Why am I the only one with this HubSpot bug?
Jim Ruocco
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Why am I the only one with this HubSpot bug?
9:50
Ever get the feeling your HubSpot is haunted?
A feature greets your coworker with open arms, but on your screen—it’s vanished, broken, or just throwing a tantrum. Cue the frustration spiral. But here’s the fix: it’s rarely a “you” problem—most of the time, it’s an environment or configuration mismatch. This guide shifts you from frantic guessing to methodical troubleshooting. Download this checklist and take command of your HubSpot headaches—whether you’re facing a browser cache gremlin or a permissions puzzle, we’ll get to the root cause, one step at a time.
1. Basic checks (do these first)
- Why: Browsers cache JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. A hard refresh bypasses cache and loads the latest files.
- How it causes bugs: Stale cached files can show old code, missing features, or broken functionality. A hard refresh ensures you get the current version.
- Why: Browsers differ in JavaScript engines, CSS support, and security policies. Extensions and stored data can interfere.
- How it causes bugs: Extensions can block/modify requests, inject scripts, or change page behavior. Incognito isolates the issue from extensions and stored data.
- Why: Cached assets and cookies can hold old data, auth tokens, or feature flags.
- How it causes bugs: Old cached files can conflict with new code. Stale cookies can cause auth/permission issues. Corrupted cache can break asset loading.
- Why: Mobile and desktop may use different UIs, APIs, or feature sets.
- How it causes bugs: Mobile apps may be on different versions, have different permissions, or use different code paths. Some features are desktop-only or mobile-only.
2. Account/user checks
- Why: Roles control what features, objects, and properties are visible/editable.
- How it causes bugs: Missing permissions can hide UI elements, block API calls, or show different data. A user might not see a feature that exists for admins.
- Why: Portals have different settings, tiers, custom properties, and installed apps.
- How it causes bugs: Different portals may have different feature availability, custom code, or configurations that change behavior.
- Why: Tiers unlock different features and limits.
- How it causes bugs: Enterprise-only features won't appear in Starter. Different limits (e.g., workflows, properties) can cause errors when exceeded.
- Why: Object and property permissions control access.
- How it causes bugs: Missing read/write permissions can hide properties, block actions, or return errors. Users with different permissions see different UIs.
3. Data checks
- Why: Records have different properties, values, and associations.
- How it causes bugs: Code may assume a property exists or has a value. Missing or different data can trigger errors or different behavior.
- Why: Code may depend on specific properties being present.
- How it causes bugs: Accessing record.properties.city.value fails if city is missing. Different property values can change logic paths.
- Why: Lifecycle stages can trigger workflows, change permissions, or affect UI visibility.
- How it causes bugs: Workflows may modify records, change properties, or trigger errors. Some features are stage-specific.
- Why: Lists/segments filter records and can affect which records are visible.
- How it causes bugs: Different lists show different records, so behavior may differ. List membership can trigger automations.
4. Feature/environment checks
- Why: New and legacy UIs use different code paths, APIs, and components.
- How it causes bugs: Features may exist in one UI but not the other, or behave differently. Bugs can be UI-specific.
- Why: Extensions can inject scripts, block requests, modify the DOM, or change network behavior.
- How it causes bugs: Ad blockers can block API calls. Privacy extensions can block cookies/tracking. Developer tools can inject code. Password managers can modify forms.
- Why: VPNs can route through different regions, change IPs, or affect latency.
- How it causes bugs: Different regions may hit different CDN edges or data centers with different code versions. Network issues can cause timeouts or failed requests.
- Why: Browsers differ in JavaScript engines, CSS support, and security policies.
- How it causes bugs: Older browsers may not support modern JavaScript/CSS. Different engines (Chrome vs Firefox vs Safari) can render or execute code differently.
5. If it's a code/development issue
- Why: Node.js versions have different APIs, behaviors, and security features.
- How it causes bugs: Code using newer Node APIs fails on older versions. Different versions can handle async, modules, or file operations differently.
- Why: CLI versions have different commands, behaviors, and bug fixes.
- How it causes bugs: Older CLI versions may have bugs fixed in newer versions. Different versions may use different APIs or have different default behaviors.
- Why: Cached packages and builds can be stale or corrupted.
- How it causes bugs: Old cached dependencies can conflict with new code. Corrupted cache can cause build failures. Different cached versions can lead to inconsistent behavior.
- Why: Different branches/versions have different code.
- How it causes bugs: One branch may have a bug fix the other doesn't. Different versions may use different APIs or have different logic.
- Why: Different data can trigger different code paths.
- How it causes bugs: Code may assume specific data shapes or values. Missing or different data can cause errors or different behavior.
6. Information to collect
- Why: Visual context shows UI state, error messages, and what the user sees.
- How it helps: Reveals UI issues, missing elements, or error messages that explain the problem.
- Why: JavaScript errors, warnings, and network failures appear here.
- How it helps: Shows exact error messages, stack traces, and which code failed. Network errors show failed API calls.
- Why: Shows all HTTP requests, responses, and failures.
- How it helps: Reveals failed API calls, 404s, 500s, CORS issues, or timeouts. Response bodies can show error details.
- Why: Helps isolate the exact sequence that triggers the issue.
- How it helps: Identifies if it's data-specific, timing-related, or requires a specific sequence.
- Why: Helps identify permission or feature availability issues.
- How it helps: Determines if it's a permissions problem or a feature not available in that tier.
- Why: Helps identify browser/OS-specific issues.
- How it helps: Determines if it's a compatibility issue or a known browser bug.
- Why: Helps identify if it's timing-related, race conditions, or data-dependent.
- How it helps: Intermittent issues suggest race conditions, caching, or timing. Consistent issues suggest code bugs or configuration problems.
7. Quick fixes to try
- Why: Refreshes authentication tokens, session data, and user context.
- How it fixes bugs: Stale auth tokens can cause permission errors. Session data can become corrupted. Re-authentication resets the session.
- Why: Isolates browser-specific issues.
- How it fixes bugs: If it works in another browser, it's likely a browser-specific issue (extension, cache, or compatibility).
- Why: Confirms if it's a known HubSpot outage or issue.
- How it helps: If HubSpot is having issues, it's not your code. Saves debugging time.
- Why: Others may have reported the same issue with solutions.
- How it helps: Provides workarounds or confirms it's a known bug being fixed.
Most common causes (with explanations)
- Why: Browsers aggressively cache to improve performance.
- How it causes bugs: When HubSpot deploys new code, your browser may still serve old cached files, causing mismatches, missing features, or broken functionality.
- Why: HubSpot uses role-based access control.
- How it causes bugs: Users with different roles see different UIs and have different API access. A feature may work for admins but fail for regular users due to permission checks.
- Why: Code often assumes specific data structures or values.
- How it causes bugs: Testing with a record that has different properties, values, or associations can trigger different code paths, causing errors or different behavior.
- Why: HubSpot releases features gradually to reduce risk.
- How it causes bugs: Some users get new features early (canary), others get them later. This can cause inconsistencies where one user sees a feature and another doesn't, or where new features have bugs that only affect the canary group.
- Why: Extensions have broad access to modify web pages.
- How it causes bugs: Ad blockers can block API calls. Privacy extensions can block cookies. Developer tools can inject code. Password managers can modify forms. These modifications can break HubSpot's functionality.
