Debugging optimizes for certainty, not speed. Speed is a byproduct of certainty. Debugging always starts by ruling out trivial causes. If not sufficient, there are two different paths to pursue: Fast Path and Normal Path.

Quick Wins (30 seconds max)

First check the no brainers:

• Typo / wrong variable name
• Missing import / uninstalled dependency
• Stale cache / needs rebuild
• Wrong branch / uncommitted changes
• Environment variable missing / misconfigured
• Runtime / compiler version mismatch
• Unexpected input shape / encoding / locale

If any of these is the cause → fix directly, no protocol needed.

Fast Path Debugging