What problem does it solve? Random fixes and guess-and-check patching waste hours and introduce new bugs. This Skill enforces a disciplined debugging process that always finds the root cause before attempting any fix, preventing symptom patches that mask underlying issues. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Four-Phase Methodology: Phase 1 investigates root cause (read errors, reproduce, trace data flow), Phase 2 analyzes patterns against working examples, Phase 3 tests a single hypothesis minimally, Phase 4 implements a verified fix with a regression test. - The Iron Law: No fixes without root cause investigation first, with red-flag detection that stops rationalizations like "quick fix for now" and escalates to architectural review after three failed fix attempts. - Language-Specific Debugger Guides: Reference docs cover Node.js debugging via node inspect and Chrome DevTools Protocol, plus Python debugging via pdb, debugpy, and remote-pdb for long-lived processes. - Use Case: A failing API integration returns intermittent HTTP 429 errors. Instead of guessing, you reproduce the failure, trace the batch loop, identify the missing rate-limit throttle, add a minimal delay, and verify with a regression test. ## Quick Start Use the systematic-debugging skill to investigate why my test suite fails and find the root cause before proposing any fix.
