# Troubleshoot 500 errors

Source: https://docs.fortrabbit.com/dev/http-status-codes/500
Reviewed: 2026-07-09


- 500 errors will usually be shown on screen immediately
- 500 errors often occur after code or configuration changes
- 500 errors are sometimes just printed as a "service unavailable" message, check the browser's developer tools for the response's HTTP status code to be sure this is indeed a 500 error
- 500 errors here are often rendered using a fortrabbit error page template

**In most cases this is not a server issue, but something with your code and configuration.** Good news: they are mostly easy to debug:

## Check the logs

Examine the logs of your App. See [here](/platform/settings/logs). There you'll likely find where the application exited with which error.

## Review your latest changes

Since 500 errors often appear during installation, setup or code changes: Review your code and configuration changes. Compare this with your [local development environment](/integrations/local-development/intro) and see if it fails the same way. Have you run an update recently?

### Check your .htaccess file

Our experience in support shows us that many 500 errors are caused by wrong rules in your `.htaccess` file. See our [main article on `.htaccess`](/dev/htaccess/intro) for some background. Have you made any changes to `.htaccess` lately?

## Apache error-log signatures

The Apache error log names the specific cause with an `AHxxxxx` code. Behind a 500, look for:

- [`AH01071`](/dev/learn/apache-errors#ah01071-php-fpm-error-output) — PHP-FPM printed a fatal error, quoted in the log line
- [`AH00124`](/dev/learn/apache-errors#ah00124-request-exceeded-the-limit-of-internal-redirects) — a `.htaccess` rewrite loop

See [Apache error codes](/dev/learn/apache-errors) for the full list.

## It could also be something on our side

It is also possible — although less likely — that this error is caused by a network, hardware or configuration issue on our side, your hosting provider. Please check our status page under [status.fortrabbit.com](https://status.fortrabbit.com) if there are any ongoing maintenance windows or service issues known.