name: systematic-debug description: 4-phase root cause analysis and debugging version: 1.0.0 author: Agentic OS tags: [debugging, bug, fix, root-cause]
Systematic Debugging
Description
Four-phase debugging methodology: reproduce, investigate, fix, verify. Prevents guesswork and ensures root cause is found before any fix is applied.
When to Use
- Encountering a bug or error
- System failure or crash
- Unexplained behavior
- Performance regression
Process
- Reproduce: Capture exact steps, environment, and error output
- Investigate: Trace root cause through logs, stack traces, and code analysis
- Fix: Apply minimal fix addressing root cause (not symptoms)
- Verify: Confirm fix resolves the issue and doesn't introduce regressions
- Update learnings.md with debugging insights
Safety
- If 3 fix attempts fail, trigger architectural review
- Never apply workaround without understanding root cause
Output
Debug report: symptoms, root cause, fix applied, verification results
Agent Assignment