diagnose

name

diagnose

description

Root-cause a failing or wrong geobr call with a disciplined check-the-environment-first loop instead of guessing. Use when the user says "why is this failing", "read_* returns nothing", "could not download geobr metadata", "this worked yesterday", "R and Python disagree", "debug this download", or pastes a user bug report. Tuned to geobr's real failure modes: proxy, stale cache, release-tag drift, upstream re-release, and code-dispatch surprises. Use `--no-fix` to localize without editing.

/diagnose — root-cause a geobr failure

Most geobr failures are environmental, not code. Work the ladder in order — each rung is cheaper than the one below it, and the top two explain the large majority of reports.

Never skip to reading package source before rung 1 and 2 come back clean. That is the mistake this skill exists to prevent.

---

Rung 1 — Network and proxy

The single most common cause. httr2::is_online() returns TRUE even when the fetch will time out, so it is not a reliable probe — test the real endpoint.

Sys.getenv("http_proxy"); Sys.getenv("https_proxy")
curl::curl_fetch_memory("https://github.com/ipea/geobr_prep_data/releases/expanded_assets/v2.0.0")$status_code

• Timeout with empty proxy vars on a corporate network → found it. libcurl ignores the WinINET proxy that browsers and PowerShell honour. On the maintainer's machine: http_proxy / https_proxy = http://cache.ipea.gov.br:3128 (see MEMORY.md).
• In this Claude Code session specifically: the sandboxed Bash tool has no outbound network. Run networked commands through PowerShell before concluding anything.

Symptom signature: Could not download geobr metadata, or a wall of test failures where every read_* returns NULL.

Rung 2 — Stale cache

Second most common, and the classic "it worked yesterday".

fs::path_temp("geobr") |> list.files()          # R: per-session

from geobr._cache import cache_dir; print(list(cache_dir().glob("*")))   # ~/.cache/geobr: PERSISTENT

R's cache dies with the session; Python's does not — it survives reboots with no expiry and no size cap. A file cached under a superseded data_release is served indefinitely. Clear it, or pass cache = FALSE, and re-run.

This is also the first thing to check when R and Python disagree about available years or row counts.

Rung 3 — Release-tag drift

grep -n "data_release\|v2\.0\.0\|data_v2" r-package/R/onLoad.R r-package/R/utils.R
grep -n "GEOBR_DATA_RELEASE\|IPEA_FALLBACK_BASE" python-package/geobr/utils.py

The tag is hardcoded in five places in two formats. A partial bump reads metadata from one release and files from another — surfacing as a 404 on a plausible-looking filename, not a version error.

Also remember the structural divergence: R pins the tag; Python asks releases/latest first. Publishing a new geobr_prep_data release changes Python's behaviour immediately and R's not at all. That alone explains many R-vs-Python mismatches.

Rung 4 — Upstream data change

m <- geobr:::download_metadata2(); subset(m, geo == "<geography>")

The metadata table is derived entirely from asset filenames. If geobr_prep_data re-released an asset, renamed one, or changed the naming convention, the parsed geo / year / simplified columns shift silently in both packages. Compare the geography's rows against what the user expects before suspecting the reader.

Rung 5 — Code dispatch

Only now read the source. The usual suspects:

• filter_arrw() (R) picks the column from the value. Sequential ifs, last match wins. A code of unexpected width lands on the wrong code_* column.
• Python's filter fails open. read_filter_parquet_relation() returns the unfiltered relation when no branch matches and has no zero-row check, where R's filter_arrw() aborts. So an invalid code raises in R but yields an empty or full result in Python.
• output is validated after the download in both languages — a bad output value is not the cause of a download failure.
• Argument defaults differ across languages: output is "sf" in R and "gpd" in Python; verbose is TRUE in R and False in Python.

---

Method

1. Reproduce. Get the exact call, the exact error, and sessionInfo() (R) or uv pip list (Python). A report you cannot reproduce is a rung-1 problem until proven otherwise.
2. Minimise. Reduce to the smallest failing call — usually one geography, one year, code = "all".
3. Work the ladder. Rungs 1 → 5, in order. Record which rungs came back clean.
4. Confirm the cause by making the symptom appear and disappear on demand. A fix you cannot toggle is a guess.
5. Fix, unless --no-fix. Package source changes need maintainer sign-off — propose, do not apply, when the fix lands in r-package/R/ or python-package/geobr/.

Output

## Diagnosis — <symptom>

**Reproduced:** yes / no (<how>)
**Minimal case:** `<call>`

| Rung | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 Network/proxy | clean / **CAUSE** — <detail> |
| 2 Stale cache | clean / **CAUSE** — <detail> |
| 3 Release tag | clean / **CAUSE** — <detail> |
| 4 Upstream data | clean / **CAUSE** — <detail> |
| 5 Code dispatch | clean / **CAUSE** — `file:line` |

**Root cause:** <one sentence>
**Toggle confirmed:** <how the symptom was made to appear and disappear>
**Fix:** applied / proposed (package source — needs sign-off) / not needed (environment)

When the root cause lands in package source (rung 5), also save the report to quality_reports/diagnoses/YYYY-MM-DD_<slug>.md — those are the ones worth a record. Environment causes (rungs 1-2) belong in chat only; they are not repository history.

If every rung comes back clean, say so plainly and stop. An unexplained failure reported honestly is worth more than a plausible story.