quick-fix

Quick Fix

HARD GATE — ALL entry criteria must pass before invoking quick-fix. If any guardrail triggers during execution, abort immediately and fall back to investigate-bug. Do NOT use quick-fix for logic changes, multi-file edits, or diffs > 5 lines.

Fast-track for trivial data-only fixes that do not require the full bug-fix chain.

When a bug fix is purely data — an add-missing-key, a typo correction, a config value update — the standard 6-skill chain (investigate-bug → diagnose-root → develop-tdd → kickoff-branch → verify-work → release-branch) is wasteful overhead. Quick-fix collapses it to 2 skills: quick-fix then release-branch.

Discovered gate failures (e51s04)

A Preflight, golden suite, or baseline red failure discovered during unrelated work is valid quick-fix entry when the root cause is a data-only gap (missing key, typo, stale config) — no user-reported bug required. If guardrails abort (logic change, >1 file, >5 lines), fall back to fix-bug instead of narrating and continuing.

Entry Criteria (ALL must be true)

Before invoking quick-fix, evaluate every item in this checklist:

Purely data change — adding a missing key, fixing a typo, updating a config value, correcting a constant
No logic change — no function signature, condition, loop, or control flow is modified
No refactor risk — the change does not reorganize or rename existing structures
No API surface change — no exported symbol, interface, or contract changes
Verifiable with a single assertion — one test, one curl, one grep can prove it works
Affects ≤ 1 file
Affects ≤ 5 lines changed

Guardrails (HARD ABORT — all must pass)

If ANY guardrail triggers, abort immediately and suggest investigate-bug instead:

Guardrail	Check
>1 file	The fix touches more than one file
>5 lines	The diff exceeds 5 lines
Logic change	Any function signature, condition, or loop is modified
Complex verify	The verify command is more than one pipeline
Test breakage	Running `npm test` or equivalent breaks any existing test

Fallback: If any guardrail triggers, tell the user: “This fix exceeds quick-fix guardrails. Use investigate-bug for the full TDD bug-fix chain instead.”

Fast-Path Workflow

Only 2 skills needed for eligible fixes:

quick-fix  →  apply change, run one-line verify, commit with fix:
release-branch  →  merge and ship (existing skill)

Skipped skills (with justification):

Skipped skill	Why skipped
`investigate-bug`	Root cause is obvious (data gap, not logic error)
`diagnose-root`	No isolation needed — the data point is the root cause
`develop-tdd`	No logic to test — single assertion proves correctness
`kickoff-branch`	Change is so small it does not warrant a separate worktree

Justification is included in the fix: commit body so the audit trail is preserved.

Process

1. Evaluate entry criteria

Run the entry criteria checklist above. If any criterion fails → abort, suggest investigate-bug.

2. Apply the fix

Make the data change — add the missing key, fix the typo, update the value. Keep it to ≤5 lines in 1 file.

3. Verify

Run the single-assertion verify command. Example:

grep -q "Bosnia" src/flags.js && echo "FIX VERIFIED" || echo "FIX FAILED"

4. Commit

git add <file>
git commit -m "fix(<scope>): <description>"
git commit --amend -m "fix(<scope>): <description>

Skipped skills (justified for data-only change):
- investigate-bug: root cause is a data gap, not a logic error
- diagnose-root: the missing data point is the root cause
- develop-tdd: single assertion proves correctness
- kickoff-branch: change is too small for a separate worktree"

5. Release

Invoke release-branch to merge and ship.

Example

Bosnia flag missing from FLAGS dictionary

Given a bug where FLAGS dictionary is missing entry "Bosnia"
And no logic depends on the missing entry (purely a data gap)
When the agent invokes quick-fix
Then the missing entry is added to the dictionary
And a one-line verify confirms the key exists: grep -q "Bosnia" src/flags.js
And a fix: commit is created with the skipped-skills rationale in the body
And the change is ready for release-branch