> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.release.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.release.com/guides-and-examples/running-instances/troubleshooting/oom-out-of-memory.md).

# OOM: out of memory

How to troubleshoot OOM errors

An out of memory (OOM) error occurs when an instance runs out of RAM.

The first thing to check if you encounter this error is how much RAM is assigned to the problem instance. Do this by going to the details view of the instance and scrolling down to the "Limits" and "Requests" sections.

![Checking RAM allocation](https://585411240-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M1neGLLQ0sDXeK6ooSo%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-77638d9f191955ea0bb2f1ee4221ff0545930792%2Ftroubleshooting-check-ram.png?alt=media)

* The **Requests** amount defines the amount of memory that is guaranteed to be available to the instance.
* The **Limits** amount defines the amount of memory that the instance may not exceed.

You can read more about how resources are defined [in the resources reference documentation](/reference-documentation/application-settings/application-template/schema-definition.md#resources).

To increase the amount of memory resources available for your instance, edit your Environment Configuration settings under the **Settings** tab.

### View currently running processes using the top command

If you are debugging an OOM error, you can see what processes are running on an instance and how much memory each process is using by connecting to a terminal for that instance and running the `top` command.

![Checking RAM allocation](https://585411240-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M1neGLLQ0sDXeK6ooSo%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-6f57a53914588616da45d30500020429af796a7d%2Fcurrently-running-terminal.png?alt=media)

![The top command](https://585411240-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M1neGLLQ0sDXeK6ooSo%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-b242424c725e144fc5603aad3ceb64df4ddd0fc3%2Ftroubleshooting-top.png?alt=media\&token=eb84a8b2-8308-40d0-ab84-a2e44ea0ad14)


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