Principle Fix Root Causes

Claude Code port: skills this file names (for example how, why, unslop, arena, or a ... principle skill) are sibling skills in this plugin. They are user-invoked, so the Skill tool can't load them. To use one, read ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../<name>/SKILL.md (principle skills: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../principle-<name>/SKILL.md) and follow it. Subagents use the Agent tool; valid model values are fable, opus, sonnet, haiku.

Fix Root Causes

When debugging, do not fix symptoms. Trace every problem to its root cause and fix it there.

Why: Symptom fixes accumulate. Each workaround makes the system harder to reason about, and the real bug remains. Root-cause fixes are slower upfront but reduce total debugging time.

Pattern:

• Reproduce first
• Ask "why" until you hit the root cause
• Do not add guards (adding a nil check to silence a crash is a symptom fix)
• If a workaround needs a paragraph-long comment to justify it, the code is wrong (fix the code, not the comment)
• Check for the pattern, not just the instance (grep for the same pattern, fix all instances)
• When stuck, instrument. Don't guess (add logging, read the actual error)

Restart bugs: suspect state before code

When something "fails after restart," suspect stale persistent state first: config files, caches, lock files, serialized state. If clearing a state file restores behavior, prioritize state validation as the fix.