate-any-actions).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I view a history of changes made to a project?">
    Not through the UI yet — see [Known Limitations](/reference/known-limitations#activity-log-has-no-ui).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I change my email, password, or avatar after signing up?">
    Not today — see [Known Limitations](/reference/known-limitations#no-profile-or-account-management).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why didn't my first registered account become admin?">
    The admin role only goes to the very first account in an empty `users` table. If you're testing this and it didn't happen, you likely registered against a database that already had a user in it — reset with `php artisan migrate:fresh` (or `make fresh` in Docker) and register again on a clean database.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Setup issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Blank page or 500 error right after cloning the repo">
    This almost always means one of the setup steps was skipped: copying `.env.example` to `.env`, generating an app key (`php artisan key:generate`), or running migrations. Re-run `composer setup` (native) or `make setup` (Docker) — see [Quickstart](/quickstart).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Frontend assets or styles look broken / missing">
    Make sure you've actually run a frontend build (`npm run build`) or have the Vite dev server running (`npm run dev`, or `composer dev` / `make dev` which start it alongside the backend). Orbit's pages expect Vite-built assets to be present — the app won't render correctly with a `.env` set up but no frontend build.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Vite hot reload stopped working (Docker)">
    See the dedicated [troubleshooting note in the Docker guide](/deployment/docker#troubleshooting-stale-vite-hmr) — this is a known issue with the file watcher desyncing, especially on non-native storage.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Wrong PHP or Node version">
    Orbit needs PHP 8.4+ and Node.js 22+. If `composer setup` or `npm install` fails with dependency resolution errors, check your local versions before assuming it's a project bug.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Tip>
  Didn't find your issue here? Search [existing issues](https://github.com/orbit-collective/orbit/issues) on GitHub, or open a new one.
</Tip>