| name | swarm-debug |
| description | Systematic debugging — evidence before hypotheses, hypotheses before fixes, root cause before patches, and the diagnosis saved to the vault. Use for any real bug, test failure, regression, crash, or unexplained behavior — before proposing any fix. |
swarm-debug — systematic debugging
No fix without a reproduced cause. Shotgun patching is how the same bug costs twice.
The loop
- Reproduce — a command/test that shows the bug, or record explicitly why
reproduction is impossible. This is the entry gate for everything below.
- Evidence — read the FULL error, stack, and surrounding logs (not the first line);
note what changed recently (git log, new deps, config).
- Locate — binary-search the causal chain: which layer last had correct data?
Instrument with targeted prints/asserts if needed; remove them after.
- Hypothesize — ranked list, cheapest-to-test first. State each as a falsifiable
claim ("the cache returns stale X when Y").
- Verify — one targeted experiment per hypothesis. Evidence kills or confirms;
opinion does neither.
- Fix the root cause — not the symptom, when the root is reachable. If you must ship
a symptom patch, say so in the code-note and open a ticket for the root.
- Regression test — must fail on the pre-fix code, pass on the fix. No test, no fix.
- Record (J1) — non-trivial diagnosis → memory note (the footgun, compact,
≤ 15 lines) + code-note link on the affected file, so no future session pays for this
twice. Check the vault FIRST next time:
swarmvault.py query --search "<symptom>" —
someone may already have paid.
Hard rules
- Three dead hypotheses → stop, step back, re-examine assumptions — including the spec
and design ("is the requirement itself contradictory?").
- A diagnosis that reveals a spec/design gap → route it to the question queue / SRS
change management (swarm-spec), don't silently patch around it.
- Performance bugs: measure before and after; a fix without numbers is a guess.
Influences: superpowers systematic-debugging; Pocock's diagnosing-bugs; Jeffallan's
debugging-wizard — see CREDITS.md.
