Debugging

Debugging

Systematic methodology for finding and fixing bugs. Prioritizes root cause analysis over symptom treatment, evidence over intuition, and prevention over recurrence.

Iron Law

No fix without root cause. Never apply a fix until you can explain WHY the bug exists, not just WHERE it manifests. Symptom-level fixes create new bugs.

When to Use

• Bug report from QA or production alert
• Test failure with unclear cause
• Intermittent/flaky behavior
• Performance degradation
• Unexpected behavior that "used to work"
• Integration failures between components

Workflow

Phase 1: Reproduce

Establish a reliable reproduction before investigating.

1. Collect all evidence — error messages, stack traces, logs, screenshots, user steps
2. Identify the exact conditions: environment, data state, user actions, timing
3. Create a minimal reproduction — strip away everything that isn't needed to trigger the bug
4. Confirm reproduction is consistent (if intermittent, note frequency and conditions)
5. Write down the reproduction steps precisely — someone else should be able to follow them

Output: Documented reproduction steps, minimal test case

If you cannot reproduce: Document what you tried, check environment differences, add instrumentation and wait for next occurrence. Do not proceed to Phase 2 on guesswork — unreproducible bugs get logged, not "fixed."

Phase 2: Investigate

Gather evidence systematically. Do NOT form hypotheses yet — this phase is about observation, not explanation.

1. Read the full error message and stack trace — every line, not just the first one
2. Check git history — what changed recently? (git log --since="2 weeks ago", git bisect)
3. Trace the data flow — follow the input from entry point to failure point
4. Check boundaries — where does data cross component/service/layer boundaries?
5. Collect environmental context — versions, configuration, dependencies, resource state
6. Map the blast radius — what else is affected? Is this an isolated failure or systemic?

Production vs development debugging:

• Production: Prioritize impact assessment and mitigation first. Can you reduce blast radius before investigating? Read-only access only — never debug by modifying production state.
• Development: You have full control. Use breakpoints, modify state, add temporary logging freely.

Output: Evidence log (what you found, where, timestamps), affected component map

Phase 3: Hypothesize

Form competing hypotheses ranked by evidence strength.

1. List ALL plausible causes — do not anchor on the first idea
2. Classify each hypothesis by bug category (see bug categories reference)
3. Rate each: evidence strength (strong/medium/weak), testability (easy/hard), likelihood
4. Pick the most likely AND most testable hypothesis first
5. Define what would CONFIRM and what would FALSIFY each hypothesis

Example hypothesis table:

Output: Ranked hypothesis list with evidence and test plan

Phase 4: Test

Validate one hypothesis at a time. Single-variable changes only.

1. Change ONE thing and observe the result
2. If confirmed — proceed to Phase 5
3. If falsified — update evidence log, return to next hypothesis
4. If inconclusive — add more instrumentation, gather more evidence
5. After 3 failed hypotheses — STOP. Re-examine your assumptions. The bug model may be wrong.

Red flags (return to Phase 2 immediately):

• "Quick fix for now, investigate later"
• Changing multiple things at once
• Fixing without understanding
• Copy-pasting a fix from the internet without understanding why it works

Output: Confirmed root cause with evidence chain

Phase 5: Fix

Implement the fix at the source, not at the symptom.

1. Write a failing test that reproduces the bug FIRST
2. Implement the fix — single, focused change addressing the root cause
3. Verify the failing test now passes
4. Run the full test suite — ensure no regressions
5. Review your own fix: is this the simplest correct solution?

Fix principles:

• Fix at the SOURCE where bad data/state originates, not where the error appears
• Add defense-in-depth: validate at boundaries even after fixing the source
• Prefer making invalid states unrepresentable over runtime validation
• One bug = one fix = one commit = one test

Output: Fix with regression test, clean test suite

Phase 6: Prevent

Ensure this class of bug cannot recur.

1. Add defensive validation at the boundary where bad data entered
2. Improve error messages — would future-you understand this error immediately?
3. Update monitoring/alerting if this was a production issue
4. Write a post-mortem if the bug was significant (see post-mortem template)
5. Share findings with the team — this is how institutional knowledge grows

Output: Prevention measures, post-mortem (if significant)

Bug Category Strategies

Different bug types need different investigation approaches. See bug categories reference for the full guide.

Escalation Criteria

Stop debugging and escalate when:

• You have spent more than 2x your initial time estimate without meaningful progress
• The fix requires architectural changes beyond your component
• The root cause is in a dependency you do not control
• You have found 3+ bugs in the same area — the code needs redesign, not more patches
• The bug exposes a fundamental design flaw
• Production impact is growing and a workaround/rollback is faster than a fix

Escalate to:

Decision Framework

Fix depth

• Fix at the SOURCE where bad data/state originates, not where the error appears
• Add defense-in-depth: validate at boundaries even after fixing the source
• Prefer making invalid states unrepresentable over runtime validation

Scope of fix

• Fix the specific bug, not the surrounding code
• If you see other issues nearby, file them separately — do not scope-creep a bug fix
• One bug = one fix = one commit = one test

When to rewrite vs patch

• Patch: isolated bug, clear root cause, code is otherwise sound
• Rewrite: 3+ bugs in same module, root cause is structural, fix would be more complex than rewrite
• Rollback: production is burning and the previous version worked — roll back first, debug second

Integration with Team Roles

This debugging workflow connects to broader team processes:

When using other code-virtuoso skills:

Quality Checklist

Before marking a bug fix done:

• Root cause is identified and documented
• Failing test existed before the fix
• Fix addresses root cause, not symptom
• Full test suite passes
• Fix is the simplest correct solution
• Error messages improved where relevant
• Post-mortem written for significant bugs
• Team notified if the bug affects shared components

Critical Rules

1. No fix without root cause. This is the iron law. If you cannot explain why the bug exists, you are not done investigating.

2. Reproduce first. Do not investigate what you cannot reproduce. If reproduction fails, add observability and wait.

3. Single-variable testing. Change one thing at a time during hypothesis testing. Changing multiple variables makes results uninterpretable.

4. Evidence over intuition. Log your evidence. "I think it might be X" is not a hypothesis — "Log line Y shows value Z when it should show W" is.

5. Test before and after. A fix without a regression test is a fix that will break again.

6. Escalate without ego. Knowing when to stop and ask for help is a skill, not a weakness. See the escalation criteria above.

7. Document for the next person. The next person debugging this area might be you in six months. Leave the codebase more observable than you found it.

8. Never debug production by modifying production. Read-only investigation. Fixes go through the normal deployment pipeline.

9. Scope discipline. Fix the bug. Only the bug. Other improvements are separate tickets.

10. Share what you learn. Every significant bug is a learning opportunity for the team. Post-mortems are not blame — they are institutional memory.