Mode: Cognitive/Prompt-Driven — No standalone utility script; use via agent context.

Systematic Debugging

Overview

Random fixes waste time and create new bugs. Quick patches mask underlying issues.

Core principle: ALWAYS find root cause before attempting fixes. Symptom fixes are failure.

Violating the letter of this process is violating the spirit of debugging.

Iron Laws

1. NEVER propose or implement a fix before completing Phase 1 root cause investigation — a fix without root cause is a guess that will fail or create new bugs.
2. ALWAYS reproduce the bug reliably before debugging — if you can't reproduce it consistently, you're not debugging the real issue.
3. NEVER make more than one change at a time when testing a hypothesis — multiple simultaneous changes make it impossible to determine which change fixed the problem.
4. ALWAYS stop and question the architecture after 3 failed fix attempts — if each fix reveals a new problem, the issue is architectural, not symptomatic.
5. NEVER skip creating a failing test case before implementing the fix — without a test, you cannot verify the fix worked or that it won't regress.