What problem does it solve? Random guess-and-check fixes waste hours, mask underlying defects, 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 quick patches. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Four-Phase Process: Root cause investigation, pattern analysis, hypothesis testing, and implementation, with explicit gates preventing you from proposing fixes before completing Phase 1. - Pressure-Resistant Rules: Anti-patterns, rationalization tables, and red-flag phrases that stop shortcut behavior like "just add a retry" or "fix multiple things at once". - Supporting Techniques: Root-cause tracing up the call stack, defense-in-depth validation at multiple layers, condition-based waiting to replace flaky timeouts, and a bisection script to find test polluters. - Use Case: A test fails intermittently in CI. Instead of adding sleep calls, you trace the data flow backward, find the empty variable causing the failure, fix it at the source, and add layered validation so it cannot recur. ## Quick Start Use the systematic-debugging skill to investigate this failing test and find its root cause before suggesting any fix.
