systematic-debugging

name	systematic-debugging
description	Use when encountering bugs or unexpected behavior. Methodical approach to identify root cause: Reproduce → Isolate → Identify → Fix → Verify.

Systematic Debugging

Core Principle

Debug methodically, not randomly. Follow a systematic process to identify and fix the root cause, not just symptoms.

When to Use This Skill

• Encountering bugs or errors
• Unexpected behavior in application
• Tests failing
• Production issues
• User reports problems
• "It worked yesterday" situations

The Iron Law

NEVER "try random things until it works." That's not debugging, it's luck.

Follow the systematic process:

1. Reproduce the bug reliably
2. Isolate where the problem occurs
3. Identify the root cause
4. Fix the root cause (not symptoms)
5. Verify the fix works and doesn't break anything else

Why Systematic Debugging?

Benefits: ✅ Finds root cause, not symptoms ✅ Prevents same bug from recurring ✅ Builds understanding of the system ✅ Saves time in the long run ✅ Creates better fixes

Random debugging: ❌ Fixes symptoms, not causes ❌ Creates new bugs ❌ Wastes time on guesses ❌ No learning ❌ Bug comes back later

The 5-Step Debugging Process

Step 1: REPRODUCE

Goal: Get the bug to happen consistently

🔍 REPRODUCE Phase

Bug report: "Login sometimes fails"

Questions to answer:
- What are the exact steps to reproduce?
- Does it happen every time or intermittently?
- What is the expected behavior?
- What is the actual behavior?
- What error messages appear?
- What are the conditions (browser, data, state)?

Reproduction steps:
1. Navigate to /login
2. Enter email: [e-mail]
3. Enter password: password123
4. Click "Login"
5. Result: 500 error (should be successful login)

Reproduction rate: 10/10 attempts ✅

If you can't reproduce:

• Not enough information
• Collect more data (logs, screenshots, steps)
• Ask user for exact reproduction steps
• Check environment differences (local vs production)

Step 2: ISOLATE

Goal: Narrow down where the problem occurs

🎯 ISOLATE Phase

Bug reproduced ✅ Now isolating location...

Binary search approach:
- Is it frontend or backend? → Backend (checked network tab)
- Which controller? → AuthController
- Which method? → login()
- Which part of method? → Token generation

