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Debuggingmanual

Reflexion Debug Loop

On each failed repro attempt, write a short reflection to disk, then retry with that memory — avoids repeating the same wrong fix.

Related reading: What Is Loop Engineering?

Kickoff prompt

Start the "Reflexion Debug Loop" loop.

Goal: the failing test or repro passes
Max iterations: 8
Between iterations run: npm test -- --testNamePattern=<failing-test>
Exit when: the repro test exits 0

Step 1: Reproduce the bug. If it fails, append a reflection to .loops/reflexion.md before trying a new fix.

Self-pace this loop. After each iteration, run the check command, read the output, and only continue if the exit condition is not met. Stop when the exit condition passes or max iterations is reached. Give a short status update each pass.

Basic information

Category

Debugging

Goal

the failing test or repro passes

Max iterations

8

Check command

npm test -- --testNamePattern=<failing-test>

Exit when

the repro test exits 0

Supported agents

Claude Code, Cursor

Steps

  1. 1

    Reproduce bug

    Run the minimal repro steps or failing test. Capture exact error output.

    npm test -- --testNamePattern=<failing-test>
  2. 2

    Reflect on failure

    Append to .loops/reflexion.md: what you tried, what failed, and one hypothesis to avoid next pass.

  3. 3

    Apply targeted fix

    Read reflexion.md. Apply a different fix than prior attempts. Prefer root cause over symptoms.

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