Troubleshoot common symptoms

Start with the visible symptom. The actions below link to procedures checked on Developer ID 27.0.2 (32); they are not promises that every failure has the same cause. Save your work before changing configuration or restarting a service.

An example cannot run because setup is missing

Check Helper connectivity and the project's interpreter status separately. A missing .venv and missing packages require different preparation steps. When the reviewed examples listed missing dependencies, Install Dependencies completed their project setup. Follow Helper and environments.

Do not install arbitrary packages into whichever Python happens to be on the shell path. Packages identifies the current project's environment.

Run is blank after an action

Do not treat disappearance of the running indicator as proof of success. After the text-replacement test, Run returned idle without completion text, output or an error, including after an explicit save. The cause and reliable recovery are not established. Record the file, configuration and preceding actions rather than reporting an unsupported successful run. See the observed limitation.

Console shows ^C but the command keeps running

In the reviewed Python Console, Interrupt echoed ^C during a timed wait, but the command still executed its final print statement. The echo does not confirm cancellation. If you need to end that session, Stop Python Console was verified during an active command. It discards the session and its objects; it does not undo changes already made by your program. See interrupting and stopping.

A Terminal check also completed its timed wait successfully after Interrupt echoed ^C. The Python Console's Stop procedure is not a Terminal control. See Terminal interruption and verify the actual program has ended.

A session disappeared after changing panels

Minimizing Results and reopening it discarded the reviewed Terminal and Python Console sessions. Switching Terminal → Packages → Terminal or Python Console → Run → Python Console also lost the temporary session state. Reload required Python code or re-enter shell setup; the previously displayed transcript was not retained. See the tested panel transitions. Do not assume that completed Run output and a live interpreter have the same lifetime. Minimizing Results during the reviewed Python waits also ended the Terminal/Console processes. A new prompt on return is not a resumed command; see active-command behavior.

A variable disappeared after New Python Console

New Python Console replaces the interpreter and clears its objects and transcript. A name from the old session can therefore raise NameError even though it worked before. Reload the file or re-enter the required setup code; see starting over.

Unsaved text disappeared after Reload From Disk

In the reviewed ACE editor, File → Reload From Disk replaced the open text with the disk version without confirmation. It did not merge the two versions. The Project tree's Reload from Disk instead refused to reload a modified file and asked for a save. These routes did not provide the same protection.

No recovery of the discarded text was verified. Do not assume that Local History contains an edit that was never saved. Before a future reload, preserve the editor text and any externally changed disk version separately. Do not blindly save over a disk version you also need to keep. See before reloading a modified file.

The visual debugger is unavailable

One reviewed attempt reported Invalid run request and automatically opened interactive pdb in Debug. Step into/out, Run to Cursor, evaluation and Quit were verified in that fallback. Its interface differs from the visual debugger's Variables and Call Stack views. Follow the fallback procedure and inspect the actual paused location. The cause of the startup failure remains unverified; do not assume changing an unrelated setting will resolve it.

The generated image will not open inline

The AI example's PNG failed inline but opened from Finder in macOS Preview. Use the verified report-opening procedure. Do not confuse this failure with the working Markdown preview.

Analyze fails during initial setup

The first reviewed analysis reported an error while Node was being prepared. After setup finished, Try Again produced the diagnostics. Read the current message before retrying; this does not establish that every analysis error can be solved by repeating it. See static-analysis diagnostics.

A bookmark opens the file but not its saved line

Check the status bar's line and column. In the reviewed cross-file case, clicking the bookmark again after its file opened reached the saved location. See bookmarks.

A keyboard shortcut does the wrong thing

ACE bindings can differ from the action you expected. Command-D removed a line in the reviewed configuration, while the menu's duplication command worked. Undo an unintended edit and use the verified menu procedure. Do not keep invoking a shortcut without inspecting the result. See line duplication.

Refactoring never produces a result

The Extract Variable test left the code unchanged and subsequent transformation commands disabled. A completed or cancelled operation was not established. The commands were available again at a later check without restarting the app; this did not establish that the requested extraction had succeeded. Do not queue repeated extraction requests. Keep your saved work and record the selected expression and requested action for a report. No restart or cancellation recovery has been verified. See refactoring limitations.

Rename Symbol does not open a dialog

With a function name selected in the reviewed ACE editor, Refactor → Rename Symbol… produced no dialog or changed code, even though Project Settings reported Pyright Ready. Do not assume a rename happened or repeatedly invoke the command. Check the source and its references. See the ACE rename limitation. Renaming a file or replacing matching text is not the same operation; switching to another editor engine was not verified as a fix.

Coverage results appear but source lines have no colors

The reviewed ACE editor did not show coverage colors after Show Coverage in Editor was enabled, including after a fresh coverage run. Use the report's per-file missing-line list to inspect unexecuted code instead. See reading the coverage report. The absence of colors does not mean every line was covered or that the tests failed; read the test result and coverage report separately.

The Assistant conversation disappeared

Closing and reopening the native Assistant cleared its chat in the review. Keep important answers separately before closing the panel; there was no verified history-restoration control. See Assistant.

A service panel reports missing tools or access

A missing Docker, AWS or Azure command-line tool prevented resource checks. In Google Cloud, an authenticated account could list some resources while other API checks failed. Unavailable access is not evidence that no resources exist. See Services. Do not enable APIs, install services or change permissions simply to dismiss an error you do not understand.

A ready .venv is not the selected interpreter

The .venv status and Project Settings → Interpreter → Mode describe different state. The first reports whether a project environment exists; the second chooses which runtime the project uses. A fresh Mac Desktop Studio copy showed Project .venv not created in the status bar while Embedded was selected. In the prepared copy, .venv [3.14.6] was visible while Embedded 3.11.0 remained selected.

For a project that needs third-party packages, open Interpreter, select Project .venv, choose Save, then prepare the environment and install its declared dependencies. In the authorized disposable-copy replay, clicking Project .venv not created prepared Python 3.14.6 and selected Project .venv; Helper setup then installed PySide6>=6.8, reported Ready to Run, and Run started main.py. Reopening Interpreter confirmed Project .venv remained selected.

If Custom mode will not save, check its exact validation message. Choose a Python executable rather than a folder or document, and use Choose instead of only typing an alias path. Empty, missing, directory and non-executable paths were all rejected in the reviewed build. The picker resolved a Homebrew python3.14 alias, but the sheet still reported Path is not executable; that Custom path was not saved. Selecting the real executable did not change the result: Terminal confirmed the Cellar Python 3.14.6 file was executable and could report its version, but the sheet still rejected it. Even a temporary byte-identical executable copy inside the owned project was rejected after native-picker selection; it was removed after the check.

/usr/bin/python3 was accepted and persisted. It was incompatible with the Mac Desktop Studio fixture's Python >=3.11 requirement, so that project did not run it. A separate minimal project requiring Python >=3.9 showed Python 3.9.6 and 3.9.6 OK after Save and reopen, then ran a probe successfully through the resolved Xcode Python path. Embedded was restored afterward. Use an interpreter that is both accepted and shown as compatible, then verify it with a harmless project run; do not bypass the disabled Save control or ignore the version check. The status bar's .venv availability message still does not prove which Mode is selected.

See Interpreter settings and project environments.

A panel or help resource seems missing

Use the relevant rail button or the status bar's Results control to reopen a minimized area. Learn's book is a separate window. Help → Py Editor Help reported unavailable in this build, but Learn and its book worked. See workspace, Learn and Help.

When book search returns nothing, try a single word and press Return. To clear the filter, clear its field and press Return again.

A question ends with EOFError before you can answer

In the reviewed project .venv/Helper configuration, running the class inspector from the toolbar printed Class name: and immediately raised EOFError: EOF when reading a line. No Run input field appeared. The same saved script accepted input in the integrated Terminal. Follow the Terminal input procedure and use the project's .venv/bin/python, not an unspecified system Python.

This is different from the tutorial's ValueError: Choose vertical, horizontal or diagonal. That message means an answer was received but was not an allowed class; run again and enter one of the listed names. Neither message is evidence that reinstalling PyTorch is needed.

A notebook error remains after the file is corrected

A stored Python error inside a notebook cell is different from Notebook preview unavailable, which means the reader could not load the document. In the malformed-file check, correcting the notebook on disk and choosing Reload From Disk did not remove the old preview error. Closing and reopening the corrected file did. See notebook recovery for the saved-file precautions; reopening alone cannot repair an invalid notebook.

Save is disabled in Project Settings

Read the status beside your changed field and the help on the disabled Save button. In the reviewed Run form, an empty configuration name, missing script, file used as a working directory, unfinished quote or malformed environment entry each blocked Save. Correcting the field enabled it again. See configuration validation for the tested cases and argument formatting. Choose Cancel to discard an experiment; do not reinstall Helper just because a field is invalid.

Before asking for support

Collect the version/build, channel, interpreter mode, exact visible message and the shortest reproducing steps. Use non-sensitive example data. Remove keys, account details and personal paths from shared material. See prepare a problem report.