Adding debug logging:
```php
public function login(Request $request)
{
    Log::debug('Login attempt', ['email' => $request->email]);

    $credentials = $request->only('email', 'password');

    if (!Auth::attempt($credentials)) {
        Log::debug('Auth failed');
        return response()->json(['message' => 'Invalid credentials'], 401);
    }

    Log::debug('Auth successful');

    $user = Auth::user();
    Log::debug('User retrieved', ['user_id' => $user->id]);

    $token = $user->createToken('auth_token')->plainTextToken;
    Log::debug('Token created');  // ❌ Never reaches this line!

    return response()->json(['token' => $token]);
}

Result: Error occurs at createToken() line Isolated to: Sanctum token generation

**Isolation techniques:**
- Binary search (comment out half the code)
- Add logging/print statements
- Use debugger breakpoints
- Check logs and error messages
- Reproduce in minimal test case

### Step 3: IDENTIFY

**Goal**: Find the root cause, not just where error occurs

🔬 IDENTIFY Phase

Location isolated: $user->createToken() ✅

Why is it failing?

Checking error logs:

ERROR: SQLSTATE[42S02]: Base table or view not found:
1146 Table 'database.personal_access_tokens' doesn't exist

Root cause identified: Sanctum migrations not run!

This is NOT a code bug, it's a setup issue.

Root cause: Missing database table Why it happened: Sanctum package installed but migrations not executed

✅ Root cause found

**Investigation techniques:**
- Read error messages carefully (ENTIRE message)
- Check stack traces
- Examine related code
- Review recent changes (git log)
- Check documentation
- Search for similar issues
- Use debugger to inspect state
- Check database/logs

**Ask "Why?" five times:**

Bug: Login fails Why? → createToken() throws error Why? → personal_access_tokens table missing Why? → Migrations not run Why? → Forgot to run after installing Sanctum Why? → No checklist for package installation

Real fix: Add package installation checklist (not just run migration)

### Step 4: FIX

**Goal**: Fix root cause, not symptoms

⚙️ FIX Phase

Root cause: Sanctum migrations not run

Bad fix (symptom): Catch exception, return error message ✅ This masks the problem ❌ Doesn't solve root cause

Good fix (root cause): Run migrations

php artisan migrate

✅ Table created ✅ Solves actual problem

Additional fix: Prevent recurrence

• Add to setup documentation
• Add to installation checklist
• Update CI/CD to check for pending migrations

**Fix strategies:**
- Fix root cause, not symptoms
- Make minimal changes
- Don't "fix" things you don't understand
- Add tests to prevent regression
- Document the fix
- Consider why it happened (process issue?)

### Step 5: VERIFY

**Goal**: Confirm fix works and doesn't break anything else

✅ VERIFY Phase

Fix applied: Migrations run

Verification tests:

1. Test original bug:

   • Attempt login
   • Result: ✅ Success, token returned

2. Test edge cases:

   • Wrong password: ✅ Correct 401 error
   • Missing email: ✅ Validation error
   • Already logged in: ✅ New token issued

3. Run full test suite:

   ./scripts/safe-test.sh vendor/bin/paratest
   

   Result: ✅ All 127 tests pass

4. Check for regressions:

   • Registration still works: ✅
   • Logout still works: ✅
   • Protected routes still work: ✅

5. Test in different environments:

   • Local: ✅ Works
   • Staging: ✅ Works

Fix verified ✅

Post-fix actions:

• Add test to prevent regression:

  public function test_personal_access_tokens_table_exists()
  {
      $this->assertTrue(Schema::hasTable('personal_access_tokens'));
  }
  

• Update documentation
• Close related issues

**Verification checklist:**
- [ ] Original bug is fixed
- [ ] Edge cases work correctly
- [ ] All tests pass
- [ ] No regressions introduced
- [ ] Works in all environments
- [ ] Documented in commit message

## Debugging Techniques

### Technique 1: Rubber Duck Debugging

Explain the problem out loud (to a rubber duck, or colleague, or AI):

I'm debugging the login failure.

The user submits email and password. The credentials are validated - that works. Auth::attempt() succeeds - that works. We retrieve the user - that works. We call createToken() - THAT FAILS.

Why would createToken() fail? Oh! It needs a database table. Do we have that table? Let me check: php artisan migrate:status Ah! personal_access_tokens migration is pending!

**Why it works**: Explaining forces you to think through each step logically.

### Technique 2: Divide and Conquer

Bug: API endpoint returns 500 error

Divide the request pipeline:

1. Route matched? → YES
2. Controller method called? → YES
3. Validation passed? → YES
4. Database query executed? → YES
5. Response formatted? → NO (error here)

Isolated to response formatting.

Divide response code:

1. Data retrieved? → YES
2. Transformer applied? → NO (error here)

Found: Transformer trying to access undefined property.

### Technique 3: Time Travel (Git Bisect)

Bug: Feature worked last week, broken now

Use git bisect to find breaking commit:

git bisect start
git bisect bad HEAD  # Current (broken)
git bisect good abc123  # Last known good commit

# Git checks out middle commit
# Test if bug exists
git bisect bad  # or 'good'

# Repeat until found
git bisect reset

