investigate

A structured debugging workflow collects symptoms, traces execution paths, and validates a root-cause hypothesis before any code fix. This prevents wasted debugging time and repeat failures by ensuring you address the underlying issue rather than just treating symptoms.

Root cause hypothesis testing requires forming a specific, testable claim about a failure's underlying cause and validating it with evidence. If three hypotheses fail, the workflow directs you to a BLOCKED state with recommendations to add instrumentation or escalate.

Trace execution paths by following the actual code flow during a failure while collecting symptoms. Pattern-aware analysis helps recognize common failure classes like race conditions, stale caches, timezone or encoding issues, and integration or config drift.

Yes, root cause debugging applies to regression testing and recent-change correlation in git-based codebases. It guides reproducibility and requires a regression test as part of the structured debug report outcome after confirming the root-cause hypothesis.

Scope lock discipline uses a freeze directory to limit edits to the minimum scope needed for the fix. This blast-radius control prevents unnecessary changes and ensures the code fix discipline targets only the confirmed root cause.

Software debugging often fails to fix repeat errors because fixes target symptoms rather than root causes. Forcing a disciplined root-cause hypothesis before any fix, combined with regression testing, prevents wasted time and repeat failures.