Debugging Roots and Acorn projects

Follow the systematic-debugging discipline: reproduce, gather evidence, form one hypothesis, test it, then fix. No fix without a root cause you can show (a log line, a header, a command output).

Runner placeholders ({{runner.wp}}, {{runner.acorn}}, {{runner.composer}}, {{runner.node}}, {{runner.cache}}, {{runner.logs}}) come from the session context. On Lando the defaults are lando wp, lando wp acorn, lando composer and so on; the lando-wp skill documents the wiring and the container-level symptoms (DNS, certificates, ports, database service). Do not repeat that table here: if the symptom is "the site does not even resolve", "port already allocated" or "tooling command unknown", switch to lando-wp.

When to use

• A request returns 500, a blank page or a Whoops/ignition style error page.
• {{runner.acorn}} <command> fails, prints nothing, or the command is missing.
• A Blade change, a new class, a new block or a config edit does not show up.
• Styles or scripts are missing, return 404, or point to a dev server that is not running.
• Behaviour differs between local and a deployed environment.

Not for building a feature (use the profile's building skill) or for performance tuning (use wp-performance).

Inputs required

1. The profile and its Acorn base path (session context): theme folder, mu-plugin folder, or project root.
2. Where it fails: local, review, staging or production. Remote environments are read-only for you: observe and report; flushing, purging or restarting needs an explicit request.
3. What changed: branch switch, composer.lock or lockfile change, deploy, database sync, new class, config edit.
4. Scope: every request, one URL, one block, logged-in only, one language, only cached pages.

Where things live per profile

Item	sage-theme	acorn-mu-plugin	radicle-app
Acorn base path	the theme folder	the plugin folder (ACORN_BASEPATH)	the project root
Application logs	storage/logs/ in the theme if storage/ exists, otherwise wp-content/cache/acorn/logs/ (Bedrock: web/app/cache/acorn/logs/)	storage/logs/ in the plugin if present, otherwise the WordPress cache folder as for a theme	storage/logs/ at the root
Compiled views	storage/framework/views/ (same base as the logs)	same	same
Config, route, package caches	storage/framework/cache/ (or .laravel/ when that folder exists in the base path)	same	same
WordPress debug.log	<content dir>/debug.log when WP_DEBUG_LOG is true	same	same (content dir is under the webroot)
Composer autoload	the theme's own vendor/	the plugin's own vendor/	the root vendor/
Provider registration	withProviders([...]) in the theme's functions.php (plus packages auto-discovered from Composer)	provider list in the boot code (withProviders)	composer.json extra.acorn.providers
Livewire, ACF Composer, Poet	present only if installed	usually present	not installed by default

Procedure

Commands: write every command with the runner value from the session context filled in (for example lando wp acorn optimize:clear), never a bare wp/composer/npm, never the placeholder, never "prefix with lando if you use it". Commands that run on a remote host, in CI or in a deploy script go in a separate block labelled with where they run and who runs them.

Shared environments (staging, review, production) are read-only for you: diagnose first with requests, headers, page source and logs; any purge, flush, cache clear, restart or redeploy there is proposed with the exact command and the owner of that layer, never run and never presented as the first step.

1. Locate. Answer the four inputs before touching code. "Works locally, broken after a deploy" goes straight to the deploy-staleness check below before any code reading; that check still includes the log read in step 2 (the Acorn log under the base path's storage/logs/, or the container log on a remote environment).
2. Collect evidence.
   • Tail the Acorn log and the WordPress debug.log (paths above). If neither file exists, logging is not configured or the folder is not writable; that is itself a finding.
   • Check the web server/PHP log through the runner ({{runner.logs}}; see lando-wp). On a remote environment read the container or platform log. Logs live under the Acorn base path (the plugin's or app's storage/logs/), not in a theme folder unless the profile is sage-theme.
   • Print the effective debug flags: {{runner.wp}} eval 'var_dump(WP_DEBUG, WP_DEBUG_LOG, WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY, WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE);'. Acorn's exception page is shown only when WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY are both true; otherwise errors go only to the log. Ask the user to enable them in the environment file rather than editing it yourself.
   • Request the URL with curl -sI and read status and cache headers.
   • Does Acorn boot at all? {{runner.acorn}} list. If this fails, the problem is boot-level (autoload, provider, storage permissions), not a view.
3. Categorize with the table below, then run the targeted check.
4. Form one hypothesis, change one thing, observe. If two hypotheses fail, stop, summarise the evidence and ask.
5. Fix with the smallest change at the root cause, using the native WordPress/Acorn mechanism first.
6. Verify by repeating the original reproduction, then {{runner.cache}}, the project's test runner and linter.
7. Report with four headings in this order: Evidence (what you observed or what the user should run to observe it), Root cause, Fix (local commands through the runner; remote actions as proposals with an owner), Prevention (deploy step, cache rule, test).

