/dev-trace

name: dev-trace
description: Evidence-driven causal tracing with competing hypotheses. Use when an observation has multiple plausible explanations and you need to systematically rank them with evidence FOR and AGAINST each. Pairs with @trail-tracer.

Dev Trace

Derived from oh-my-claudecode (MIT, Yeachan Heo). Adapted for the EvoNexus Engineering Layer.

Causal investigation with multi-hypothesis discipline. Generate at least 2 explanations, collect evidence FOR and AGAINST, rank by strength, end with a discriminating probe.

Use When

• Observation has multiple plausible causes
• "Why did this happen?" — and you don't want to jump to the first answer
• Multi-causal problem (intermittent bugs, regional anomalies, performance puzzles)
• Need to preserve uncertainty rather than collapse to one answer prematurely

Do Not Use When

• Cause is obvious → just fix it via `@hawk-debugger`
• Single-cause bug with clear stack trace → `@hawk-debugger`
• Just needs codebase search → `@scout-explorer`

Workflow

Delegate to `@trail-tracer`:

1. **OBSERVE** — restate the observation precisely, no interpretation 2. **FRAME** — define the exact "why" question 3. **HYPOTHESIZE** — generate 2+ competing explanations 4. **GATHER EVIDENCE** — for each, collect evidence FOR and AGAINST in parallel 5. **APPLY LENSES** — systems / premortem / science 6. **REBUT** — strongest alternative challenges the leader 7. **RANK** — down-rank contradicted, weak-assumption, failed-prediction explanations 8. **SYNTHESIZE** — best explanation, explicitly provisional if needed 9. **PROBE** — name the critical unknown and the discriminating next experiment

Output

Saved to `workspace/development/debug/[C]trace-{topic}-{date}.md` using the `dev-trace-report.md` template.

Pairs With

• `@trail-tracer` (the executor)
• `@hawk-debugger` (when trace converges to a clear bug)
• `@apex-architect` (when trace reveals architectural issues)