What problem does it solve? Random fixes and quick patches waste time, mask underlying issues, and introduce new bugs. This Skill enforces a disciplined debugging methodology that finds the actual root cause before any fix is attempted, even under time pressure or social pressure to apply a quick workaround. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Four-Phase Process: Root cause investigation, pattern analysis, hypothesis testing, and implementation, with mandatory completion of each phase before proceeding. - Pressure-Resistant Rules: Explicit red flags, rationalization tables, and anti-patterns that stop shortcut behavior like "just one quick fix" or stacking multiple changes at once. - Supporting Techniques: Reference guides for root-cause tracing through call stacks, defense-in-depth validation at multiple layers, and condition-based waiting to replace flaky arbitrary timeouts, plus a bisection script to find test polluters. - Use Case: A test fails intermittently in CI. Instead of adding longer sleep calls, follow Phase 1 to reproduce and gather evidence, trace the bad value to its source, form a single hypothesis, and verify the fix with a failing test. ## Quick Start Use the systematic-debugging skill to investigate this failing test and find its root cause before suggesting any fix.