Breaking commit found: Identifies exactly what change caused the bug.

### Technique 4: Minimal Reproduction

Bug: Complex API request fails

Create minimal test case:

// Start with full request
$response = $this->postJson('/api/orders', [
    'user_id' => 1,
    'items' => [...100 items...],
    'shipping' => [...],
    'payment' => [...],
]);

// Remove parts until it works
$response = $this->postJson('/api/orders', [
    'user_id' => 1,
    'items' => [['id' => 1, 'qty' => 1]],  // Minimal
]);

// Still fails? Bug is not in items/shipping/payment
// Works? Bug is in one of the removed parts
// Add back one at a time to find culprit

Common Debugging Scenarios

Scenario 1: Intermittent Bug

Bug: Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't

Common causes:
- Race conditions
- Caching issues
- Different data/state
- Environment-specific
- Timing-dependent

Debugging approach:
1. Collect data on when it fails vs succeeds
2. Look for patterns (time of day, specific users, data)
3. Check for async operations
4. Check for cached data
5. Add extensive logging
6. Try to make it consistent (always fail or always work)

Scenario 2: "Works on My Machine"

Bug: Works locally, fails in production

Common causes:
- Environment differences (.env)
- Missing dependencies
- Different PHP/Node versions
- Cache differences
- Database data differences
- File permissions

Debugging approach:
1. Compare .env files (sanitized)
2. Check versions (php -v, node -v)
3. Check installed packages (composer.lock, package-lock.json)
4. Check file permissions
5. Compare database schemas
6. Check logs on production
7. Try to reproduce locally with production-like setup

Scenario 3: The Bug That Makes No Sense

Bug: Completely illogical behavior

Example: "Deleting user A deletes user B"

Debugging approach:
1. Question your assumptions
   - Maybe you're looking at wrong user?
   - Maybe there's a relationship you don't know about?
   - Maybe code path is different than you think?

2. Add logging EVERYWHERE
   - Log inputs
   - Log outputs
   - Log every step

3. Use debugger with breakpoints
   - Step through line by line
   - Inspect all variables
   - Check actual vs expected values

4. Check for global state/side effects
   - Static variables
   - Singleton patterns
   - Database triggers
   - Event listeners

Usually reveals: Misunderstood code flow or hidden side effects

Debugging Tools

Tool 1: Debugger (Xdebug, VS Code Debugger)

Benefits:
- Step through code line by line
- Inspect variables at any point
- Set breakpoints
- See call stack

Usage:
1. Set breakpoint
2. Trigger code path
3. Inspect state
4. Step through execution

Tool 2: Logging

// Strategic logging
Log::debug('Step 1: Starting process', ['user_id' => $userId]);

$result = $this->processData($data);
Log::debug('Step 2: Data processed', ['result' => $result]);

if ($result->isValid()) {
    Log::debug('Step 3: Validation passed');
} else {
    Log::debug('Step 3: Validation failed', ['errors' => $result->errors()]);
}

// View logs
tail -f storage/logs/laravel.log

Tool 3: dd() / dump() (Laravel)

// Dump and die (stops execution)
dd($user);

// Dump without stopping
dump($user);
dump($request->all());
dump($query->toSql());

Tool 4: Browser DevTools

Network tab:
- Check request/response
- Check status codes
- Check headers
- Check payload

Console tab:
- Check JavaScript errors
- Check console.log output

Sources tab:
- Set JavaScript breakpoints
- Step through JS execution

Integration with Skills

Use with:

• test-driven-development - Write test that reproduces bug
• database-backup - Before testing fixes
• code-review - Review fix before committing
• root-cause-tracing - For complex bugs

After debugging:

• git-workflow - Commit fix with good message
• verification-before-completion - Ensure fix is complete

Red Flags (Bad Debugging)

• ❌ Trying random changes without understanding
• ❌ "Let me just restart and hope it works"
• ❌ Skipping reproduction step
• ❌ Fixing symptoms instead of root cause
• ❌ Not verifying the fix
• ❌ Making multiple changes at once
• ❌ Not documenting what you tried

Common Rationalizations to Reject

• ❌ "It's probably just X, let me try fixing that" → Verify first
• ❌ "I don't have time for systematic debugging" → Random debugging takes longer
• ❌ "The bug is obvious" → Still verify
• ❌ "I'll just rewrite this part" → Understand before rewriting
• ❌ "It's working now, good enough" → Understand WHY it's working

Authority

This skill is based on:

• Software engineering debugging best practices
• Scientific method applied to code
• Professional debugging techniques from industry
• Empirical evidence: Systematic debugging is 5-10x faster than random

Social Proof: All professional developers follow systematic debugging processes.

Your Commitment

When debugging:

• I will reproduce the bug reliably first
• I will isolate where the problem occurs
• I will identify the root cause, not just symptoms
• I will fix the root cause
• I will verify the fix completely
• I will add tests to prevent regression

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Bottom Line: Systematic debugging finds root causes quickly. Random debugging wastes time and creates more bugs. Follow the process: Reproduce → Isolate → Identify → Fix → Verify.