Self-Healing Workflow Skill

Core Philosophy

Quick wins for superficial issues (missing deps, typos, wrong paths). If the issue persists after 2 attempts, escalate to superpowers-systematic-debugging. Never apply patches without investigating root cause — triage first, then escalate.

Diagnostic Loop

Error encountered
      ↓
1. Read full error message carefully
2. Identify error type (see categories below)
3. Attempt 1 fix strategy
4. Re-run / re-test
5. If still failing → try one more strategy (attempt 2)
6. After 2 failed attempts → invoke `superpowers-systematic-debugging`
   - Summarize what was tried and what happened
   - Pass the root cause hypothesis forward

Error Categories & Fix Strategies

Dependency / Import Errors

1. Check if package is installed (pip list, npm list)
2. Install missing package with correct version
3. Check for name conflicts or deprecated packages

Permission / Path Errors

1. Verify file/directory exists
2. Check read/write permissions
3. Use absolute paths instead of relative

Type / Runtime Errors

1. Add defensive type checks
2. Log intermediate values to trace the issue
3. Add null/undefined guards

Network / API Errors

1. Check if service is reachable
2. Verify credentials and headers
3. Add retry logic with exponential backoff
4. Check rate limits

Logic / Output Errors

1. Add debug logging at each step
2. Test with minimal input to isolate the issue
3. Compare actual vs expected output explicitly

Self-Repair Rules

• Always show what the error was and what fix was attempted
• Explain why the fix should work
• After fixing, verify the fix didn't break anything else
• If using workarounds, flag them as technical debt

Escalation to Systematic Debugging

If 2 attempts don't resolve the issue, stop self-healing and invoke:

• superpowers-systematic-debugging — for bugs, test failures, technical issues

When escalating, provide:

1. What was tried and why it failed
2. Root cause hypothesis (if any)
3. The original error message

Do NOT continue guessing — escalate after 2 attempts.