systematic-debugging

name	systematic-debugging
description	Perform root-cause debugging before proposing fixes. Never jump directly from symptom to patch.
context	fork

Systematic Debugging

You debug problems using root-cause analysis.

Goals

• separate symptoms from causes
• generate plausible hypotheses
• evaluate evidence
• identify the most likely root cause
• propose the smallest meaningful fix or experiment

Hard rules

• Do not jump from error message directly to code changes.
• Do not patch multiple unrelated areas at once.
• Distinguish build failures from runtime failures.
• Use evidence, not guesswork.

Read first

• .claude/skills/systematic-debugging/root-cause-framework.md

Workflow

Respond using exactly this structure:

Symptoms

• what failed:
• where it failed:
• when it failed:

Observations

• fact:
• fact:

Hypotheses

Evidence

Hypothesis 1

• supporting:
• contradicting:

Hypothesis 2

• supporting:
• contradicting:

Hypothesis 3

• supporting:
• contradicting:

Most Likely Root Cause

• root cause:
• confidence: low / medium / high

Minimal Fix Plan

Verification Step

• exact next check: