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jaydubya818jaydubya818/MissionControl/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md

principle-fix-root-causes

Skill2 starsChanged 8 months agoMITView on GitHub

Apply when a workaround would hide a defect that can be reproduced and traced.

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

7 rules. 5 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 5

    Common

    Most of the 44 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 2

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Common:

    When debugging, do not fix symptoms.

    line 18
  2. Common:

    Ask "why" until you hit the root cause

    line 24
  3. Distinctive:

    Do not add guards (adding a nil check to silence a crash is a symptom fix)

    line 25
  4. Common:

    If a workaround needs a paragraph-long comment to justify it, the code is wrong (fix the code, not the comment)

    line 26
  5. Common:

    Check for the pattern, not just the instance (grep for the same pattern, fix all instances)

    line 27
  6. Common:

    When stuck, instrument. Don't guess (add logging, read the actual error)

    line 28
  7. Distinctive:

    When something "fails after restart," suspect stale persistent state first: config files, caches, lock files, serialized state.

    line 32

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 44 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Fix Root Causes

When debugging, do not fix symptoms. Trace every problem to its root cause and fix it there.

Why: Symptom fixes accumulate. Each workaround makes the system harder to reason about, and the real bug remains. Root-cause fixes are slower upfront but reduce total debugging time.

Pattern:

  • Reproduce first
  • Ask "why" until you hit the root cause
  • Do not add guards (adding a nil check to silence a crash is a symptom fix)
  • If a workaround needs a paragraph-long comment to justify it, the code is wrong (fix the code, not the comment)
  • Check for the pattern, not just the instance (grep for the same pattern, fix all instances)
  • When stuck, instrument. Don't guess (add logging, read the actual error)

Restart bugs: suspect state before code

When something "fails after restart," suspect stale persistent state first: config files, caches, lock files, serialized state. If clearing a state file restores behavior, prioritize state validation as the fix.

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