# Troubleshooting

If you are struggling, the best thing to do is reach out to the
[CiviCRM community](../basics/community).

If you cannot find the answer in this guide or by searching in the
[CiviCRM StackExchange site](http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/)
then please [ask](http://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/ask). Asking
questions on StackExchange not only helps you but may well help others who
follow you.

That said, this is a small list of some of the commoner problems extension
writers encounter.

## Extension not doing anything

<!-- TODO: arguably this list should be removed altogether?? -->

Q: I've created the files and edited them but I don't see the expected
changes.

A: Did you install and enable your extension?
(<site\>/civicrm/admin/extensions?reset=1)

## Civix error messages

Q: I get Error: "Cannot instantiate API client -- please set connection
options in parameters.yml"

A: You might have missed the step about setting
'civicrm\_api3\_conf\_path'
([https://github.com/totten/civix/](https://github.com/totten/civix/)),
or it didn't get set properly for some reason.

Q: I've tried to generate a page/report/search/upgrader/etc with civix
but it's not working.

A: For all of the various types, you must first run
[generate:module](http://generatemodule), and then \`cd\` into the
folder (e.g. com.example.myextension) before running one of the
other \`generate:\` commands.