systematic-debugging

Installation
SKILL.md

Systematic Debugging

Core Principle

NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST.

Never apply symptom-focused patches that mask underlying problems. Understand WHY something fails before attempting to fix it.

The Four-Phase Framework

Phase 1: Root Cause Investigation

Before touching any code:

  1. Read error messages thoroughly - Every word matters
  2. Reproduce the issue consistently - If you can't reproduce it, you can't verify a fix
  3. Examine recent changes - What changed before this started failing?
  4. Gather diagnostic evidence - Logs, stack traces, state dumps
  5. Trace data flow - Follow the call chain to find where bad values originate
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