How to write a good bug report (with a template)

The four things every useful bug report includes, a copy-paste template, and how to get reports like this from people who will never read a guide.

A good bug report lets someone fix the problem without asking a single question. Most reports miss at least one of four things.

The four parts

• What you did: the steps just before the problem.
• What happened: the wrong result, the error message, or that nothing happened.
• What you expected: the result you wanted instead.
• Where: the page or screen, the device, the browser or app version.

Template

Steps:
1. 
2. 

What happened:

What I expected:

Where: page or screen, device, browser or app version

Screenshot:

Example

Weak: “Checkout is broken.” Useful: “On the checkout page, I pressed Pay and nothing happened. I expected to see the confirmation page. iPhone 15, Safari, logged in.”

Getting good reports from customers

Customers and testers won’t follow a template. The practical fix is to capture the “where” automatically and ask a short follow-up about whatever is missing. That’s what Bopmigo does on websites and in iPhone apps.