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Update to fstack
Snapshot Sep 30, 2026 · 23:16 UTC · version 1.1.2
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{
"description": "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.",
"included_files": [],
"name": "principle-fix-root-causes",
"skill_md_contents": "---\r\nname: principle-fix-root-causes\r\ndescription: \"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.\"\r\nuser-invocable: false\r\ndisable-model-invocation: true\r\n---\r\n\r\n# Fix Root Causes\r\n\r\nWhen debugging, do not paper over symptoms. Trace every problem to its root cause and fix it there.\r\n\r\n**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.\r\n\r\n**Pattern:**\r\n- Reproduce first (if you can't reproduce it, you can't verify your fix)\r\n- Ask \"why\" until you hit the root cause\r\n- Resist the urge to add guards (adding a nil check to silence a crash is a symptom fix)\r\n- If a workaround needs a paragraph-long comment to justify it, the code is wrong (fix the code, not the comment)\r\n- Check for the pattern, not just the instance (grep for the same pattern, fix all instances)\r\n- When stuck, instrument. Don't guess (add logging, read the actual error)\r\n\r\n**Restart bugs: suspect state before code**\r\n\r\nCode doesn't change between runs. State does. 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.\r\n"
}SHA-256 of public snapshot: 06e89fa4e3bda6b061e045dd00f855848a32e6665fe5e45d11a09e70ddadc716