Troubleshoot Grounding, Limits, and Common Errors
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Resolve missing citations and Knowledge grounding issues.
- Mitigate truncated responses and streaming errors caused by system limits.
- Identify common Agentforce error codes and their fixes.
Fix Missing Citations
Citations show up only when the Knowledge Action returns them and citations are enabled for that Action. Check the Action configuration, test it independently, confirm the response isn't being overwritten downstream, and make sure the underlying article is published, indexed, and accessible to the agent.
If citations are missing:
- Open the Knowledge action's configuration and confirm citations are enabled.
- Test the action independently to confirm it returns a citation on its own.
- Make sure nothing later in the flow overwrites the response after the citation is attached.
- Verify the Knowledge articles are published, indexed, and accessible to the agent.
Some URLs get hidden for security reasons. To fix that, add Trusted URLs in Setup, and confirm the URL is returned by an action or explicitly allowed.
Mitigate Truncated Responses
Agentforce has real limits: about 2,048 tokens for an LLM response and about 65,000 characters for action output. Hit them, and responses cut off midsentence or action results come back partial.
To reduce truncated responses:
- Use Show in Conversation instead of embedding large outputs directly.
- Avoid returning unnecessary fields in actions.
- Break complex requests into multiple steps.
- Store large data in objects and reference it through Actions.
Resolve Streaming and Rewritten Responses
A response that appears and then changes or disappears may have triggered a groundedness check. Make instructions accurate and specific. Avoid broad or ambiguous prompts. Ground responses in Knowledge or structured data.
For general streaming errors, review prompt templates for strict formatting like JSON-heavy outputs, simplify nested instructions, and reduce large action outputs.
Recognize Common Error Codes
Error Code | Description | Resolution Tip |
|---|---|---|
401 | Unauthorized | Refresh the OAuth token. |
403 | Forbidden | Update user or integration permissions. |
404 | Not Found | Validate the endpoint URL or record ID. |
429 | Too Many Requests | Add retry and backoff logic. |
500 | Internal Server Error | Review logs or contact Salesforce Support. |
An agent can also make up to 8 LLM calls per user turn. Hit that ceiling, and look for repeated action failures, validation loops, or overly complex workflows. Simplify the subagent flow to resolve it.