---
description: Probing questions for bugfix tasks — surfaces reproduction context and regression risks
mode: subagent
---

<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT -->
<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025-2026 Marcus Quinn -->

# Bugfix Probes

Use 2 probes during `/define` for **bugfix** tasks.

## Default Assumptions
Apply unless overridden:
- Preserve all behavior except the bug.
- Add a regression test (fail before, pass after).
- Prefer root-cause fix over symptom suppression.
- No scope creep — fix the reported bug only.

## Core Probes
### Reproduction
```text
Can you reproduce this reliably?
1. Yes (steps provided)
2. Intermittent (under specific conditions)
3. Reported by others (not yet reproduced)
4. Environment-specific (e.g., production only)
```

### Expected vs Actual
```text
What is the expected behavior vs actual?
1. Inferred from description (recommended)
2. Explicitly described
```

## Specialist Probes (Select 2)
### Root Cause vs Symptom
```text
Is the fix addressing the root cause or a symptom?
1. Root cause (recommended)
2. Symptom/workaround
3. Not sure (investigate first)
```

### Blast Radius
```text
What else could break?
1. Nothing (isolated fix - recommended)
2. Related features sharing code path
3. Not sure (trace dependencies)
4. User-specified risks
```

### Regression Context
```text
Did this work before?
1. Yes (regression)
2. Never (latent bug)
3. Environment-specific
4. Unknown start
```

### Assumption Surfacing
```text
I'm assuming this affects [inferred scope]. Correct?
1. Yes
2. No (narrower)
3. No (broader)
```

### Pre-mortem
```text
If the bug returns in a different form, what's most likely?
1. Same root cause, different trigger (recommended)
2. New bug in adjacent code
3. Environment-specific failure
4. Deeper issue (original report incomplete)
```

## Sufficiency Test
Verify before generating brief:
- Reproduction steps clear?
- Root cause identified or investigation path set?
- Regression test defined?
- Blast radius assessed?

If any answer is "I don't know," ask one more targeted question.
