Prompt · Developer Tools

Bug Root Cause

Isolates the actual root cause of a bug from symptoms, code, and a stack trace.

Have ready: Paste the failing code, the full error/traceback, and what you expected to happen

Fill in · 4 fields

WHAT GOES WRONG AND WHAT YOU EXPECTED INSTEADPASTE THE FULL ERROR MESSAGE AND STACK TRACEPASTE THE RELEVANT CODELANGUAGE VERSION, FRAMEWORK, OS IF RELEVANT

Your prompt

Help me find the root cause of this bug. Work in three steps, and show your reasoning at each step.

Symptom: [WHAT GOES WRONG AND WHAT YOU EXPECTED INSTEAD]
Error/traceback:
[PASTE THE FULL ERROR MESSAGE AND STACK TRACE]
Code:
[PASTE THE RELEVANT CODE]
Environment: [LANGUAGE VERSION, FRAMEWORK, OS IF RELEVANT]

Step 1: Restate the symptom and list 2-4 plausible causes, ranked by likelihood, quoting the evidence for each.
Step 2: For the most likely cause, trace through the code line by line and show exactly how it produces the symptom.
Step 3: Propose the minimal fix, then propose the fix you would actually ship (they may differ) and explain why.

Do not jump to a fix before completing Step 1.

Paste it into Muse or any assistant. Blank fields stay as [brackets].

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