Getting help
How to ask a coding question that gets solved
The five things every good problem post includes — and the mistakes that make people scroll past.
4 min read
Start with the outcome
Helpers need to know what “working” looks like before they can fix what's broken. Write one sentence for what you expected and one for what actually happened.
- Expected: “Signing in redirects to /dashboard.”
- Actual: “The page reloads and the console shows 401 Unauthorized.”
Paste the exact error
Copy the full error text, including the first line of the stack trace that points at your own code. Paraphrased errors (“it says something about auth”) slow everyone down.
Share the smallest code that reproduces it
Cut your snippet down to the function or component where things go wrong. If you can reproduce the problem in a new, tiny project, even better — you'll often find the cause yourself while doing it.
Remove API keys, passwords, tokens and connection strings before posting. If you accidentally posted one, rotate it immediately.
List your stack and what you tried
- Framework and version (e.g. Next.js 16, Django 5)
- Hosting (e.g. Cloudflare Workers, Vercel, a VPS)
- Which AI tool generated the code, if any
- What you already tried and what changed
Close the loop
When someone proposes a fix, test it and either accept it with a short note about how you tested it, or mark it as “Didn't work” and say what happened. That feedback is what makes reputation on this platform meaningful.
Still stuck? Ask the community or request a human review.