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ngctongcto/oh-my-pstack/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md

principle-fix-root-causes

Skill1 starsChanged 38 days agoMITView on GitHub

Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach it, resist nil-check guards that silence crashes.

48 other projects use a version of this, 39 of them edited.

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Used with

Projects with it also use poteto-help, make-bot-ui and 7 more.

Other files people use alongside this one.

Files found in the same public projects as a version of this one, more often than they turn up anywhere else. Each project counts once, large collections count for less, and this file's own repository is left out.
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The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

7 rules. 1 is common, 6 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 1

    Common

    Most of the 43 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 6

    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. Distinctive:

    When debugging, do not fix symptoms.

    line 9
  2. Distinctive:

    Ask "why" until you hit the root cause

    line 15
  3. Distinctive:

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

    line 16
  4. Common:

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

    line 17
  5. Distinctive:

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

    line 18
  6. Distinctive:

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

    line 19
  7. Distinctive:

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

    line 23

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 43 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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