Why is my channel not running? I keep getting an “attempt to call global” error!

Introduction

A common problem that people run into the first time in using the Translator is when they get this error coming up when they try to run a channel:

Error encountered while filtering message: 
Translator error occurred in module "main", line 10: 
attempt to call global 'Template' (a nil value)

Another way the same issue manifests itself is:

There is not a function main defined in the script. This is required as the main entry point.

Issue [top]

Why is my channel not running? Why do I keep getting an “attempt to call global” error?

Solution [top]

This problem is simple to fix. It is just a matter of creating a commit for the Translator instance before you start the channel.

How it Works [top]

If you have not created an initial commit for a channel it will not run, and will raise one of the errors listed in the introduction above.