Fix Workflow

Fix Workflow

Change wrong behavior to right, in one place. The bug is unknown — you believe it is broken in way Y — until a failing repro test proves it. RED first is the parse: it demonstrates the test actually captures the bug. GREEN is the fix. The test stays as a regression lock so the bug cannot recur silently.

The loop (the feature-workflow spine, fix instance)

1. STEP 0 classified this as a fix. change_new.py --kind fix --name "...".
2. Parse the unknown: write the repro test and watch it FAIL for the right reason. A repro that does not fail first is not a repro. (See references/repro.md.)
3. Gate: change_check.py --kind fix <manifest> — blocks until the RED repro is declared.
4. Find the root cause, fix at the right home — the boundary that owns the invariant, not the symptom site. Patching downstream of the real cause is how one bug becomes three.
5. Verify obligation: repro RED → GREEN and stays green; full suite still green (no neighbor broken). verify.py gates ship.
6. Record/ratchet: a bug shipped without a regression test is friction RIPE AT ONE OCCURRENCE — the knowledge-ratchet promotes the missing-test habit into a gate.

The one law here

A fix changes the smallest set that makes the repro pass at the right home, and nothing else. Scope creep means a misclassification — reclassify, don't smuggle.

Files

• references/repro.md — how to write a repro that fails for the right reason.