Systematic Debugging

A structured approach to finding and fixing bugs.

The Debugging Loop

1. REPRODUCE → 2. ISOLATE → 3. DIAGNOSE → 4. FIX → 5. VERIFY

Never skip steps. Never guess-and-check repeatedly.

Step 1: Reproduce

• Run the exact command that fails
• Capture FULL output (stdout AND stderr)
• Note: exit code, error message, stack trace
• If intermittent, identify what changes between runs