specdd-debug

---
name: specdd-debug
description: Use when Agent needs to diagnose or fix a bug against active SpecDD specs.
license: Apache-2.0
---

# SpecDD Debug

Use this skill to diagnose failures against the specified contract.

## Skill Scope

Use this skill only for projects that already have a root `.specdd/bootstrap.md` and are therefore SpecDD projects.

If `.specdd/bootstrap.md` is missing, do not continue with this skill. Use `specdd-adopt` only when the operator explicitly asks to add or adopt SpecDD in a new or existing non-SpecDD project.

## Bootstrap Resolution

Ensure you know the active bootstrap chain for the target project. If it is not already reliable in the current context, read bootstrap files in this exact order:

1. `.specdd/bootstrap.md`
2. `.specdd/bootstrap.project.md`, if it exists
3. `.specdd/bootstrap.local.md`, if it exists

Apply them in that order. Later files may narrow or specialize earlier rules, but must not silently weaken project contracts, inherited constraints, or write authority.

Do not reread bootstrap files merely because another SpecDD skill or workflow phase starts. Reread the specific bootstrap file only when the active project root changes, a bootstrap file may have changed, or you need exact bootstrap text for a decision, quote, comparison, authorization, or report.

## Spec Chain Resolution

Before planning, editing, reviewing, testing, or reporting on a target, ensure the effective spec chain for that target is known:

1. Identify the target path, task, behavior, or changed files.
2. Resolve the effective spec chain using the active bootstrap rules.
3. Include same-directory basename specs when applicable.
4. Walk ancestor specs from the selected content root to the target.
5. Read explicit `References` only when they affect the requested work.
6. Read or reread the specific governing specs needed for the current decision when exact contract text is not already reliable in context.
7. Identify the nearest local spec that grants write authority before any edit.

Do not infer authority from similar filenames, nearby files, symbols, module names, or conventions unless the active bootstrap or a governing spec explicitly defines that mapping.

Do not reread an entire chain just because a workflow phase changed. Reopen the narrowest relevant spec when you need to apply, quote, compare, authorize, report, or edit against exact text, when the target scope changes, when a governing spec may have changed, or when earlier context came only from CLI output or a summary.

## Workflow

1. Reproduce or inspect the failure before changing code when practical.
2. Compare observed behavior with applicable `Must`, `Must not`, `Scenario`, `Handles`, `Returns`, and `Raises` entries.
3. Identify whether the issue is implementation drift, test drift, spec ambiguity, or missing spec coverage.
4. Fix the smallest root cause inside write authority.
5. Add or update focused regression verification when appropriate.

## Debug Rules

- Do not change specs to match broken behavior unless the user asks for a spec change.
- Do not hide ambiguous public behavior behind implementation assumptions.
- Do not broaden error handling or dependencies beyond the governing specs.
- If the spec and observed desired behavior conflict, ask before editing.

Report the contract used, root cause, files changed, and verification result.