prompts library

Debugging

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Full Lesson Reference

For when things break.

Reporting Problems

Basic problem report

[What you did]. Expected [what should happen], but instead [what actually happened].

With error message

terminal
I tried to [action] and got this error:

[paste error message]

Something doesn't appear

[Element] should appear when [condition], but it's not showing up.

Crash

terminal
The app crashes when I [action].
Here's what the console shows:

[paste crash log/error]

Common Issues

Nothing happens

terminal
I [click/tap] [element] and nothing happens.
Can you check if the action is wired up correctly?

Wrong data

terminal
[Element] is showing [wrong value] but should show [correct value].
Where is this data coming from?

Layout broken

terminal
[Element] is appearing in the wrong place.
It should be [where it should be], but it's [where it actually is].

Works sometimes

terminal
[Feature] works sometimes but not always.
It fails when [condition/pattern you've noticed].

Getting Unstuck

Don't know where to look

terminal
Something is wrong with [feature] but I don't know where to start.
Can you help me narrow down where the problem might be?

Tried but stuck

terminal
I've been trying to fix [issue].
I thought the problem was [your theory], but [what happened].
What else could be causing this?

Undo recent change

terminal
Something broke after the last change.
Can you undo what we just did and try a different approach?

Error Interpretation

Explain this error

terminal
What does this error mean?

[paste error]

Why is this happening

I keep getting [error/behavior]. Why does this happen?

Prevention

Check for issues

Before we move on, are there any obvious issues with what we just built?

Validate approach

I want to [goal]. Is the approach we're taking going to cause problems later?

Recovery

Start fresh on feature

terminal
This approach isn't working. Let's start fresh on [feature].
Remove what we tried and take a different approach.

Rollback

Can we go back to how [file/feature] was before we made [change]?

Exercises

  1. The next time something breaks, fill in the "Basic problem report" template before doing anything else — note how much faster Claude pinpoints the cause when you state expected vs. actual.
  2. Paste a real error you don't understand into the "Explain this error" prompt and write down the plain-English summary in your own words.
  3. After a session where an approach stalled, use the "Start fresh on feature" prompt and compare the second attempt to the first — which constraints did you keep, and which did you drop?