Trace The Failure

• deterministic reproduction steps
• failing path trace by boundary
• root cause hypothesis ranking
• confirmed cause or blocked reason
• remediation recommendation

Procedure

Phase 1: reproduce

1. define expected and observed behavior
2. create deterministic reproduction steps
3. capture baseline artifacts

Phase 2: trace boundaries

1. trace user-facing boundary
2. trace internal service boundaries
3. trace host dependencies and environment assumptions

Phase 3: isolate cause

1. narrow suspect set
2. verify with targeted checks
3. eliminate non-causes with evidence

Phase 4: conclude

1. return confirmed cause or concrete blocker
2. define smallest safe remediation
3. list tests or checks that prevent recurrence

Proof requirements

• reproduction must be repeatable
• each boundary claim must include artifact evidence
• root cause claims must include elimination evidence

Common failure patterns

1. jumping to fixes before reproduction is stable
2. relying on one log line without path trace
3. blaming environment without assumption validation
4. closing incident with hypothesis only

Adaptation notes

• frontend repos: emphasize browser and network path traces
• backend repos: emphasize route and service call traces
• monorepos: isolate package boundary before deep tracing

Handoff format

TraceTheFailure Report

Observed behavior:
Expected behavior:
Reproduction steps:

Boundary trace:
Confirmed evidence:
Eliminated hypotheses:

Root cause status:
- CONFIRMED
- LIKELY
- BLOCKED

Remediation recommendation:
Preventive checks: