debug-sop

Debug SOP

Inputs and output

Capture the exact symptom, expected behavior, reproduction command, relevant inputs, environment, first known bad state, and whether fixing is authorized. Return a compact incident report with reproduction, root cause or surviving hypotheses, evidence, changed files if any, verification commands, and the failure-ledger id.

1. Recover history before guessing

1. Call mcp__memory__match_signatures with the exact error plus the operation that triggered it. Read matching resolutions, but verify they still apply.
2. Inspect recent relevant changes, logs, configuration, and run manifests.
3. Distinguish the visible symptom from a proposed cause. Do not edit merely because a familiar exception suggests an easy fix.

2. Reproduce and bound the failure

1. Run the smallest safe command that should reproduce the symptom.
2. Record whether it is deterministic, intermittent, machine-specific, data-specific, or dependent on ordering/timing.
3. If reproduction would be destructive, costly, or use reserved data, stop and request the needed authority or choose a non-mutating probe.
4. If the failure cannot be reproduced, compare environment, command, inputs, Git state, and dependency locks before declaring it gone.

3. Build and eliminate hypotheses

List plausible causes and, for each, the cheapest observation that would distinguish it. Prefer direct evidence in this order:

1. exact traceback, exit code, or incorrect output;
2. minimal reproduction;
3. focused logging or state inspection;
4. controlled input/config variation;
5. history or non-destructive bisection.

Change one explanatory variable at a time. Do not use destructive Git reset or discard unrelated user work during bisection.

4. Isolate the root cause

Reduce the case until removing one condition removes the failure. For data or statistical failures, also check leakage, seed sensitivity, stale code/config, and baseline-budget mismatch. For integration failures, verify each boundary separately: executable discovery, configuration loading, process startup, protocol exchange, shared workspace/state path, then UI behavior.