Can anyone help me troubleshoot this? Don't know where to start. 
So far, I've tried killing and relaunching the KM Engine and restarting my mac. 
Just suggestions…
Did you look in the KM Engine and Editor logs?
How about clicking the other 2 buttons in that dialog?
Thanks for the reply. 
Clicking Reopen simply repeats the launch/crash loop.
Looks like the culprit might be something to do with a pair of entries that repeat over and over in the Editor log:
2023-07-30 13:38:19 Running application query took a while (3186 us)
2023-07-30 13:38:19 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Here are all today's Editor Log entries:
Editor Log Excerpt
2023-07-30 12:21:21 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:21:23 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 4 times
2023-07-30 12:21:30 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:21:37 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 36 times
2023-07-30 12:22:21 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:22:31 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:25:42 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:25:49 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 4 times
2023-07-30 12:25:51 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:26:01 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:26:11 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:26:11 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 28 times
2023-07-30 12:27:49 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:27:52 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 16 times
2023-07-30 12:28:10 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:28:22 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 12 times
2023-07-30 12:32:59 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:33:05 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 28 times
2023-07-30 12:33:34 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 12:33:36 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 56 times
2023-07-30 12:43:45 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:43:49 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 4 times
2023-07-30 12:44:42 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:45:25 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:45:31 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:45:32 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 20 times
2023-07-30 12:45:44 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:45:45 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:45:58 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:46:00 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 16 times
2023-07-30 12:46:35 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:46:41 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 36 times
2023-07-30 12:49:01 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:49:04 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:49:08 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:49:11 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 12 times
2023-07-30 12:49:21 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:49:23 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 20 times
2023-07-30 12:50:21 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:50:23 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:50:36 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:50:39 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 20 times
2023-07-30 12:51:27 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:51:32 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 12:51:54 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:51:57 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 76 times
2023-07-30 12:58:27 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 12:58:30 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 56 times
2023-07-30 13:02:27 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:02:32 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 20 times
2023-07-30 13:03:12 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:03:14 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 4 times
2023-07-30 13:03:18 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 13:03:21 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 56 times
2023-07-30 13:07:54 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:08:06 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 60 times
2023-07-30 13:10:00 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 13:10:05 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 124 times
2023-07-30 13:19:37 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 13:19:39 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 48 times
2023-07-30 13:26:24 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:26:25 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 96 times
2023-07-30 13:31:07 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 13:31:10 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 44 times
2023-07-30 13:32:18 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:33:16 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 8 times
2023-07-30 13:33:17 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:33:27 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 28 times
2023-07-30 13:34:10 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 13:34:10 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 3 times
2023-07-30 13:34:15 Failed to find any 1Password metadata folder or bookmarks-default.json file
2023-07-30 13:34:20 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 40 times
2023-07-30 13:36:05 Ignoring shared file we have already seen
2023-07-30 13:37:50 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 12 times
2023-07-30 13:38:19 Running application query took a while (3186 us)
2023-07-30 13:38:19 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Last message repeated 16 times
2023-07-30 13:39:33 Editor Quitting
2023-07-30 13:39:51 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:39:52 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:40:12 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:40:12 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:40:57 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:40:58 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:41:09 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:41:10 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:41:21 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:41:22 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:44:29 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:44:29 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:45:56 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:45:56 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:48:12 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:48:12 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:48:20 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:48:21 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 13:48:40 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 13:48:41 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
2023-07-30 18:21:45 Editor Starting 10.2
2023-07-30 18:21:46 Invalid Plug In Action with Name Stopwatch
Nothing suspicious (to my untrained eye) in the Engine log, but here's what's generated when I click Report...
Report.zip (12.1 KB)
Nothing that rings alarms for me - but then I don’t know how to interpret the report file; I would guess you need to send it to Stairways?
Just a thought. Have you got a third party KM Action called "Stopwatch" ? It might be worth looking in the path to where the third party plugins are stored:
~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro/Keyboard Maestro Actions
And if there's a folder in there called Stopwatch, moving it out?
Good shout, but it was the first thing I looked into, and there's nothing there. Very odd!
I've deleted KM (and all associated files) with AppCleaner and restored my library via the .kmsync file in my Dropbox folder. The same thing happens, although slightly slower. Now the Editor does appear, but as soon as you start clicking around, it crashes.
Until I get to the bottom of this, I'm out of the KM game. 
