root-cause-debug

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After this, the AI stops guess-and-check thrashing and runs a four-phase root-cause process before changing any code — typical debug time drops from hours to minutes. For developer s stuck in the "fix one bug, create three more" loop. Before: "The build broke after I ran the migration" [Tries fix 1: reverts a constraint. Still broken. Tries fix 2: adds an index. Different error appears. Tries fix 3: changes the migration order. Original error returns. Twenty minutes lost. Three new bugs in different places.] After: "The build broke after I ran the migration" Phase 1 — Reproduce: confirmed broken on clean checkout Phase 2 — Isolate: narrowed to migration 0042 Phase 3 — Hypothesise: "FK constraint references a column 0041 renamed" Phase 4 — Verify: reads both migrations, confirms "Root cause: 0042 references user_id, but 0041 renamed it to account_id. Fix: change line 14 of 0042 from user_id to account_id. One change, one rebuild, verified." Use when a test or build just broke a previous fix didn't stick under time pressure (especially under time pressure) Three ways to use this Paste it (any AI, 30 seconds, no install)Open the .md file, copy contents, paste into Claude / ChatGPT / Cursor / Perplexity with: "Read this and apply it whenever the task it describes comes up in our conversation." Done. Install it (Claude Code / Cursor users)Drop the unzipped folder into ~/.claude/skills/ (Claude Code), .cursor/skills/ (Cursor), or your IDE's equivalent. Auto-loads next session. New to AI assistants? Get Claude free at claude.ai, then use Option 1. €7 Show more