Four-phase debugging framework for any technical issue. Use when encountering bugs, errors, or unexpected behavior. Prevents random fix attempts.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Systematic Debugging
> From [obra/superpowers](https://github.com/obra/superpowers)
## Core Principle
**NO FIXES WITHOUT ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FIRST**
Random fixes create new bugs. Understanding must precede solutions.
## The Four Phases
### Phase 1: Root Cause Investigation
Before ANY fix attempt:
1. **Read error messages carefully**
- Full stack traces
- Error codes and descriptions
- Timestamps and context
2. **Reproduce consistently**
- Document exact steps
- Identify triggers
- Note environmental factors
3. **Check recent changes**
- Recent commits
- Dependency updates
- Configuration changes
4. **Gather diagnostic evidence**
- Add logging at component boundaries
- Check input/output at each step
- Trace data flow backward to source
### Phase 2: Pattern Analysis
1. **Find similar working code**
- Search codebase for related functionality
- Look for existing patterns
2. **Read reference implementations completely**
- Don't skim
- Understand the full context
3. **Compare working vs broken**
- What's different?
- What assumptions changed?
4. **Understand dependencies**
- What does this code rely on?
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260605.a09e45c, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3925 bytes)
pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
pass: No credential-shaped string
pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
pass: No text hidden with inline styles
pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
pass: No link to a raw IP address
pass: No script tag
Source
GitHub
majiayu000/spellbook · 290 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-04 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_5houzkguvqg6unxc
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=majiayu000/spellbook/systematic-debugging
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/9b84f2e1da7de890d7b90b19bd0d128329eddd9f284af5a5a7973574b74d6061
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