meow:investigate

Root-cause debugging is a systematic investigation process that traces symptoms back to their origin across codebases and services. It guides analysts through investigate, analyze, hypothesize, and implement phases to ensure issues are permanently resolved rather than patched.

To debug a reported error, follow a four-phase root-cause investigation workflow: investigate the symptoms, analyze the codebase, hypothesize the origin, and implement a minimal diff fix. This process requires strict hypothesis testing before any code changes are applied.

Tracing root causes before applying fixes prevents scope creep and unintended edits. An enforced Iron Law requires verified root cause identification through hypothesis testing, ensuring that fixes target the actual origin rather than merely masking symptoms during incident triage.

Yes, phase-driven debugging workflows apply to reliability investigations across codebases, services, and integrations. The process uses safe-scope boundaries and a freeze gate to prevent unintended edits, keeping context lean with on-demand references during the investigation.

The best way to prevent scope creep during codebase investigation is enforcing a freeze gate with safe-scope boundaries. This restricts edits during the analyze and hypothesize phases, requiring verified root causes and minimal diffs before implementation begins.

You should not use a root-cause analysis workflow when a quick surface-level patch is sufficient and tracing symptoms to their origin is unnecessary. The strict guardrails and hypothesis testing phases add overhead that may be excessive for trivial fixes.