| name | diagnose |
| description | Use when something is broken, failing, slow, throwing, flaky, or behaving unexpectedly. |
Diagnose
Build a tight failing loop and find root cause before proposing fixes.
Boundary
Diagnose owns investigation until there is a root cause and a red-capable loop.
Do not jump to build while the failure is still a theory.
Process
- Reproduce the exact user-visible symptom.
- Build the tightest possible loop that can go red for this bug.
- Minimize the scenario until remaining inputs, state, and steps are load-bearing.
- Form ranked, falsifiable hypotheses before changing production code.
- Instrument one boundary or variable at a time.
- When root cause is identified, create or preserve the regression signal.
- Move to
build for the fix.
Reference Branches
- Use
diagnosing-bugs for hard bugs, performance regressions, flakiness, and
feedback-loop construction.
- Use
systematic-debugging for strict root-cause discipline and multi-layer
evidence gathering.
Specialist Branches
firecrawl when current external docs, issue trackers, or release notes may
explain the failure.
vercel-react-best-practices when the failure is React/Next performance or
data-flow related.
Completion
Done when there is one command or reliable loop that demonstrates the bug, a
clear root-cause hypothesis supported by evidence, and a path to a regression
test or documented reason no correct seam exists.