$ ls -la drwxr-xr-x docs/ $ run script
◆ Bash

Troubleshoot Bash scripts

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

3prompts

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AExecute — do the immediate taskDebug the 'daily_report.sh' script in the current directory, which is failing around line 45,…+
Debug the 'daily_report.sh' script in the current directory, which is failing around line 45, and fix the syntax error so it runs successfully by 3 PM today.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BImprove — make it easier to acceptBefore I try to fix the 'daily_report.sh' script, which is failing with a 'command not found'…+
Before I try to fix the 'daily_report.sh' script, which is failing with a 'command not found' error, show me the exact line where it's failing, along with the values of any variables used on that line, so I can pinpoint if it's a path issue or a typo.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CDecide — diagnose the stuck momentThe 'data_sync.sh' script, which moves production data to staging, just failed for the third…+
The critical 'data_sync.sh' script just failed again, and I'm out of ideas.
The 'data_sync.sh' script, which moves production data to staging, just failed for the third time this week with a generic 'exit 1' error. It runs fine manually, but consistently fails when cron executes it. The data team needs this by morning. I'm afraid I'm missing something fundamental about the cron environment. What's the most common reason a script behaves differently under cron versus manual execution, and how do I diagnose it quickly?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Bash's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.