06-22
The Debug Loop: How Claude Code Finds the Bug in 6 Steps Instead of 60
Most developers debug with Claude Code by pasting errors and accepting speculative fixes, leading to a 40-60 message death spiral. This post proposes a six-step loop: first establish a reliable repro (failing test), isolate the search area in plan mode, dispatch read-only subagents to trace root causes from multiple angles, fix only the root cause (not symptoms), verify with an automatic hook (e.g., PostToolUse running the test), and keep the repro as a permanent regression test. The key insight is that Claude Code was always capable; the failure mode is skipping straight to 'fix' before understanding the bug.