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Try This Cursor Debugging Prompt

Quick tip for Cursor debugging today! Let's say you're going around in circles, you keep telling Claude "it's still broken" or "it's still not working," and you're banging your head against the wall. Try this prompt out, and it might just help you break through.

The Magic Debugging Prompt

Here's the prompt:

Reflect on 5-7 different possible sources of the problem. Distill those down to 1-2 most likely sources. Then add logs to validate your assumptions before we move on to implementing the actual code fix.

Why This Works

This is leaning into a bit of Chain of Thought prompting. We're asking Claude to cycle through the possibilities, so it will go through each one and then, through Chain of Thought, pick the top two and add some logs to validate.

When you're stuck in a debugging loop, what often happens is that you (and Claude) keep focusing on the same possible cause over and over. This prompt forces a broader consideration of what might be going wrong, which often leads to discovering the actual issue.

Tips for Best Results

  1. Use Agent Mode: You want to make sure you're using the agent here in Cursor, as it gives Claude more capability to explore and implement solutions.

  2. Include Context: Whatever pages are part of the debugging, or you can add all your code to the codebase if you're not sure. The more information you give it off the bat, the better it's probably going to work.

  3. Be Patient: Let Claude work through the different possibilities. This methodical approach may take slightly longer initially but often saves time in the long run.

When All Else Fails

If this still isn't working, I've got another method you can try out (should be linked in the video).

Sometimes the best approach is actually to start from scratch with a new Composer session. After a certain number of back-and-forths, the context can get muddled, and a fresh start with a clear, comprehensive prompt often works better.

Quick shoutout to TedEx AI for this prompt - cheers!

Want more quick tips like this? Subscribe to the channel and check out my other videos for more. All the best!