Troubleshoot issues with your development setup

Issues with Installing the Recommended Prerequisites

We regularly develop on the latest or most popular operating systems like macOS 10.15 or later, Ubuntu 20.04 or later, and Windows 10 or later (with WSL2).

It is recommended to research your specific issue on resources such as Google, Stack Overflow, and Stack Exchange. There is a good chance that someone has faced the same issue and there is already an answer to your specific query.

If you are on a different OS or are still facing issues, see getting help.

Important

Please avoid creating GitHub issues for problems with the prerequisite technologies. They are out of the scope of this project.

Performance and Stability Issues on WSL2 Linux Distro

If you are working on a WSL2 Linux Distro, you might get performance and stability issues by running this project in a folder which is shared between Windows and WSL2 (e.g. /mnt/c/Users/).

Therefore we recommend to clone this repo into a folder which is mainly used by your WSL2 Linux Distro and not directly shared with Windows (e.g. ~/PROJECTS/).

See this GitHub Issue for further information about this problem.

Troubleshooting port issues on GitHub Codespaces

Sometimes the service on port 8000 does not go live. This is common when you restart an inactive codespace.

Start the two servers in separate terminals from the project root (/workspaces/freeCodeCamp):

pnpm run develop:api

pnpm run develop:client

This makes port 8000 available. Be mindful of how the URLs and ports work inside a GitHub Codespace.

The Ports panel lists port 8000 but the browser cannot open it

This happens in a Dev Container on your own machine, where the client can bind IPv6 loopback only. Stop the client, then start it with an explicit host:

GATSBY_HOST=0.0.0.0 pnpm run develop

Update your branch from upstream/main and rebuild the container to get this by default.

The client loads but every API request fails

This happens in a codespace when .env still points at localhost.

A browser tab inside a codespace cannot reach localhost. That address points at your own machine, not at the codespace.

1. From the project root (/workspaces/freeCodeCamp), check the two values in .env:

   grep -E '^(HOME_LOCATION|API_LOCATION)=' .env

   In a codespace both must use your forwarded port URLs, for example https://CODESPACE_NAME-8000.app.github.dev.

2. If they still use localhost, run the codespace environment script again from the same directory:

   .devcontainer/codespace-env.sh

3. Rebuild the client so that it picks up the new values:

   pnpm run develop

4. Set port 3000 to public. In the Ports panel, right click port 3000, then choose Port Visibility > Public.

   The container sets this on every start. Do this yourself only if it reported that it could not.

Why port 3000 must be public

The client calls the API from your browser, across two different forwarded origins. A private port answers that call with a GitHub sign-in redirect, and the browser reports it as a CORS error.

A public port is reachable by anybody who has the URL, and the development sign-in route needs no password. Stop the codespace when you finish working.

Issues with Missing UI, Fonts, Language Strings, or Build Errors

When you build the client, Gatsby will cache the fonts, language strings, and UI. If one of them isn’t cached, run the following:

pnpm run clean

pnpm install

pnpm run seed

pnpm run develop

OR

Use the shorter handy command that does the above steps:

pnpm run clean-and-develop

If you continue to face issues with the build, cleaning up the workspace is recommended.

Use git clean in interactive mode:

git clean -ifdX

How to clean git untracked files (screenshot)

Issues with API, login, Challenge Submissions, etc.

If you can’t sign in, and instead you see a banner with an error message saying that the error will be reported to freeCodeCamp, please double-check that your local port 3000 is not in use by a different program.

From Terminal:

netstat -a | grep "3000"

Check the output:

tcp4    0   0    0.0.0.0:3000           DESKTOP      LISTEN

Issues Signing Out while Navigating

While in development, your session is stored as cookies. Clearing them will sign you out of your development account.

Running pnpm run seed:certified-user will log you out, too. It will overwrite the development user in your local database.

Issues Installing Dependencies

If you get errors while installing the dependencies, please make sure that you are not in a restricted network or your firewall settings do not prevent you from accessing resources.

Slow downloads

The first time setup can take a while depending on your network bandwidth. Be patient, and if you are still stuck we recommend using GitHub Codespaces instead of an offline setup. We recommend 30-50 mbps connections for the best experience.

Working With Other Languages

To see how the client renders in another language go to How to Work on Localized Client Webapp.

Getting Help

If you are stuck and need help, feel free to ask questions in the ‘freeCodeCamp Community’ category on our forum or the contributors chat room.

There might be an error in the console of your browser or in Bash / Terminal / Command Line that will help identify the problem. Provide this error message in your problem description so others can more easily identify the issue and help you find a resolution.