git:20260927.eb07e20 to git:20260929.be08b6f

---

name: dough-bug-fixing

description: >-

Resolves a reported discrepancy, defect, or regression by gathering expected

versus actual behavior and passing the report into bounded shared execution,

or by placing known larger or inconclusive work first in this project's

product backlog. Use for a bug report, defect, regression, broken or

unexpected behavior, a mismatch between intended and actual results, or a

larger or inconclusive bug that needs a first-priority story. Do not use for

the word "fix" alone, a reporting-only request, or refinement-only work.

---

# Resolve a reported discrepancy

Gather the supplied report and investigate it without repairing the product.

Close any standalone exploration workspace before invoking shared execution for

an authorized bounded repair. Return an evidence-backed disposition to the

coordinator. Route known larger work and incomplete or inconclusive attempts as

first-priority backlog stories. Do not invent a defect, dismiss a report for

lack of confirmation, or treat branch delivery as integration.

## Stay in request authority

A reporting-only or refinement-only request does not authorize execution or code

change. Contribute the report's expectations, evidence, gaps, and acceptance

examples to the existing artifact that request already owns, such as a seed

under [story refinement](../dough-story-refinement/SKILL.md). Stop after that

contribution.

Invoke this skill for an authorized discrepancy, defect, or regression, not

because the instruction contains the word "fix".

## Admit the accepted mission

Asking questions to understand the report is not a mission. Once the

instruction accepts diagnosing a report that is not known larger work (see

[Route remaining work](#route-remaining-work)),

[admit it](../dough-execute-plan/references/admit-accepted-work.md) before

investigation, unless it explicitly selects [one-shot work](../dough-execute-plan/references/one-shot.md);

a discrepancy found inside an active story returns its evidence to that story's

owner instead. Its story's Goal is resolving the reported discrepancy, its

expectations are the gathered report below, and its approach is `planless` when

the instruction also authorizes the bounded repair, otherwise `unselected`. That

reference owns its checkout, refusals, continuation, and closure.

## Gather the report

Collect what the report already supplies and name the gaps:

- intended or expected behavior

- actual or observed behavior

- evidence (repro steps, tests, logs, revision, environment)

- remaining uncertainty (validity, cause, or scope)

Resolve this project's reported and expected behavior, relevant code and tests,

tooling wrapper, focused test commands, fixture conventions, and testing rules

from the established task and repository. If required behavior or tooling

context is missing, report the gap and stop the affected work rather than

inventing it.

## Investigate in an exploration workspace

If the report is already known to be larger than the bounded repair, skip

investigation and use [Route remaining work](#route-remaining-work). Do not

start an investigation solely to justify that route.

Before checkout-bound investigation, read and follow the shared

[exploration workspace lifecycle](../dough-manual-testing/references/exploration-workspace.md).

Enter that lifecycle before investigation begins.

If evidence shows that actual behavior already matches intended behavior, close

## Invoke shared execution for repair

publication](../dough-execute-plan/references/trunk-publication.md#publish-an-execution-increment-or-repair).

Do not push the repair through a separate procedure. Debug with available

knowledge; do not require a separate debugging skill.

The contextual instruction must require:

1. **Reproduce before repair.** Treat the likely defect as a hypothesis until a

test confirms it. Write the minimum test or smallest addition that reproduces

the discrepancy. Prefer updating an overlapping or contradictory test over

adding duplicate coverage.

2. **Stable observable boundary.** If the report matches an existing E2E

scenario's feature and user interaction, extend or add that E2E test.

Otherwise write a small test through a stable boundary such as a controller,

mounted component, CLI entry point, or deliberate domain API. Exercise real

lower layers with crafted data and this project's fixture helpers; mock only

external dependencies, subject to this project's testing exceptions. Do not

test internal helpers when a stable boundary is available or widen exports

solely for tests.

3. **Useful expected-versus-actual assertion.** Assert observable output such as

the response, rendered text, terminal output, or exit code. Prefer

expected-versus-actual assertions to boolean checks so the diff identifies

the mismatch. Tighten assertions that could pass while the discrepancy

remains. Run the test and confirm it fails because of the reported behavior,

not a typo or environment issue. If that failure cannot be confirmed, do not

claim reproduction or proceed to repair.

4. **Absence needs a product contract.** An absence assertion requires a product

reason: the current intended behavior is that the result is missing. Removal

history alone cannot justify it. An explicit promise such as "cancellation

creates no order" still justifies asserting that no order exists.

5. **Smallest repair and related verification.** After a confirmed failing

reproduction, make the smallest change that passes the test. Remove debugging

and dead code. Run the regression test and related tests in the same file or

feature. Select only relevant E2E specs using this project's test runner. Do

not run the full E2E suite unless explicitly requested.

6. **Shared refactoring.** Keep the existing pre-commit refactoring obligation.

Execute-plan delivery already runs

[dough-post-change-refactor](../dough-post-change-refactor/SKILL.md) on the

full uncommitted change. Do not replace that step with a local refactor loop.

A supported conclusion that the reported behavior is already correct is a valid

resolution. Use execute-plan's explained-empty-change path. Do not invent a

defect to have something to repair.

