Rails Debugging Tools & Techniques

<superpowers-integration> REQUIRED BACKGROUND: Use superpowers:systematic-debugging for investigation process

• That skill defines 4-phase framework (Root Cause → Pattern → Hypothesis → Implementation)
• This skill provides Rails-specific debugging tools for each phase

</superpowers-integration>

<when-to-use>

• Rails application behaving unexpectedly
• Tests failing with unclear errors
• Performance issues or N+1 queries
• Production errors need investigation

</when-to-use>

<verification-checklist> Before completing debugging work:

• ✅ Root cause identified (not just symptoms)
• ✅ Regression test added (prevents recurrence)
• ✅ Fix verified in development and test environments
• ✅ All tests passing (bin/ci passes)
• ✅ Logs reviewed for related issues
• ✅ Performance impact verified (if applicable)

</verification-checklist>

<phase1-root-cause-investigation>

<tool name="rails-logs"> <description>Check Rails logs for errors and request traces</description>

# Development logs
tail -f log/development.log

# Production logs (Kamal)
kamal app logs --tail

# Filter by severity
grep ERROR log/production.log

# Filter by request
grep "Started GET" log/development.log

</tool>

<tool name="rails-console"> <description>Interactive Rails console for testing models/queries</description>

# Start console
rails console

# Or production console (Kamal)
kamal app exec 'bin/rails console'

# Test models
user = User.find(1)
user.valid?  # Check validations
user.errors.full_messages  # See errors

# Test queries
User.where(email: "[email protected]").to_sql  # See SQL
User.includes(:posts).where(posts: { published: true })  # Avoid N+1

</tool>

<tool name="byebug"> <description>Breakpoint debugger for stepping through code</description>

# Add to any Rails file
def some_method
  byebug  # Execution stops here
  # ... rest of method
end

# Byebug commands:
# n  - next line
# s  - step into method
# c  - continue execution
# pp variable  - pretty print
# var local  - show local variables
# exit  - quit debugger

</tool>

<tool name="sql-logging"> <description>Enable verbose SQL logging to see queries</description>

# In rails console or code
ActiveRecord::Base.logger = Logger.new(STDOUT)

# Now all SQL queries print to console
User.all
# => SELECT "users".* FROM "users"

</tool>

</phase1-root-cause-investigation>

<phase2-pattern-analysis>

<tool name="rails-routes"> <description>Check route definitions and paths</description>

# List all routes
rails routes

# Filter routes
rails routes | grep users

# Show routes for controller
rails routes -c users

</tool>

<tool name="rails-db-status"> <description>Check migration status and schema</description>

# Migration status
rails db:migrate:status

# Show schema version
rails db:version

# Check pending migrations
rails db:abort_if_pending_migrations

</tool>

</phase2-pattern-analysis>

<phase3-hypothesis-testing>

<tool name="rails-runner"> <description>Run Ruby code in Rails environment</description>

# Run one-liner
rails runner "puts User.count"

# Run script
rails runner scripts/investigate_users.rb

# Production environment
RAILS_ENV=production rails runner "User.pluck(:email)"

</tool>

</phase3-hypothesis-testing>

<phase4-implementation>

<tool name="rails-test-verbose"> <description>Run tests with detailed output</description>

# Run single test with backtrace
rails test test/models/user_test.rb --verbose

# Run with warnings enabled
RUBYOPT=-W rails test

# Run with seed for reproducibility
rails test --seed 12345

</tool>

</phase4-implementation>

<common-issues>

<issue name="n-plus-one-queries"> <detection> Check logs for many similar queries:

User Load (0.1ms)  SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1
Post Load (0.1ms)  SELECT * FROM posts WHERE user_id = 1
Post Load (0.1ms)  SELECT * FROM posts WHERE user_id = 2
Post Load (0.1ms)  SELECT * FROM posts WHERE user_id = 3

</detection> <solution> Use includes/preload:

# Bad
users.each { |user| user.posts.count }

# Good
users.includes(:posts).each { |user| user.posts.count }

</solution> </issue>

<issue name="missing-migration"> <detection> Error: "ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: no such column" </detection> <solution>

# Check migration status
rails db:migrate:status

# Run pending migrations
rails db:migrate

# Or rollback and retry
rails db:rollback
rails db:migrate

</solution> </issue>

</common-issues>

<related-skills>

• superpowers:systematic-debugging (4-phase framework)
• rails-ai:models (Query optimization, N+1 debugging)
• rails-ai:controllers (Request debugging, parameter inspection)
• rails-ai:testing (Test debugging, failure investigation)

</related-skills>

<resources>

Official Documentation:

• Rails Guides - Debugging Rails Applications
• Rails API - ActiveSupport::Logger
• Ruby Debugging Guide

Gems & Libraries:

• byebug - Ruby debugger
• bullet - N+1 query detection

Tools:

• Rack Mini Profiler - Performance profiling

</resources>