debugging prompts
4 public prompts tagged "debugging", versioned and ready to copy into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or your own agent. Last updated November 2026.
Start here. Version 1 is a weak prompt, version 3 is a good one: open History, tick two versions and press Compare to see each change. Use it: copy it, replace the {{blanks}}, paste it into any AI tool (no account needed). Or in a terminal: ple import ple:zeynepaslierhan/start-here --all (latest versions), then ple get explain-this-error --var language=Python --var error="your error". Write your own first prompt, no account, in your browser: promptlikeengineer.com/try. When: you hit an error you do not understand · Input: {{language}}, {{error}}, {{what_i_tried}} (optional) · Output: meaning, cause, fix, how to confirm
When: you have a bug report and want the fix to be provable · Input: {{bug_report}} (what happens vs what should happen) · Output: a failing test that reproduces the bug, the minimal fix that turns it green, the test run, follow-ups noticed but not changed · keywords: bug fix, regression test, TDD, reproduce
When: before a release, or after an incident where an error vanished silently · Input: {{code}} (optional path or snippet, else the agent audits the changed files) · Output: findings table (location, category, production consequence, fix) + a 1-10 score + the single highest-impact change · keywords: error handling, swallowed exception, try catch, unhandled promise
When: a test, build or runtime error you cannot explain yet · Input: {{error_and_logs}}, {{code}} (optional suspect), {{repro}} (optional how to trigger) · Output: root cause in one sentence, evidence, smallest fix, regression test, what was verified · keywords: debug, bug, stack trace, root cause, failing test