# When it breaks

It will break. That's normal, not a sign you're bad at this. Most breaks are fixed by describing them clearly.

## 1. There's an error message

Copy the whole message, even the parts that look like nonsense.

```
I'm getting this error:

[PASTE THE WHOLE ERROR]

It happens when I [WHAT YOU DID RIGHT BEFORE].
Before you fix it, explain in one or two plain sentences what's going wrong.
Then fix only that, and don't change anything else.
```

Can't see an error? In Chrome, right-click the page, choose **Inspect**, then the **Console** tab. Red lines are errors.

## 2. No error, it just does the wrong thing

```
When I [WHAT YOU DID], I expected [WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN],
but instead [WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED].
It [ALWAYS / SOMETIMES / ONLY ON MY PHONE] happens.
What do you think is causing it? Tell me before changing anything.
```

A screenshot helps a lot here, if your AI app accepts images.

## 3. It keeps "fixing" it and nothing changes

You've tried three times and it's the same, or worse. Stop asking for fixes.

- [ ] Go back to the last version that worked.
- [ ] Start a fresh chat. Long chats get muddled.
- [ ] Paste in the working code and describe the one change again, more specifically, using the change card.

```
Here's my app's code. It works right now.

[PASTE THE CODE]

I want to make one change: [THE CHANGE]. We tried before and it kept
breaking [WHAT KEPT BREAKING]. Please suggest two different ways to do
it, tell me which you'd pick and why, then do that one.
```

## 4. You don't understand what it did

```
Explain what you just changed as if I've never coded.
Which part of the app does it affect, and how can I check it works?
```

## Break log

What broke:

What I tried:

What fixed it:

What I'll say differently next time: