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First steps

Facing a problem? Something isn't working as expected? Before submitting a new issue, take your time and follow these few steps.

Double check your config.php​

99% of the time, errors are caused by a user error in their config file or server configuration.

Double check your config, read the readme that comes with YOURLS and all the pages here in this documentation.

Disable plugins​

Make sure one of your plugins isn't causing the issue. Disable them all, see if things works, and if so, re-enable plugins one by one with tests each time till you find the culprit. It could be either a plugin on its own, or two plugins conflicting with each other.

Enable debugging mode​

By default, most error messages are hidden in YOURLS, and this may end up with a blank screen (ie the dreaded White Screen Of Death). Turn debugging on to display any error or warning, with the following line anywhere in your config.php:

define( 'YOURLS_DEBUG', true );

Check this page for more advanced debugging techniques: Debugging.

Use latest release​

If something isn't working as expected and is an actual confirmed bug, make sure you are using the latest release. Several bugs are fixed in each version.

Check .htaccess / web.config​

See Server configuration page.

Check server logs​

If the error is produced on the server-side (ie the page is generated with an error), most of the time you will find valuable information in the server logs.

Depending on the server software and configuration, this text file may be located somewhere like /var/log/apache2/error.log, /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log, /xampp/apache/logs/error.log, etc.

If you don't know where the error log is, you can look for the ErrorLog directive in the Apache configuration. If you don't know how to do this, ask your server admin.

Use your browser developer tools​

If the error is produced on the client-side (ie the page is generated fine, but when you try to interact with it, something wrong happens), hunt for JavaScript errors in Ajax requests.

Depending on your browser, this can be done with the Firebug extension in Firefox, with Chrome DevTools, ... You'll find plenty of guides explaining how to do so (eg how to debug Ajax chrome)

STFW after you have RTFM​

When you have Read The Fine Manual but are still lost, please Search The Fine Web. Thousands of people have probably faced the same situation before and it may be documented already.

In particular, be sure to search in issues, open and closed. Your problem may have been dealt with, already.

Submit proper issues​

Submitting an issue that is improperly or incompletely written is a waste of time for everybody. It's nothing complicated so please read the Contributing Guide before anything.