The log message about Stopwatch plugin action just means you have a KM macro somewhere that still uses the action - i.e. you haven’t deleted all uses of the action even though you’ve deleted the action itself from the actions folder. I don’t think that would normally cause the editor to crash.
I don't remember ever using a stopwatch action, but let's assume I did.
I've searched for "stopwatch" and found nothing. Also, I can't understand why this has reared its head apropos of nothing or why something is evidently being triggered repeatedly when the Editor is launched.
This is very strange.
Crashes are exceptionally rare. Can you send me the crash log?
It would be in the ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports folder.
You can get to ~/Library (which is in your Home folder, but generally hidden from you) in the Finder by holding down the shift (or option) key and selecting Library from the Go menu in the Finder.
Email it to support@stairways.com
Thanks.
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…and frustrating. Hope you get it sorted asap 
FYI - here’s the link to it in case it jogs your memory about where you might have used it:
(When I had this problem with a different plugin action it took me quite a while to find the 3 macros I had used it in.)
1 Like
Oh, so you mean there may be a macro that uses a plugin that I no longer have. That is possible I suppose. I vaguely remember trying to figure out which of two logic approaches was snappier at some point, but gun to my head, I can't think which macro it is. That coupled with the fact that I only get about 3 seconds every time I click anywhere in the Editor means hunting it down is going to be tricky.
I've sent the crash logs to @peternlewis, who rightly asserts that persistent KM crashes basically don't happen and I've never encountered this before. I'm flummoxed as to why merely launching the editor would cause this problem all of a sudden, without mention of any unexpected macro usage in the Engine log. Incidentally, the engine itself seems to be unaffected and it's just an Editor issue
Exactly. I found that uninstalling a third party plugin action from the KM actions folder didn’t remove the action from those macros that used that plugin action. I can’t remember exactly what happened when I subsequently tried to run those macros but it did not result in anything more than an error notification and, of course, the repeated endless entries in the log file that you’ve already experienced.
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Another little issue is that, after reinstalling KM and restoring my macro library via Dropbox Sync, all my global variables are blank. I made a copy of the .plist files before deleting KM, and have tried replacing Keyboard Maestro Macros.plist with the old one, but the variables are still empty. Any suggestions? I have a Time Machine backup too (although I'm away from it at the moment).
KM variables are kept here:
/Users/taj/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro/Keyboard Maestro Variables.sqlite
Oops - or should I say
~/Library/Application Support/Keyboard Maestro/Keyboard Maestro Variables.sqlite
2 Likes
Ah yes, of course. Thanks! 
OK, it's a moderately amusing crash.
I'll sort out @noisneil’s macros and then figure out how to ensure it can't happen again.
Basically, the icon for a macro is based on the actions it contains. If there are multiple actions, then it gets the multi-action icon, otherwise it picks up the icon from the only action.
That's all fine and good, but what if the first action is an Execute Macro action that executes the very same macro. In that case, the icon for the macro would be the icon for the action, but the icon for the action is the icon for the macro, and Keyboard Maestro would descend infinitely looking for the icon. BUT I'm not that stupid, I defend against that case. In that case you end up with the nuclear warning icon.
But unfortunately, @noisneil was yet cleverer still than I was (at least this is my guess, I haven't actually seed the macros file yet). If you have a macro that has only one action, which executes a different macro, and if that different macro also has only one action which executes the first macro, then you can still get the infinite recursion and get around my careful attempts to ensure this doesn't happen. Sigh.
I am reminded of this always amusing video on Quality Assurance:
5 Likes
Bravo for reminding us of how clever (devious?) @noisneil is!!
And thanks for the video which has made my grey, wet, cold Monday less miserable 
2 Likes
Thanks to your assessment, I think I know what caused this!
I was trying to help someone with a macro and part of testing it required exactly the setup you described.
The macro I was testing triggered two test macros. Each of these contained only an execute a macro action, and each triggered the other. One action would be active at a time so as not to incur a feedback loop, but there was another issue lurking, as we've now discovered!
I'm not sure how it makes me clever, but it certainly makes me accident prone!
If it helps in any way, I think the macros in question are most likely to be in either my "TEST GROUP" or "KM Forum Requests" group. Oddly, I can't imagine why I wouldn't have deleted those test macros after posting the macro being tested to the forum but hey-ho...
2 Likes
It was the TEST GROUP. I added some custom icons to the two macros and sent you back the file.
I will endeavour to figure out a MORE clever way to avoid the issue for the next version.
Sorry for the hassles! That was a nasty one.
1 Like