diff --git a/HOW_TO_CONTRIBUTE.md b/HOW_TO_CONTRIBUTE.md
index d998f5b9..e4b174d2 100644
--- a/HOW_TO_CONTRIBUTE.md
+++ b/HOW_TO_CONTRIBUTE.md
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ To build Void from the terminal instead of from inside VSCode, follow the steps
 
 - Make sure you followed the prerequisite steps above.
 - Make sure you have Node version `20.18.2` (the version in `.nvmrc`)!
-    - You can do this easily without touching your base installation with [nvm](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm). Simply run `nvm install`, followed by `nvm use` and it will automatically install and use the version specified in `nvmrc`
+    - You can do this easily without touching your base installation with [nvm](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm). Simply run `nvm install`, followed by `nvm use` and it will automatically install and use the version specified in `nvmrc`.
 - Make sure that the path to your Void folder does not have any spaces in it.
 - If you get `"TypeError: Failed to fetch dynamically imported module"`, make sure all imports end with `.js`.
 - If you get an error with React, try running `NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=8192" npm run buildreact`.
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/markdown/ApplyBlockHoverButtons.tsx b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/markdown/ApplyBlockHoverButtons.tsx
index 41b5a649..b9e99042 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/markdown/ApplyBlockHoverButtons.tsx
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/browser/react/src/markdown/ApplyBlockHoverButtons.tsx
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ export const ApplyButtonsHTML = ({
 	const accessor = useAccessor()
 	const editCodeService = accessor.get('IEditCodeService')
 	const metricsService = accessor.get('IMetricsService')
+	const notificationService = accessor.get('INotificationService')
 
 	const settingsState = useSettingsState()
 	const isDisabled = !!isFeatureNameDisabled('Apply', settingsState) || !applyBoxId
@@ -271,13 +272,18 @@ export const ApplyButtonsHTML = ({
 			uri: uri,
 			startBehavior: 'reject-conflicts',
 		}) ?? []
-		console.log('setting!!!', newApplyingUri)
 		setApplying(newApplyingUri)
 
+		if (!applyDonePromise) {
+			notificationService.info(`Void Error: We couldn't run Apply here. ${uri === 'current' ? 'This Apply block wants to run on the current file, but you might not have a file open.' : `This Apply block wants to run on ${uri.fsPath}, but it might not exist.`}`)
+		}
+
 		// catch any errors by interrupting the stream
 		applyDonePromise?.catch(e => {
 			const uri = getUriBeingApplied(applyBoxId)
 			if (uri) editCodeService.interruptURIStreaming({ uri: uri })
+			notificationService.info(`Void Error: There was a problem running Apply: ${e}.`)
+
 		})
 		metricsService.capture('Apply Code', { length: codeStr.length }) // capture the length only
 
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/prompt/prompts.ts b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/prompt/prompts.ts
index 613142b8..ac39ee29 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/prompt/prompts.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/contrib/void/common/prompt/prompts.ts
@@ -480,11 +480,13 @@ ${directoryStr}
 	}
 
 
-	if (mode === 'gather' || mode === 'normal') {
-		details.push(`If you write any code blocks, please use this format:
+	details.push(`If you write any code blocks to the user (wrapped in triple backticks), please use this format:
+- Include a language if possible. Terminal should have the language 'shell'.
 - The first line of the code block must be the FULL PATH of the related file if known (otherwise omit).
 - The remaining contents of the file should proceed as usual.`)
 
+	if (mode === 'gather' || mode === 'normal') {
+
 		details.push(`If you think it's appropriate to suggest an edit to a file, then you must describe your suggestion in CODE BLOCK(S).
 - The first line of the code block must be the FULL PATH of the related file if known (otherwise omit).
 - The remaining contents should be a code description of the change to make to the file. \