Describe a coding problem and get help figuring out what's wrong
Something in your code isn't working and you're not sure why. Describe the problem in plain English and get debugging ideas without needing to be a tech expert.
Copy this prompt
I'm working on a [website / app / spreadsheet / script] and something isn't working right. Here's what I'm trying to do: [describe the goal in plain English]. Here's what's happening instead: [describe the problem]. Here's what I've already tried: [list anything you've checked]. Please help me figure out what might be wrong and suggest 3 things to try. Explain everything simply — I'm not a programmer.
When to use this
You're trying to build or fix something technical — a website, a formula in Excel, a small automation — and it's just not working. You've googled the error message but the answers are written for people who already know what they're doing.
Why this works
AI can act like a patient tech-savvy friend who doesn't make you feel dumb. By explaining in plain English what you're trying to do and what's going wrong, the AI can suggest fixes in plain English too — skipping the jargon and getting to solutions you can actually use.
Follow-up ideas
- "Explain what the error message actually means in simple terms."
- "Give me a step-by-step checklist to narrow down what's causing this."
- "If this turned out to be a common beginner mistake, what would it most likely be?"
Copy the prompt above and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI tool. Tweak the words to fit your situation — most prompts include follow-up ideas below.
Try it with these tools
Popular services you can use for code generation.