Categories and first checks

Category	Symptoms	First check
Stale caches	Old markup or behaviour after a PHP, Blade or config change	Clear the layers in references/cache-layers.md, cheapest first
Boot failure	Fatal on every request, every Acorn command fails	Last lines of the log; vendor/ present for the base path; provider class exists and namespace matches composer.json autoload; storage/ writable
Class or file not found	Class "X" not found, View [x] not found	Namespace-to-folder match, {{runner.composer}} dump-autoload in the right working directory, view file name and location
Blade rendering	Raw {{ }} shown, double-escaped text, wrong template	Open the compiled file in storage/framework/views/: its last line is a PATH ... ENDPATH comment that names the source view
Routes	404 on an Acorn route, route works in CLI but not in browser	{{runner.acorn}} route:list; Acorn matches routes during do_parse_request; check path, method and trailing slash, cached routes (route:clear), and that routing is registered in the boot code. rewrite flush is for WordPress rewrites only
ACF	Block missing from the inserter, fields not saving or not showing	Class location and $name, location rules, ACF Composer cache (acf:clear then acf:cache), field group JSON/DB sync state
Livewire	Not mounting, update returns 404/419/500, props mismatch	{{runner.acorn}} route:list for the Livewire routes, scripts printed in the layout, stale cached HTML at the edge, then the livewire skill
Assets	Unstyled, JS missing, 404 on build/ files, requests to a dev-server URL	Manifest exists; public/hot is a leftover from a stopped dev server; URL base. See tailwind-vite-assets
Object cache	Options, menus or counts wrong; survives restarts and deploys	{{runner.wp}} cache type; flush locally; remote: tell the user
Hooks	Filter or action has no effect	Timing and load order; see wp-hooks-lifecycle
Database	Connection refused, migration errors	Environment file host/credentials; {{runner.acorn}} migrate:status
Deploy staleness	Local works, remote shows old HTML or assets; Livewire 404/419/checksum errors right after a deploy	Read-only first: curl -sI <url> for age, cf-cache-status/x-cache/x-proxy-cache; compare the asset hashes and the Livewire script/update URL in the served HTML with a cache-busted request and with the new build. Old HTML carries old snapshots, tokens and hashed URLs. Then name each layer that can hold old state and who clears it: edge/CDN/page cache (deploy or infra owner), object cache ({{runner.wp}} cache flush, environment owner), OPcache (PHP service restart), compiled views and Acorn caches ({{runner.acorn}} optimize:clear, deploy script). See references/cache-layers.md

Symptom-by-symptom causes and fixes: references/symptoms.md.

Verification

• The original reproduction now behaves correctly and the log shows no new error for it.
• You can name the root cause and show the evidence that confirmed it, not only that the symptom vanished.
• The cache layers you cleared are listed in the report (a fix that only works until the next cache build is not a fix).
• The project's tests and linter pass through the runner.

Failure modes

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Requests fail right after optimize:clear (seen on a project using ACF Composer)	A package manifest was deleted and not rebuilt	Run {{runner.acorn}} optimize (or the package's own cache command) and retry; prefer view:clear and cache:clear over optimize:clear when you only need views gone
Change visible in CLI but not in the browser	PHP-FPM OPcache differs from CLI OPcache	Restart the PHP service (Lando: lando restart)
{{runner.acorn}} prints "command not found" for a package command	Package discovery cache is stale	{{runner.acorn}} package:discover, then retry
Blade error points to a hashed filename	The error is reported in the compiled file	Read the PATH comment at the end of that file to find the source view
Fix works locally, not on the remote	A cache layer outside the code (object cache, edge, opcache) holds the old state	Ask the user to flush that layer; do not do it yourself on shared infrastructure
Log file empty while the page fails	WP_DEBUG_LOG false or logging channel writes to stdout in that environment	Check WP_DEBUG_LOG and the Acorn logging channel; in containers read the container log
Exception page not shown	WP_DEBUG or WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY false	Enable in the environment file (ask the user), reload

Escalation

• Evidence points to infrastructure (container runtime, database server, CDN, orchestration), a third-party plugin's code, or a vendor theme: report the evidence and stop.
• The fix needs edits to environment files, wp-config.php, CI or production data: ask first.
• Two hypotheses failed: summarise what you ruled out and ask the user.
• Do not commit, push or run remote cache purges, restarts or database syncs unless the user asked.

<!-- verified: refs/roots-sage/functions.php:35-39 — Application::configure()->withProviders([...])->boot() in functions.php; refs/roots-acorn/config/app.php:45 — 'debug' => WP_DEBUG && WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY; wp/wp-includes/load.php:569-575,622-625 — WP_DEBUG_LOG true writes WP_CONTENT_DIR/debug.log, or to a given path; refs/roots-docs/acorn/logging.md:20 and directory-structure.md:14-27 — logs at [wp-content]/cache/acorn/logs zero-config, storage/logs traditional; refs/roots-acorn/src/Roots/Acorn/Application.php:184-186,201 — bootstrap path is .laravel when that folder exists, else storage/framework; storage/framework/cache in the reference acorn-mu-plugin project — config.php, routes-v7.php, packages.php, services.php, acf-composer/, blade-icons.php present; storage/framework/views/*.php last line — PATH ... ENDPATH comment with the source view; vendor/roots/acorn/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Console/OptimizeClearCommand.php:59-70 — optimize:clear runs config, cache, compiled, event, route, view clears plus package clears; vendor/log1x/acf-composer/src/Providers/AcfComposerServiceProvider.php:67-72 — optimizes(optimize: acf:cache, clear: acf:clear); refs/roots-acorn/src/Roots/Acorn/Application/Concerns/Bootable.php:230-244 — Acorn routes handled via do_parse_request/parse_request, unmatched fall through; vendor/roots/acorn/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Vite.php:1221-1224 — isRunningHot() is is_file(hotFile); lando wp acorn list (the reference acorn-mu-plugin project) — view:clear, view:cache, optimize, optimize:clear, clear-compiled, icons:cache exist; unverified: that deleting the ACF Composer manifest causes 500s on every request is an observation from one project, not read in package source -->