/observe-before-editing

name: observe-before-editing
description: Observe Before Editing
user-invocable: false

Observe Before Editing

Before editing code to fix a bug, confirm what the system *actually produced*.

Pattern

Outputs don't lie. Code might. Check outputs first.

DO

1. Check if expected directories exist: `ls -la .claude/cache/` 2. Check if expected files were created: `ls -la .claude/cache/learnings/` 3. Check logs for errors: `tail .claude/cache/*.log` 4. Run the failing command manually to see actual error 5. Only then edit code

DON'T

• Assume "hook didn't run" without checking outputs
• Edit code based on what you *think* should happen
• Confuse global vs project paths (check both: `.claude/` and `~/.claude/`)

Source Sessions

• a541f08a: Token limit error was invisible until manual run revealed it
• 6a9f2d7a: Looked in wrong cache path (`~/.claude/` vs `.claude/`), assumed hook failure
• a8bd5cea: Confirmed hook worked by finding output files in project cache
• 1c21e6c8: Verified Artifact Index indexing by checking DB file exists