By name: investigate description: Investigate a bug or broken behavior through hypothesis-driven root cause analysis and report what is wrong without jumping straight to a fix. Use when something is failing or behaving unexpectedly.
Investigate
Find the root cause before proposing a fix.
Rules:
- Do not make code changes unless the user explicitly approves diagnostic logging.
- Do not guess. Support every conclusion with evidence from code, logs, or commands.
Workflow:
- Clarify expected behavior, observed behavior, and reproduction steps if missing.
- Classify the bug type early: compile, logic, race, state, integration, environment, or UI.
- Write 3-5 ranked hypotheses before reading deeply.
- Test those hypotheses by tracing the relevant code and recent history.
- Compare broken and working paths when possible.
- If the cause is still unclear, propose targeted logging and explain exactly why.
- Report the root cause, confidence level, affected files, likely introduction point, and what needs to change.
Red flags:
- proposing a fix before confirming the cause
- pursuing the same failed theory repeatedly
- analyzing code unrelated to the symptoms