FYI for future users searching this, another reason for this error can be if you accidentally clear your timeline after the pavlovia_init. Something like:
/* init connection with pavlovia.org */
var pavlovia_init = '{'
type: "pavlovia",
command: "init"
'}';
timeline.push(pavlovia_init);
var timeline = [] // this is a mistake and removes the pavlovia init
to fix it ensure that pavlovia_init is not cleared from the timeline