Troubleshooting

“My server isn’t responding to traffic!”

This is commonly because of the host address itty3 is bound to. By default, the code & docs default to 127.0.0.1 (“localhost”). This prevents your application server from responding to requests from the outside world.

You’ll likely need to change the address to something like 0.0.0.0 (“respond to requests from any host”) or have a server that sits in front of your application server (like Nginx or similar).

A way to check if the application server is responding is to be on the server & issue a curl command to http://127.0.0.1:<port-goes-here>/. If it responds as expected, it’s likely an address (or port) issue.

“I’m getting a 500 error and don’t know what’s wrong!”

When App.debug=False (the default), itty3 suppresses exceptions & simply returns a static 500 error page.

You’ll want to set App.debug to True, either via:

  • the initialization - itty3.App(debug=True)
  • setting the attribute on the App itself - app.debug = True
  • the app.run(debug=True) if you’re using that

When you do this, a traceback will be provided in the console output for the server. You can use this to debug your issue.

“The traceback of my error isn’t enough!”

Other frameworks provide more comprehensive or even interactive debug pages. While nice, these come at a complexity & security cost.

Being minimalist, the next best way to figure out what’s wrong in your itty3 application is through the use of an interactive debugger, such as pdb.

You can drop a import pdb; pdb.set_trace() pretty much anywhere in your code, step through instructions & examine variable contents.

There are other options, such as wdb, pudb or even in-editor interactive debuggers! Experiment & find one you like.

Experience with an interactive debugger is an invaluable skillset to have & well worth the time you invest into it.