## Route remaining work

Use this one rule for known larger work, an incomplete `--no-replan` return, or

an inconclusive report. Do not invent severity categories.

For checkout-bound routing or artifact changes, continue the shared

[exploration workspace lifecycle](../dough-manual-testing/references/exploration-workspace.md)

already entered for the session, or enter it now if investigation did not need

a checkout.

Do not repeat execute-plan preservation, rollback, or retry. Link the evidence

execution preserved: under this project's executable-plan root (see [refine an oversized slice](../dough-execute-plan/references/oversized-slice.md)

and [resolve execution context](../dough-slice-planning/SKILL.md#resolve-execution-context)),

or for an escalated one-shot attempt, as edits restored in its claimed workspace.

Carry the gathered expectation, actual behavior, remaining uncertainty, and

acceptance examples into the canonical story. For an inconclusive report, the story first

asks whether intended behavior is violated, then repairs a confirmed violation.

An admitted story, including one a grown one-shot attempt escalated into, is

already that canonical home: carry the evidence into it and keep it Taken,

without queueing it again or creating another story, unless the developer

explicitly returns it to **Backlog list** with the product backlog's

`place --return`. Otherwise choose the canonical home:

- Reuse an existing owning story when moving it first in **Backlog list**

preserves that story's scope.

- Otherwise create the canonical home with

[story refinement](../dough-story-refinement/SKILL.md) and

[seed format](../dough-story-decomposition/references/seed-format.md).

- If promoting an existing owning story would distort broader scope, or

ownership is ambiguous, stop. Return a Jidoka handoff that names that

decision. Do not guess the move.

Place the story first under **Backlog list** using

[product backlog](../dough-product-backlog/SKILL.md) canonical references,

deduplication, and Taken placement. Do not list the same work twice. Do not

move or interrupt **Taken** work; leave it running and in place, and report any

contradiction with it to the coordinator.

When the owned workspace contains an authorized canonical story, executable

plan, backlog change, or other durable planning evidence, those records follow

[preparation disposition](../dough-story-refinement/references/preparation-disposition.md).

Remove the disposable reproduction with

[retained-artifacts.mjs](scripts/retained-artifacts.mjs). Name the disposable

reproduction paths and the durable record. It removes only those disposable

paths, leaves unrelated exploration content, and never commits or pushes.

Until an explicit keep, the local draft remains in the owned workspace, is not

published, and the module's result states that pending disposition. An

explicit keep lands this owned workspace through that disposition's

[keep and publish](../dough-story-refinement/references/preparation-disposition.md#keep-and-publish-the-retained-result),

which uses [Dough Land](../dough-land/SKILL.md); that keep stops while

unrelated exploration content remains in the workspace. A different checkout

that holds a pending human edit stays untouched.

Workspace retirement after a confirmed disposition follows Dough Land's

[Retire the worktree](../dough-land/SKILL.md#retire-the-worktree). An

An established checkout remains under its owning workflow's delivery and

cleanup rules; do not impose this retention sequence or create a nested

workspace there.

Do not start execution of the queued work. Later refinement or planning reads

the same linked expectations, evidence, gaps, and examples; do not invent

another tracker.

If the backlog or a required canonical home cannot be identified, name the

missing context and stop rather than inventing a queue entry.

## Report the disposition

Return control to the coordinator with an evidence-backed disposition. Name the

gathered expectation, actual, evidence, and gaps, then what execution returned

or which remaining-work route was taken.

- **Repaired:** the reproduction test failed for the reported mismatch, the

smallest change made that proof green, related verification passed, and

shared delivery completed refactoring and delivery. One-shot delivery reached

trunk and ends with its [retirement](../dough-execute-plan/references/one-shot.md#retire-the-workspace).

Otherwise do not report branch delivery as integrated: the coordinator invokes

[story wrap-up](../dough-story-wrap-up/SKILL.md#integrate-committed-story-branch-mode-closure)

for integration to the selected target (default `main`). Reporter

confirmation on main is pending when a repair needs it; never fabricate it.

- **Explained no-change:** exploration evidence or execute-plan's

explained-empty-change return shows the actual behavior matches the intended

behavior. Resolve it without a repair. One-shot work follows its

[no-change finish](../dough-execute-plan/references/one-shot.md#finish-with-no-change);

otherwise story wrap-up closes the admitted story and its workspace.

- **Unresolved:** validity, cause, or scope remains unconfirmed, and the report

is not known larger and was not an incomplete or inconclusive execution

return. Do not claim resolution or invent a queue entry.

- **Recovery:** failed delivery or shutdown remains ordinary recovery. Do not

claim resolution.

- **Queued:** known larger work, an incomplete `--no-replan` attempt, or an

inconclusive report now has an actionable canonical story first in the queue,

or its admitted story stays Taken with that evidence. Do not claim resolution

or start further work.

- **Jidoka:** routing could not move an owning story safely. Name the

scope-distortion or ownership decision and return it to the coordinator

without a guessed queue entry. Do not claim resolution.

Use `## BUG REPORT RESOLVED` only for a repaired disposition returned by

execute-plan or an explained-no-change disposition supported by exploration or

execute-plan evidence. That marker is not main integration and not reporter

confirmation. Otherwise report the gap without the marker.