'It will not open' covers at least four different failures with completely different fixes. So the first move is not describing the symptom but classifying it.
| What you see | What it may be | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| 401 / authentication required | The service is alive; the request lacks the token | Copy the full URL with ?token= from the terminal or log |
| Connection refused / site cannot be reached | The process is not running, or the port is not 3080 | Check the startup output and whether anything listens |
| The command errors out (EBADENGINE / EADDRINUSE) | Node too old, or the port is taken | node -v; netstat for the owner |
| Spinner forever / blank page | Process alive but initialisation failed, or assets did not load | Check terminal errors and the browser console |
A prompt that works
Environment: Windows 11, node 22.22.2, dsh 0.2.2-rc.1 installed globally via npm Symptom: after running dsh web, opening 127.0.0.1:3080 shows 'site cannot be reached'. The last lines of the terminal are: (paste the terminal output verbatim, including error codes) I have already confirmed: - dsh --version prints normally - port 3080 does not appear as LISTENING in netstat Give me troubleshooting steps ordered by likelihood. For each, state what to do, what you expect to see, and what seeing something else would mean. Do not give me a generic network checklist.
Why this phrasing works
- Full environment: OS, node version, dsh version, install method. These four decide half the answer.
- Terminal output verbatim: paraphrasing loses error codes. 'It said the port was busy' is weaker than pasting
EADDRINUSE :::3080. - Exclusions listed: 'nothing is LISTENING on 3080' cuts the port-conflict branch immediately, saving a round.
- Demand criteria: 'what you expect to see and what else would mean' turns a checklist into a procedure.
- Ban the generic list: say it explicitly, or you get 'check your firewall, reboot the router'.
The most common mistake is describing a conclusion instead of an observation: 'the network is broken', 'it will not install'. That makes the AI guess from zero. Describe what you see, not what you think it is.
After the answer arrives
- Do the first step only. Changing several things at once means you cannot tell which one fixed it.
- Record what you actually saw per step against the expectation.
- If a step contradicts a known fact (it asks about port conflict while you confirmed the port is free), say so instead of silently skipping.