rails-bugfix

Rails Bugfix Workflow

Iron rule: no patches before root cause. If a fix isn't obvious from the error message in 30 seconds, investigate before editing.

Step 1: Refine the report (mandatory, ONCE per invocation)

Run the user's bug description through /prompt-refiner. Use the refined version for all subsequent steps. Do not refine again.

Step 2: Reproduce

Locate the failing test, log, or stacktrace. If the user didn't provide one, ask for:

• The exact command that fails OR
• The exact stacktrace/error message OR
• The smallest repro steps

Do not start editing without a reproduction. A bug you can't reproduce is a bug you can't verify fixed.

Step 3: Trace

Read the failure point. Then read the upstream callers. Then read the relevant test (if any). Look at recent commits in the affected area (git log -p -- <file>).

Step 4: Hypothesize

State the suspected root cause in ONE sentence. Be specific: "Y is nil because X#initialize doesn't set it when called from controller#create" — not "there's a nil somewhere."

Step 5: Verify

Confirm the hypothesis with a targeted read or quick test before editing. Print the value, run the failing case in a console, add a temporary puts if necessary. Confirm the cause matches the symptom.

Step 6: Fix

Smallest patch that addresses the root cause. NO surrounding cleanup, NO refactoring, NO renaming. The bugfix commit should diff-stat to ~5 lines unless the root cause genuinely requires more.

Step 7: Test

• Run the EXACT failing test that reproduced the bug. Confirm it passes.
• Run the entire spec file. Confirm no regression.
• If the bug shipped without test coverage (which is why it shipped), add the missing regression test that fails before your fix and passes after. Spawn rails-tests with phase: red for this if helpful.

Step 8: Synthesize

One paragraph: what was broken, why, what changed, what test now covers it. If you discovered a related issue but didn't fix it, name it explicitly as a follow-up.

When to spawn specialists

For most bugs: don't. The orchestrator can read and fix directly. Specialists add overhead unless the fix spans layers.

Spawn rails-security only if the bug had security implications (data leakage, auth bypass, injection). Spawn rails-database only if the root cause was a query/index/migration issue.

Anti-patterns

• Patching the symptom instead of the cause
• Adding a try/rescue around the failing line to "make the error go away"
• Changing the test to make it pass
• Marking complete without running the actual repro one more time