debug-loop-breaker

name	debug-loop-breaker
description	Break repeated debug loops by enforcing hypothesis-driven attempts, loop budgets, and evidence logging.

Debug Loop Breaker

When to use

• Same error appears after 2 attempts.
• You are repeating commands with only minor/no code changes.
• You are unsure whether failure is code, environment, or tooling.

Protocol

1. Freeze retries.
2. Write one explicit hypothesis:
   • "I believe X fails because Y."
3. Define one falsifiable check for that hypothesis.
4. Run only that check.
5. If disproven, replace hypothesis; do not retry the same approach.

Loop budget

• Max 3 attempts per hypothesis.
• After 3 failed attempts, mandatory pivot:
  • isolate smaller repro, or
  • switch tooling strategy, or
  • add instrumentation/assertions.

Required evidence per attempt

• Command run.
• Observable output delta.
• Decision: continue / pivot / rollback.

Exit criteria

• Root cause identified with evidence, or
• Problem reframed into a smaller reproducible failing case with next action.