When you're stuck

Here’s a promise: at some point something will go weird. A command will fail, the screen will fill with red text, something will freeze, or you’ll simply have no idea what to do next. This is normal. It happens to absolute beginners and to people who’ve done this for twenty years. It is not a sign that you’ve broken something, or that you’re not cut out for this.

This module is the one to come back to whenever that happens. The whole thing fits in a single idea, so let’s start there.

The one move that solves almost everything

When anything goes wrong or confuses you, you do not need to figure out why. You tell your assistant what you see and let it sort it out with you. That’s it. That’s the skill.

Something went wrong and I'm not sure what. Here's exactly
what I see — can you explain it simply and help me fix it?

[paste or describe what's on your screen]

”I don’t even know what I’m trying to do”

Being stuck isn’t always about errors — sometimes you just don’t know the next step. That’s a question, and your assistant answers questions:

• “I want to do [thing] but I don’t know how. Walk me through it step by step.”
• “What are my options here? Explain each one simply.”
• “Is this safe to do? What will happen if I do it?”

You’re allowed to think out loud. Treat the assistant like a patient friend who happens to know this stuff — because for your purposes, that’s exactly what it is.

Common situations, and the move for each

These are the things most likely to happen to you. Notice that the move is almost always the same.

A block of red text appears (an error)

Copy the whole thing and paste it to Claude with “what does this mean and how do we fix it?” Red text looks alarming, but an error A message from the computer saying something didn't work. It's a clue for your assistant, not a scolding. is just the computer pointing at what tripped it up. You never have to decode it yourself.

Something is frozen or stuck running

If a command seems stuck — it’s just sitting there and nothing’s happening — you can usually stop it by clicking in the terminal and pressing Ctrl + C. That tells it “stop what you’re doing.” If things still seem weird afterwards, close the terminal panel and open a fresh one (Terminal → New Terminal in VS Code).

”Address already in use” / the preview won’t load

When you start your project (Module 6) you might see a message that the address is already in use, or your localhost page won’t load. This is a really common one: usually it just means a previous copy is still running in the background. You don’t need to understand the details — paste the message to Claude and say “this came up when I tried to start my project, can you sort it out?” It’ll clear it up.

Claude Code won’t start, or is acting strangely

Two quick things to try. First, Claude Code has a built-in check-up — type this in your terminal:

PS> claude doctor

If that doesn’t sort it, close the terminal completely and open a fresh one, then run claude again. A surprising number of glitches vanish with a clean restart.

Claude asks you to sign in again

Every so often — maybe once in a while, not every day — Claude Code will say something like “not authenticated,” or even tell you directly to type /login to re-authenticate. This is completely normal and nothing has gone wrong: sign-ins simply expire after a while for security, the same way your bank’s website logs you out if you haven’t used it in a bit. It is not a sign that your plan lapsed or that you did anything wrong.

The fix is to do exactly what it suggests — type this command to Claude:

/login

That kicks off the same sign-in you did back in Module 2: your browser opens to a Claude page, you confirm, and you’re back in. If the browser doesn’t pop open on its own, Claude prints a link and a code right in the terminal — copy the link into your browser, sign in, and paste the code it gives you back into the terminal, then press Enter. A few seconds of clicking and you’re building again.

It feels like you’re using up your allowance too fast

Jump back to Module 8: check you’re on Sonnet (/status, then /model sonnet), type /clear to start a fresh conversation, and check the real numbers at claude.ai → Settings → Usage. If you’ve simply hit a limit, it tells you when it resets — that’s a “make a cup of tea” moment, not a broken thing.

A change made things worse

This is what your save points are for. Ask the assistant to undo:

That made things worse. Can you undo those changes and take
me back to how it was at my last save?

Because you commit whenever something works (Module 5), there’s almost always a good version to return to. This is why we save so often.

You’re completely lost in folders

If you have no idea which folder you’re in, get your bearings: cd ~ jumps you home, and pwd tells you where you are (Module 3). You can’t get permanently lost.

Why it’s never as bad as it feels

And if you’ve tried a couple of things and you’re still stuck, the oldest trick in the book genuinely works: step away for ten minutes. Stretch, get a drink, come back. Problems that felt impossible have a habit of looking small with fresh eyes.